Yes, the name TA does come from "Traction Avant" and there was in fact a prototype front wheel drive bicycle, it did not find it's way into production.
There's a very good article describing the history of this innovative company in Jan Heine's "Bicycle Quarterly" magazine, every issue of which is worth the price of an annual subscription. Check it out:
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/
And Specialites - TA has a wonderful website, with lots of state of the art AND vintage components on view:
http://www.specialites-ta.com/
Dave Bean wrote:
The boss car reminds me: Why did the company TA call itself "Traction Avant?" Was it involved in the front-wheel drive car business, too? Or was there (I sure hope so!) a FW drive bike?
David Bean Arlington, MA beandk at are-see-enn dot com
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Mark Petry
mark@petry.org
206 618 9642
Bainbridge Island, WA in the good old U. S. of A
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