Citroën 2CV

Citroën 2CV
Overview
Manufacturer	Citroën
Production	1948—1990
Designer	Flaminio Bertoni
Body and chassis
Class	Economy car
Body style	4-door sedan
Related	Citroën Dyane Citroën FAF Citroën Méhari Citroën Ami
Dimensions
Length	3.83 m
Width	1.48 m
Height	1.60 m
Curb weight	560 kg
Chronology
Predecessor	None
Successor	None

First generation "Ripple Bonnet" Citroën 2CV built from 1948 to 1960

The Citroën 2CV (French: deux chevaux, literally "two horses", from the tax horsepower rating) was an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1948 to 1990. It is considered one of their most iconic cars. It was designed for low cost, simplicity, versatility, reliability and off-road driving. For this, it had a light, easily serviceable engine, extremely soft suspension, high clearance and for oversized loads a car-wide canvas sunroof.

History

The 2CV belongs to a very short list of vehicles introduced right after World War II that remained relevant and competitive for many decades - in the case of the 2CV, 42 years.

Pierre-Jules Boulanger's early 1930s design brief – said by some to be astonishingly radical for the time – was for a low-priced, rugged "umbrella on four wheels" that would enable two peasants to drive 100 kg of farm goods to market at 60 km/h, in clogs and across muddy unpaved roads if necessary. France at that time had a very large rural population, who had not yet adopted the car due to cost. The car would use no more than 3 litres of gasoline to travel 100 km. Most famously, it would be able to drive across a ploughed field without breaking the eggs it was carrying. Boulanger later also had the roof raised to allow him to drive while wearing a hat.

Pre-war Citroën 2CV prototype

André Lefèbvre was the engineer in charge of the TPV (Très Petite Voiture — "Very Small Car") project. By 1939, the TPV was deemed ready and several prototypes had been built. Those prototypes made use of aluminium and magnesium parts and had water-cooled engines. The seats were hammocks suspended from the roof by wires.

During the German occupation of France during World War II, Michelin (Citroën's main shareholder) and Citroën managers decided to hide the TPV project from the Nazis, fearing some military application. Several TPVs were buried at secret locations, one was disguised as a pickup, and the others were destroyed, and Boulanger had the next six years to think about more improvements. Until 1994, when three TPVs were discovered in a barn, it was believed that only two prototypes had survived. As of 2003, five TPVs are known. For long it was believed that the project was so well hidden that the all the prototypes were lost at the end of the war (in fact it seems that none of the hidden TPVs was lost after the War, but in the 1950s an internal memo ordered them to be scrapped. The surviving TPVs were, in fact, hidden from the top management by some workers who were sensitive to their historical value).

After the war, internal reports at Citroën showed that producing the TPV would not be economically viable, given the rising cost of aluminium in the post-war economy. A decision was made to replace most of the aluminium parts with steel parts. Other changes were made, the most notable being an air-cooled engine, new seats and a restyling of the body by the Italian Flaminio Bertoni. It took three years for Citroën to rework the TPV and the car was nicknamed "Toujours Pas Vue" (Still Not Seen) by the press.

Belgian-built Citroën 2CV AZ-Luxe

Citroën finally unveiled the car at the Paris Salon in 1948. The car on display was nearly identical to the 2CV type A that would be sold next year, but lacked an electric starter, the addition of which was decided the day before the opening of the Salon of Paris. The car was enormously criticised. In spite of that, it had a great impact on low-income population.

It was laughed at by journalists, probably because Citroën had launched the car without any press advertising. The car was qualified as a "Spartan car" or a "sardine can" by many, other journalists called it "an umbrella on wheels". Boris Vian described the car tongue-in-cheek as an "aberration roulante" (rolling aberration) charging the slowness of this low-class car for causing Paris' traffic jams. History has confirmed that the car was charming in a lot of people's views, and a revolution in consumer transportation, at least on the French market.

The 2CV was a great commercial success: within months of it going on sale, there was a three-year waiting list. The waiting list was soon increased to five years. At that time a second-hand 2CV was more expensive than a new one because the buyer did not have to wait. Production was increased from four units per day in 1949 to 400 units per day in 1950. The highest annual production was in 1974.

A special version of the 2CV was the Sahara for very difficult off-road driving, built from December 1960 to 1971. This had an extra engine mounted in the rear compartment and both front and rear wheel traction. Only 694 Saharas were built.

In 1967 Citroën built a new car based on the 2CV, the Citroën Dyane, in response to the direct competition by the Renault 4. At the same time, Citroën developed the Méhari off-roader.

