A superb
and rare photo the famous Citroën
2CV.
The Citroën 2CV
(in French: “deux chevaux” i.e. “deux chevaux vapeur”, literally “two tax
horsepower”) was an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën from
1948-1990. It was technologically advanced and innovative, but with
uncompromisingly utilitarian unconventional looks, and deceptively simple
Bauhaus inspired bodywork, that belied the sheer quality of its underlying
engineering. It was designed to move the French peasantry on from horses and
carts. It is considered one of Citroën's most iconic cars. In 1953, 'Autocar'
in a technical review of the car wrote of, "...the extraordinary ingenuity
of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T
Ford." It was described by CAR
magazine journalist and author LJK Setright as "the most intelligent
application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car." It was designed for
low cost, simplicity of use, versatility, reliability, and off-road driving.
For this it had a light, easily serviceable engine, extremely soft long travel
suspension (with adjustable ride height), high ground clearance, and for
oversized loads a car-wide canvas sunroof (which until 1960 also covered the
boot). During a production run of 42 years between 1948 and 1990, 3,872,583
2CVs were produced, plus 1,246,306 Fourgonnettes (small 2CV delivery vans), as
well as spawning mechanically identical vehicles like the Ami — 1,840,396,
Dyane — 1,444,583, Acadiane — 253,393, and Mehari — 144,953: a grand total of
8,756,688. From 1988 onwards, production took place in Portugal rather
than in France.
This arrangement lasted for two years until 2CV production halted. The 2CV belongs
to a very short list of vehicles introduced in the middle of the twentieth
century that remained relevant and competitive for many decades, such as the
Jeep, Land Rover Series, Fiat 500, Austin Mini and Volkswagen Beetle. The 2CV
would be produced for some 42 years with minimal design changes.
It has a very interesting history, Pierre-Jules Boulanger's early 1930s
design brief, (after a pioneering market research survey done by Jacques
Duclos), was 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
(220 lb)
of farm goods to market at 60 km/h
(37 mph),
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 automobile,
due to its cost. The car would use no more than 3 L of gasoline to travel 100 km (78 MPG).
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. André Lefèbvre was the engineer in
charge of the TPV (Toute 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 flat
twin engines with front wheel drive. The seats were hammocks suspended from the
roof by wires. Its suspension system used front leading arms and rear trailing
arms, connected to eight torsion bars mounted beneath the rear seat. A bar for
the front axle, one for the rear axle, an intermediate bar for each side, and
an overload bar for each side. The front axle was connected to its torsion bars
by cable. The overload bar only came into play, when the car had three people
on board, two in the front and one in the rear, in order to take account of the
extra load of the fourth passenger and fifty kilos of luggage. During the
German occupation of France
in the Second World War, Boulanger refused to meet Dr Ferdinand Porsche or
communicate with the German authorities except through intermediaries. He
organised a 'go slow' of production of trucks for the Wehrmacht, many of which
were sabotaged at the factory, by putting the notch on the oil dipstick in the
wrong place resulting in engine seizure. In 1944 when the Gestapo headquarters
in Paris was
sacked by the French Resistance, his name was prominent on a Nazi blacklist of
the hundred most important 'Enemies of the Reich' to be arrested in the event
of an allied invasion of France.
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 a long time, it was believed that the project was so well hidden
that all the prototypes had been lost at the end of the war. It seems that none
of the hidden TPVs were 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. Citroën finally
unveiled the car at the Paris Salon on October 7th 1948. The car on display was nearly identical
to the 2CV type A that would be sold the next year, but it lacked an electric
starter, the addition of which was decided the day before the opening of the
Salon. The car was heavily criticised by the motoring press and became the butt
of French comedians for a short while. One American motoring journalist
quipped, "Does it come with a can opener?". The British 'Autocar'
correspondent said that the 2CV, "...is the work of a designer who has
kissed the lash of austerity with almost masochistic fervour."
Nevertheless, Citroën were flooded with orders at the show, and it had a great
impact on the low-income segment of the population in France. The 2CV
was a great commercial success: within months after it went 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.[3] Production was increased from four units per day
in 1949 to 400 units per day in 1950. Grudging respect began to emanate from
the international press: towards the end of 1951 the opinion appeared in Germany's
recently launched Auto Motor und Sport magazine that despite its "ugliness
and primitiveness" ("Häßlichkeit und Primitivität"), the 2CV was
a "highly interesting" ("hochinteressantes") car. In 1951,
Citroën introduced the 2CV Fourgonnette van. It pioneered the use of a large
box rear section, as later used by the Morris Minor, Renault 4, Citroën
Acadiane and Citroën C15 vans and copied in the 1990s by Vauxhall/Opel and
Ford. The "Weekend" version of the van had collapsible, removable
rear seating and rear side windows, enabling a tradesman to use it as a family
vehicle at the weekend as well as for business in the week. This was the
fore-runner of the Citroën Berlingo and Renault Kangoo people carriers
introduced in the 1990s. A pick-up truck version was used by the British Royal
Navy for pioneering Royal Marine helicopter carrier amphibious operations
aboard HMS Bulwark and Albion, in the late
1950s and early 1960s, due to the payload limitations of their first large
helicopters. A special version of the 2CV was the Sahara
for very difficult off-road driving, built from December 1960-1971. This had an
extra engine mounted in the rear compartment and both front and rear wheel
traction. Only 694 Saharas were built. The target markets for this car were
French oil companies, the military, and the police. In 1960, the 2CV was
updated, and looked similar until the end of production. In particular the
corrugated Citroën H Van style "ripple bonnet" of convex swages was
replaced (except for the Sahara), with one using six larger concave swages. The
1960s were the heyday of the 2CV, when production finally caught up with
demand. In 1967, Citroën launched a new model based on the 2CV chassis, with an
updated but still utilitarian body, with a hatchback that boosted practicality:
the Citroën Dyane. This was in response to the direct competition by the
Renault 4, that had used so many stolen design ideas from the 2CV and Traction
Avant that Citroën contemplated legal action at the time of its launch.
(Similarly, Volkswagen had had to pay damages to Hans Ledwinka over the Beetle
in the 1960s.) 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. In 1970, the flat-2 engine
size was increased to 602 cc (36.7 cu in) and the car gained rear
light units from the Citroën Ami 6, and also standardised a third side window
in the rear pillar on 2CV6 (602 cc) models. All 2CVs from this date can
run on unleaded fuel. 1970s cars featured rectangular headlights. The highest
annual production was in 1974. Sales of the 2CV were reinvigorated by the 1974
oil crisis. The 2CV after this time became more of a youth lifestyle statement
than a basic functional form of transport. This renewed popularity was
encouraged by the Citroën "Raid" intercontinental endurance rallies
of the 1970s where customers could participate by buying a new 2CV, fitted with
a ruggedising kit to cope with thousands of miles of very poor or off-road
routes. The Paris
to Persepolis
rallye was the most famous. The Citroën "2CV Cross" circuit /
off-road races were very popular in Europe. In
1981, a
bright yellow 2CV was driven by James Bond in the film For Your Eyes Only,
including an elaborate set piece car chase through a Spanish olive farm, in
which Bond uses the unique abilities of the modestly powered 2CV to escape his
pursuers in Peugeot 504 sedans.
This is a very nice and very rare non
period photo that reflects a wonderful era of Citroen and automotive
history in a wonderful way. This is your
rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format
of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x 30 cm). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.