Celebrating the 60th anniversary ¨of Citroën’s lovable 2CV

If nicknames are a sign of affection, the Citroën 2CV is the best-loved car in the world. The French called it Dedeuche; the Belgians named it the ‘goat.’ In the Netherlands and Germany it was the ‘duck’ while the English term of endearment was ‘tin snail.’ To the Danes it was the ‘student’s Jaguar’ — it seems that the little Citroën was called almost anything but 2CV.

We’ve all heard the 2CV was designed to carry a basket of eggs across a ploughed field without breaking any of the eggs. In fact Pierre-Jules Boulanger, the managing director of Citroën, told his chief engineer, Maurice Broglie, to design a ‘motorised pony cart’ for people who had no driving or mechanical experience.

Boulanger wanted ‘four wheels under an umbrella’ to carry two peasants plus 50kg of farm produce at 50kph without using more than 3l/100km of petrol. It had to move its passengers in comfort without breaking one egg in that famous basket. Moreover, its price had to be one third of a Traction Avant’s. Broglie told his boss it was the most unreasonable specification he had ever been given.

Toute Petite Voiture

Meeting the specification required a special man. Project director Maurice Chinon chose Andre Lefebvre, the brilliant former Voisin designer and racer who had considerable influence over the Traction Avant’s design, and was later responsible for the Citroën DS.

The prototype TPV (Toute Petite Voiture — very small car) had a water-cooled, flat-twin engine. Many parts of the car were of aluminium and magnesium to reduce weight, and the seats were four hammocks strung from the roof.

Lefebvre used the minimum possible number of parts to reduce weight and cost. There were no window winders, no electric starter and just one headlight. The French government approved the prototype in August 1939, but the start of World War II in September delayed its introduction by almost 10 years. Several prototypes/pre-production models were hidden. Two were recovered after the war and three more were found in 1994.

The TPV was far from ready and would have been a market flop. The car displayed at the Paris Motor Show in 1948 was very different. Gone were the alloy body panels because of cost. The engine was air-cooled, and Flaminio Bertoni, who later penned the Citroën DS, had redesigned the body to make it less like a garden shed on wheels. Deck chairs replaced the hammock seats.
The motoring press ridiculed the little car but the public loved it. In no time the waiting list stretched to over two years.

Elegant Simplicity

The 2CV’s engine was a marvel of clever design. For example, the dynamo rotor was part of the front of the crankshaft, and its shell was rigidly attached to the crankcase. There were no dynamo bearings to wear out and less clutter around the engine. Instead of a distributor, a points set on the end of the camshaft provided set and forget ignition timing.

Its high quality was demonstrated by extremely fine machining tolerances that allowed the engine to be assembled without gaskets. The attention to detail of Walter Becchia, its designer, extended to boring each end of the crankshaft to lighten it. Remarkably, he designed this legendary engine in just six days! Presumably he rested on the seventh. He designed it to run flat-out for hours on end, year in, year out, with only basic maintenance.

Obviously, the obsession with lightness and simplicity included the body and running gear. The wheels were mounted on large curved arms pivoted on cross tubes that doubled as strengthening members. The suspension consisted of a longitudinal, horizontal, enclosed spring unit on each side of the car under the floor. The front and rear wheels on each side were linked via the spring unit, giving an exceptionally comfortable ride.

The body comprised few complicated pressings, and was therefore easy and cheap to make. There was no roof, just a canvas top from the windscreen to the back bumper, with a fixed back window.

Inside the car, ‘Spartan’ hardly described the earliest 2CVs. The seats were pipe frames with rubber cords covered in canvas, and were easily removed to serve as picnic chairs. The speedometer was attached to the windscreen pillar and its cable also drove the windscreen wipers. The only other gauge was an ampmeter. There were no indicators, heater or fuel gauge. A novel feature for the time was a steering column stalk for the lights and horn.

Intrepid Journeys

The 2CV — deux chevaux or two horses — fulfilled its design requirements beyond the expectations of everybody except its designers. Its toughness was proven by intrepid journeys to all parts of the globe. In 1953 Jacques Cornet and Henri Lochon took a 2CV to the top of Mount Chacaltaya in Bolivia to claim the highest altitude driving record.

In the same year Michel Bernier and Jacques Duvey drove from Capetown to the Sahara in 25 days. Back home in Paris, they changed the oil, spark plugs, tyres and brakes shoes before completing 17,500km in 24 days in the Monte Carlo Rally. A generator problem cost them 40 valuable minutes and first in their class. Their next outing was the 1955 Mille Miglia, where they covered the 1597km in 20 hours to finish 271st out of 652 entrants including Moss and Jenkinson. The other cars were all bigger and more powerful — so how did finishers #272 onwards feel?

Citroën began offering a prize for the year’s most extreme 2CV adventure but, when some became too extreme, they organised annual ‘2CV raids’ instead. The first, from Paris to Kabul and back, saw 1300 people drive 17,000km in 494 2CVs during the summer of 1970.

Variations on a Theme

The 2CV underwent many changes during its long production life — cosmetic improvements, mechanical refinements to increase performance and upgraded interior appointments. Several derivatives were developed along the way, including the popular Fourgonette van. The fibreglass-bodied Bijou coupe was briefly built at the Citroën works in Slough, England.

The Dyane was supposed to replace the 2CV but, ironically, the 2CV outlived it by six years. Only a Frenchman could have designed the weird-looking Ami with its Anglia-style back window. The Mehari, a Jeep-like vehicle with plastic panels, was more of a soft-roader, but the later 4×4 version could climb almost anything. The FAF, which looked a little like the Mehari, was designed for assembly in under-developed countries. The ‘standard’ 2CV outlasted them all.