The purchase price of the 2CV was always very low. In Germany in the 1960s for example, it cost about half as much as a Volkswagen Beetle.

The 2CV on export markets

The 2CV was mainly sold in France and some European markets. In the post war years, Citroën was very focused on the home market, which had some unusual quirks, like puissance fiscale. The management of Michelin was indulgent of Citroën up to a point, but was not prepared to initiate the investment needed for the 2CV (or the Citroën DS for that matter) to truly compete on the global stage. Consequently, the 2CV suffered a similar fate to the Morris Minor and Mini, selling fewer than 10 million units, whereas the Volkswagen Beetle, which was sold worldwide, sold 21 million units.

Some of the early models were built at Citroën's plant in Slough, England but the 2CV sold poorly in Great Britain in part due to its excessive cost on the British market. Expecting to boost sales, Citroën introduced a glass-fibre coupé version called the Bijou that was briefly produced at Slough. Styling of this little car was by Peter Kirwan-Taylor who was better known for his work with Colin Chapman of Lotus cars, but it proved to be too heavy for the diminutive engine to endow it with adequate performance.

A rare Jeep-esque derivative, called the Yagán, after an Aborigine tribe, was made in Chile between 1972 and 1973. After the Chilean coup of 1973, there were 200 Yagáns left that were used by the Army to patrol the streets and the Peruvian border, with 106 mm cannons.

A similar car was sold in some west African countries as the Citroën "Baby-brousse".

In Iran, the Citroën 2CV was called the Jian. [1] The cars were originally manufactured in Iran in a joint venture between Citroën and Iran National up until the 1979 Revolution, when Iran National was nationalised, which continued producing the Jian without the involvement of Citroën. [2]

Only a few thousand 2CVs were sold in North America when they were new. The 2CV was built in Chile and Argentina to address this issue for South America.

Construction

All 2CV's have flap-up windows, roll up windows were considered too expensive in 1948, and the design did not allow any update.

The level of technology in the 1948 2CV was remarkable for a car of any price in that era, let alone one of the cheapest cars on the planet. While colours and detail specifications were modified in the ensuing 42 years, the biggest mechanical change was the addition of front disc brakes in 1981 for the 1982 model year.

The 1948 2CV featured:

• four wheel independent suspension that was inter-connected front to rear on the same side,
• leading arm front suspension,
• trailing arm rear suspension,
• rear fender skirts, but the suspension design allowed wheel change without removing the skirts,
• front-wheel drive,
• inboard front brakes,
• small, lightweight, air-cooled flat twin engine,
• 4-speed manual transmission,
• bolt-on detachable body panels,
• front suicide doors,
• flap-up windows, as roll up windows were considered too expensive in 1948,
• detachable full length fabric sunroof and boot lid — for load carrying versatility.

The body was constructed of a dual H-frame chassis, an aircraft-style tube framework, and a very thin steel shell.

The suspension of the 2CV was almost comically soft — a person could easily rock the car back and forth dramatically. The leading arm / trailing arm swinging arm, fore-aft linked suspension system together with inboard front brakes had a much smaller unsprung weight than existing coil spring or leaf designs. The interconnection transmitted some of the force deflecting a front wheel up over a bump, to push the rear wheel down on the same side. When the rear wheel met that bump a moment later, it did the same in reverse, keeping the car level front to rear. This made the suspension more responsive, enabling the 2CV to indeed be driven at speed over a ploughed field. Since the rear brakes were outboard, extra tuned mass dampers and later shock absorbers were fitted to the rear wheels to damp wheel bounce.

Front-wheel drive made the car easy and safe to drive and Citroën had developed some experience with it due to the pioneering Traction Avant.

It was powered by a flat-twin air-cooled engine designed by Walter Becchia, with a nod to the classic "boxer" BMW motorcycle engine (it is reported that Becchia dismantled the engine of the BMW motorcycle of Flaminio Bertoni before designing the 2CV engine).

The car had a 4-speed manual transmission, an advanced feature on an inexpensive car at the time. Boulanger had originally insisted on no more than 3 gears, because he believed that with four ratios the car would be perceived as complex to drive by customers. Thus, the fourth gear was marketed as an overdrive, this is why on the early cars the "4" was replaced by "S" for surmultipliée. The gear shifter came horizontally out of the dashboard with the handle curved upwards. It had a strange shift pattern. The first was back on the left, the second and third were inline and the fourth (or the S) could be engaged only by turning the lever to the right from the third.

