Citroen 2CV
The Citroen 2CV is a small car manufactured in France between 1948 and 1989 by the Citroën company, and is one of the most easily identifiable cars on the road.
The 2cv grew out of Citroen’s TPV (The Petit Voiture) project in the mid-thirties. Citroen’s vision of the peoples’ car was intended to entice, less-affluent, rural France out of their horses and carts and into the motor car. The brief called for a car that would be simple to own, cheap to run and repair but also capable of tackling the worst French pre-war country roads, while keeping passengers comfort.
The TPV was to be developed at Michelin facilities at Clermont-Ferrand and at Citroën in Paris in strict secrecy, by the design team who had created the Traction Avant. Pierre-Jules Boulanger, the vice-president of Citroën was closely involved with all decisions relating to the TPV. He was obsessed with reducing the weight of the TPV to targets that his engineers thought were impossible. He set up a department that had the job of weighing every component and then redesigning it, to lighten it while still doing its job. He later had the roof raised to allow him to drive while wearing a hat. Another part of the design brief was that the suspension was to allow the 2CV to be driven over a ploughed field without breaking any eggs in a basket on the front seat.
During the German occupation of France in World War II Boulanger refused to collaborate personally with German authorities and organized and encouraged sabotage against production for the German war effort, to the point where the Gestapo listed him as an important "enemy of the Reich". 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, the others were destroyed. Until 1994, when three TPVs were discovered in a barn, it was believed that only two prototypes had survived.
Citroën finally unveiled the car at the Paris Salon on 7 October 1948. The early Citroën 2CV models had “suicide doors” at the front from 1948 to 1964, and all 2CVs have flap-up windows: roll up windows were considered too heavy and expensive in 1948, and the design did not allow any update.
In all a total of 3,867,932 2CVs were produced.
For more information see here.
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