---Traction Avant operator's manual, 1953

 

The "Manual Ignition Control Knob" is the spark advance lever, the knob with the clockwise arrow. Some Traction owners maintain that the spark advance was intended to allow adaptation to differences in gas quality, and that today, with more uniform quality gasoline, one needn't move the spark advance at all, as long as one has a well-tuned engine. However, my own experience is that if I follow the above directions in the operator's manual, I have much quicker and easier starts, especially warm starts.