A 1989 Citroën 2CV6 Club from the back, the roof rolled open

In keeping with the ultra-utilitarian (and rural) design brief, the canvas roof could be rolled completely open. The Type A had one stop light, and was available only in grey. The windscreen wipers were powered by a purely mechanical system: a cable connected to the transmission, to reduce cost, this cable powered also the speedometer. The wipers' speed was therefore variable with car speed. When the car was waiting at a crossroad, the wipers were not powered, thus a handle under the speedometer allowed to power them by hand.

The reliability of the car was increased by the fact that, being air-cooled, it had no coolant, radiator, water pump or thermostat. It had no distributor either because both spark plugs were fired at the same time, on every 360 degree rotation. Except for the brakes there were no hydraulic parts on original models as the shock absorbers were replaced by tuned mass dampers.

Engines

A modern 2CV6 under the hood

The car featured an air-cooled, flat-twin, four-stroke, 375 cc engine, with the notoriously underpowered earliest model developing only 9 bhp DIN (6.5 kW). A 425 cc engine was introduced in 1955, followed by a 602 cc (giving 28 bhp (20.5 kW) at 7000 rpm) in 1968. With the 602 cc engine the tax classification of the car changed so that it became in fact a 3CV, but the commercial name remained unchanged. A 435 cc engine was introduced at the same time in replacement of the 425 cc, the 435 cc engine car was christened 2CV 4 while the 602 cc took the name 2CV 6 (nevertheless it did take the name 3CV in Argentina). The 602 cc engine evolved to 33 bhp (24 kW) in 1970; this was the most powerful engine fitted to the 2CV. A new 602 cc giving only 29 bhp (21.5 kW) at a slower 5750 rpm was introduced in 1979. Despite being less powerful, this engine was more efficient, allowing lower fuel consumption and better top speed, at the price of decreased acceleration.

The 2cv also pioneered the use of the now common Wasted spark Ignition System, also known as the DIS (Distributorless Ignition System) ignition using a double ended coil fired on each revolution, (on the exhaust and compression stroke), by just a contact breaker.

When asked about the 2CVs performance and acceleration, many owners said it went "from 0-60 in one day". Others jokingly said they "had to make an appointment to merge onto an interstate highway system"

The last evolution of the 2CV engine was the Citroën Visa flat-2, a 652 cc featuring an electronic ignition. Citroën never sold this engine in the 2CV, however some enthusiasts have converted their 2CVs to 652 engines.

Expeditions

Citroën 2CV in Buenos Aires, Argentina

The 2CV has also been used for travel around the world. In 1958–1959 two young Frenchmen, Jean-Claude Baudot and Jacques Séguéla started at the Paris Motor Show on October 9 1958, headed south and crossed the Mediterranean by boat from Port Vendres to Algeria; traversed the African continent and crossed the South Atlantic from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro; cris-crossed South America and the United States and boated from San Francisco to Yokohama. They returned to Paris on November 11 1959. During the 13 months, they drove 100 000 kilometres, consumed 5 000 litres of petrol and 36 tires.