Tuesday, October 7 this year marked the 60th birthday of one of the world’s most significant cars and, as Taranaki is a hot-bed of Citroën enthusiasm, I didn’t have to go far to celebrate the anniversary with a 2CV or two.

John and Carolyn Brough recently sold a saloon and van from their impressive Citroën collection, but they still own a 2CV Sahara.

Southern Sahara

If you’ve never heard of a Sahara, you are not alone. It was Citroën’s first answer to the four-wheel-drive question, achieved by bolting another engine into the boot of a 2CV saloon, to drive the rear wheels. It wasn’t that simple, as John explained.

Each engine has its own ignition key and starter button, and its own petrol tank, one under each front seat with a filler poking through a hole in each door. There are two clutches and gearboxes, with one gearshift for the front gearbox and another lever beside it for engaging/disengaging the rear unit. There is one clutch pedal, and one accelerator links both carburettors via cables. The engines are not fully linked but they tend to naturally synchronise. Each engine produces 8.9kW. The Sahara’s top speed is 65kph on one engine and 105kph with both working. It was designed to climb a 45 per cent slope.

Just 694 Saharas were built between 1958 and 1971, and less than 30 survivors are recorded.

With an English friend and Citroën fanatic forever telling them to buy this or that Citroën, the Broughs eventually said that if he found a Sahara, they would buy it. Knowing there were so few left, they thought they were on safe ground.

Long after they returned to New Zealand, they received a phone call — their friend had found a Sahara. When John was in London a short time later he inspected their latest purchase, expecting to see it in assorted boxes. To his amazement, it was complete and driveable. It was shipped home in 1993 and registered in 1994. It’s the only known Sahara in the Southern Hemisphere.

All four mudguards were repainted and the seat upholstery was washed to remove most of the stains. Otherwise, the car is in original condition. It has clearly led a sheltered life. ¨ The Sahara had covered 36,000km when John and Carolyn bought it, and has now seen a mere 41,300km.

John discovered it was the first of 80 Saharas built at Citroën’s Vigo plant in Spain for the Spanish Civil Guard. That made the car more special, and explained why the few dashboard controls were marked in Spanish. An eye specialist from Barcelona bought the car when the Guardia pensioned it off. He kept it for some years until he was “persuaded by a wily Englishman” to sell it. He has since regretted selling, and has told the Broughs he would like to buy it back.

Talking of selling, a Sahara sold in America about five years ago for $US25,000 and another sold early in 2008 for €52,000. These rare little cars are highly prized by Citroën aficionados.

Gliding On

Riding in the Sahara was a unique experience. I immediately noticed the engine was a very sweet unit with not a hint of a rattle. The car shot up the Broughs’ steep driveway with ease on one engine. John quickly remembered his double-declutching skills to get the best out of the gearbox, and he didn’t even think about top gear until we were on a gentle downhill.

The seats were unbelievably comfortable, and we sailed over sunken hydrant covers in the road without feeling them. Speed humps could be taken faster and more comfortably than in a modern car.

Looking through the close, narrow windscreen over the spare wheel on the green bonnet was a bit like riding in an armoured car. The engine was working hard with no soundproofing, but it was never intrusive, more a friendly companion.

Charleston

Dennis Adlam, New Plymouth’s Citroën dealer/specialist, generously lent us his very tidy1985 2CV Charleston for comparison, and an interesting contrast it was. At a casual glance, the two cars seem the same, and yet everything is different.

The Charleston’s interior is almost plush; its engine bay looks busier; it has disc brakes at the front and an alternator. The Sahara has unique rear mudguards and bonnet with the old-style grille. Door handles, instrument panel, steering wheel, window catches, taillights — wherever you look, almost every detail has changed.

If I enjoyed the Sahara, I was won over by the Charleston and the ease with which John manipulated that gearshift protruding through the dashboard and pedalled the car along at a good speed. I am now converted from a doubter who thought 2CVs were kind of cute but faintly silly, to a believer.

The 2CV was described by The Motor as “a vehicle with almost every virtue except speed, silence and good looks.” After spending a little time in a 2CV you appreciate that life in the slow lane has its own charms. The smooth, lawnmower-like purr of the engine denies the old saying that silence is golden and, after all, beauty is only skin deep.

Vive la Deux Chevaux!

Citroën 2CV Timeline

1935    Design brief
1936    First prototype on the road
1939    Final prototype submitted for type approval
1948    2CV revealed at Paris Salon on October 7
1949    Production starts
1951    Ignition key and locking door handles
1954    ¨Optional 425cc 8.9kW engine, almost 80kph top speed
1956    ¨‘Luxury’ model — heater/demister, larger rear window, choice of more luxurious seat coverings
1957    Metal boot lid
1958    Sahara 4×4 announced
1960    ¨‘Ripple’ bonnet replaced by design with long side vents, better seats, Michelin X tubed radial tyres
1962    ¨Instrument panel with speedometer and fuel gauge, electric wipers
1964    ¨Front hinged doors, first car with tubeless radial tyres
1965    Three side windows
1967    Dyane introduced
1968    ¨Dyane available with 435cc or 602cc engines, Mehari announced
1970    ¨2CV gets 435cc (19.4kW) or 602cc (21.6kW) options
1974    Energy crisis brings 2CV back into favour
1976    ¨First special edition 2CV — the ‘Spot’ with orange and white paint
1980    ¨Special edition Charleston, so popular it becomes a standard model
1981    ¨Front disc brakes, 2CV co-stars in For Your Eyes Only, 007 movie
1984    Dyane production ends
1985    ¨Dolly special edition, becomes a standard model
1988    Last French-built 2CV
1990    Last 2CV produced in Portugal on July 27

Words and Photos: Gordon Campbell