2CV in Popular Culoture

• In 1981, a bright yellow 2CV is driven by James Bond in the film For Your Eyes Only, including an elaborate set piece car chase through a Spanish olive farm. Bond uses the unique abilities of the modestly powered 2CV to escape his pursuers in conventional sedans. The car in the film was fitted with the flat-4 engine from a Citroën GS for slightly more power. One of the many limited production series of 2CV in the 1980s was a series of "2CV James Bond" vehicles fitted with the standard flat-2 engine, painted in yellow with '007' on the front doors and fake bullet holes. This car was also popular in miniature, from Corgi Toys.
• The 2CV made several appearances in Louis de Funès's movies. In the opening scene of Le Corniaud, a 2CV driven by Bourvil is totally destroyed in a collision with a Bentley driven by Louis de Funès.
• Richard Dreyfuss drives a blue 2CV in small town 1950s America, in American Graffiti.
• Les Amants (The Lovers) (1958) starring Jeanne Moreau, probably has more 2CV scenes than any other film. Some of the dialogue actually takes place in a 2CV whilst being driven. The film ends with the lovers escaping in a 2CV.
• In the American television series Get Smart, the 2CV plays a prominent featured role in the 1968 wedding episode "With Love and Twitches."
• Frances McDormand drives a 2CV in the 1998 film Madeline.
• In Zazie dans le métro (1960) with Catherine Demongeot and Philippe Noiret, many 2CVs can be seen in a traffic jam in the middle of Paris during a strike on the Metro.
• In Blake Edwards's Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), Inspector Clouseau has a 2CV which he refers to as "The Silver Hornet". The car falls apart twice in the movie.
• In the 1979 Japanese animated movie The Castle of Cagliostro, a 2CV is shown during in the film's first chase scene. It is driven by Clarisse, the movie's heroine, who is being pursued by goons working for an evil count intent on marrying her. The Citroën 2CV also happened to be the first car owned by the film's director, famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
• The 2CV makes a short appearance in Apocalypse Now. During the famous scene of the attack by the Air Cavalry to the strains of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries a 2CV is rocketed while crossing a bridge.
• A 2CV is also blown up in what is supposed to be the very first act of terrorism during the Vietnamese civil war in 1952, in the film The Quiet American with Michael Caine.
• In 2003, some 2CV Charlestons, Citroën HYs and other old Citroën cars have pursuit in the animated movie Les Triplettes de Belleville by Sylvain Chomet.
• Musician Billy Joel had a rather notorious single car accident in his 2CV in 2004, in a rural area east of New York City.
• The Lloyd Cole song, '2CV', has the opening line, "She drove her mother's car - 'twas a deux chevaux".
• In the film Indecent Proposal, Woody Harrelson drives a 2CV.

Nicknames

Popular French nicknames were "Deuche" and "Dedeuche". The Dutch were the first to call it "het lelijke eendje" ('the ugly duckling') or just "Eend" ('duck'), while the Flemish called it "de geit" ('the goat'). In German-speaking countries it's called "Ente" ('duck'), sometimes "lahme Ente" ('lame duck') — ironically, for its off-road abilities and swinging moves. English nicknames include Tin Snail and Dolly. In the former Yugoslavia the car was called "Spaček" (pronounced "spa-check", meaning – affectionately – 'oddity' or 'aberration'). In Spanish-speaking countries they were nicknamed "patito feo" ('ugly duckling'), "cuatro latas" ('four cans', pun on the tin-like wheel arches), "citrola" or "citroneta" (derived from "Citroën"). In Finland, the 2CV is known as "Rättisitikka" (Finnish for "rag Citroën") because of its canvas roof and in Tunisia they call it "karkassa". Hungarians call it Kacsa (pronounced: "kacha" and also meaning 'duck'. In Greece, it is commonly referred to as "βάτραχος" (vatrachos, which means 'frog'). In Israel it was called "פחנוע" (Pronounced "pah-noa", meaning 'tin car').

Outside France, the 2CV's most common nickname today is "The Duck", which seemed to be endorsed by Citroën which released a stuffed toy animal in the 1980s representing a duck with Citroën on its side and 2CV under its right foot. It is commonly referred to as the "Deux Chevaux" and in Britain it is also known as the "upside down pram" or the "Tin Snail". In the US it was known as the "flying rag top."

The end of the 2CV

Citroën 2CV Dolly from behind

The 2CV was produced for 42 years, the model finally succumbing to customer demands for speed and safety, areas in which this ancient design had fallen significantly behind modern cars.

Citroën had attempted to replace the ultra-utilitarian 2CV several times (with the Dyane, Visa, and the AX), however its comically antiquated appearance became an advantage to the car and it became a niche product which sold because it was different from anything else on sale. Because of its down-to-earth style it became popular with hippies.

While not a replacement for the 2CV, a straightforward, unremarkable urban runabout supermini like the Citroën AX seemed to address the automaker's requirements at the entry level in the 1990s.

In 1988, production ceased in France but was continued in Portugal. The last 2CV, grey with chassis number VF7AZKA00LA376002, rolled off the Portuguese production line on July 27, 1990. In all, a total of 3,872,583 2CV sedans were produced. Including the commercial versions of the 2CV, Dyane, Méhari, FAF, & Ami variants, the 2CV's underpinnings spawned over nine million cars.

The 2CV was outlived by contemporaries such as the Mini (went out of production in 2000), VW Beetle (2003), Renault 4 (1994), VW Type 2 (still in production) and Hindustan Ambassador (still in production).

Unrestored 43 year old daily driver

Rebirth

The 1989 Nissan S-Cargo design was directly inspired by the appearance of the tiny French Citroën 2CV camionette or small truck, even including the single spoke steering wheel. The 2CV was relatively popular in Japan at this time. The car was introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show, and was built from 1989 to 1992 by Pike Factory for Nissan. Approximately 12,000 were manufactured. All S-Cargo's are right hand drive. While initially marketed only in Japan, S-Cargo's have spread as grey import vehicles.

The Chrysler CCV developed in the mid 1990's, (CCV stands for Composite Concept Vehicle) is a concept car developed to illustrate new means of construction suitable to developing nations. The car is a tall, fairly roomy 4 door sedan, of modest dimensions. The designers at Chrysler note they were inspired to create a modernised Citroën 2CV.

The company Sorevie of Lodève was building 2CVs until 2002. The cars were built from scratch using mostly new parts. But since the 2CV no longer complied with safety regulations, the cars were sold as second-hand cars using chassis and engine numbers from old 2CVs.

The 2CV-Méhari Club Cassis also reconditions the 2CV and the Citroën Méhari. Recently they entered a 2CV prototype in the Paris-Dakar Rally; this was a four-wheel drive, twin engine car (like the 2CV Sahara) powered by two 602 cc engines, the traditional one in the front and an engine in the rear boot space. [3]

Auto Express reported in a May 2007 news item that a 2CV concept similar in appearance to the 2005 Evoque would make an appearance in 2009, with Citroën likely to position its modern interpretation of the car against premium rivals such as the MINI. [4]

Models

Early 'camionette' (small truck)

1978 Citroën 2CV AK400 van

1958 Citroën Radar

File:Citroën Bijou.jpg

1960 Citroën Bijou

A late Citroën 2CV with square headlights

Standard passenger

• A (1948-?)
• AZ
• AZAM
• AZL
• AZKA (2CV6, ?-1990)
• AZKB (2CV4)

Utility

• AU
• AZU, AZU 250
• AK 350
• AK 400, AKS 400
• AYCD (Acadiane)

Cabriolet (Radar)

Robert Radar designed a fiberglass body on the chassis of a 2CV in 1956 and built a few prototypes in his Citroën Garage in Liège, Belgium. Citroën Belgium was enthusiastic about this model and decided to produce it as an official Citroën 2CV in its Forest (near Brussels) factory. They manufactured about 50 bodies and added the model called 2CV "Radar" on the price list. They were assembled on order, and in 1958 and 1959, only 25 were sold and production ceased. The remaining bodies were destroyed later. There are five or six of them left, one in the Netherlands and four or five in Belgium.

Coupé (Bijou)

The Bijou was built at the Citroën factory in Slough, UK in the early 1960s. It was a two-door fiberglass-bodied version of the 2CV designed by Peter Kirwan-Taylor. The design was thought to be more accessible in appearance to British consumers than the standard 2CV sedan. Incorporating some components from the DS (most noticeably the memorable single-spoke steering wheel), it did not achieve market success, possibly because it was heavier than the 2CV and thus not a brisk performer, reaching 100 km/h (60 mph) only under favourable conditions. Only 207 were built.

Four-wheel drive

One novel model was the 2CV Sahara, a four-wheel drive (4x4) car, equipped with two engines (12 hp each), each one having a separate gas tank. One was mounted in the front driving the front wheels and one in the back driving the rear wheels. A single gear shifter, clutch pedal, and gas pedal were connected to both engines.

It was originally intended for use by the French colonies in Northern Africa. As well as a decreased chance of being stranded, it provided four-wheel drive traction with continuous force to some wheels while others were slipping because the engine transmissions were uncoupled. Therefore it became popular with off-road enthusiasts.

Between 1958 and 1971 Citroën built 694 Saharas, but only 27 are known to exist today. The top speed was 65 km/h (40 mph) on one engine, but this increased to 105 km/h (65 mph) with both engines running.

The Méhari was also built as a 4x4, but with only one engine. Various 4x4 conversions were built by independent constructors from a Méhari 4x4 chassis and a 2CV body. Although the terminology is sometimes confused, 2CV 4x4 generally refers to these models, whereas 2CV Sahara refers to the two-engined Citroën vehicle.

Kit cars

The 2CV's availability, simple construction, low cost and propensity to rust make it an ideal donor car for a special or kit car. Examples of 2CV-based kit cars include the Pembleton and Lomax from Britain, and the Burton and Patron from Holland.

Vans and 'hunchbacks'

For transportation purposes, some models were redesigned into vans. Others had a 'hunchback' fitted, an extension to the boot.

External links

• Find out all about the 2CV! French website.
• Citroën A Series Index Page Citroën enthusiasts site.
• Cars inspired by the 2CV