A French icon: La toute petite voiture

[ajmat]

Sixty years ago this year, a strange little vehicle appeared at the Paris car show. It looked like an upside-down pram with a corrugated bonnet and a canvas roof.


It had no starter motor and one headlight. Its windscreen wipers were operated by the forward motion of the wheels. Its seats looked like cheap canvas deckchairs. The wheels were as thin as saucepan lids. The car – for it was a car – was available in any colour that you wanted, so long as it was dull grey.

read on here

[GTO]

Great read! Who would have thought this would be the base to feed the post-WW need, and a runaway success?

[clevermax]

I remember seeing this same old model, of course with the same color in Germany!! Never knew about these details until now.

[Cyrus43]

Interesting history lesson about one of the cutest cars ever!
Bien fait ajmat!

[sujaylahiri]

Wow what a coincidence.
We had a question in one of our exams yesterday about the Citroen 2CV.

[Batla]

Being french, leaving in France.. I had to react on this one.
'La 2 chevaux (2CV)' has been the most popular french car ever. Where I leave (in Alsace in France) there are still many of them which are used daily and which are in a very good shape. People love(d) it because it was often the first car they could afford when they were young drivers and very often they would even not pay for it since their by parents would 'abandon' it to their kids.
The basic technology of this car (2 flat cylinders air cooled) made it extremely easy to repair by almost anyone. The best part was driving this thing. Despite that it was moving like a boat on a bad ocean, it would stick to the road. This car was designed in a such a way that it was litterally impossible to make it flip.
This car has been customized like no other. As an example you may want to have a look at the blog of a belgian 2CV addicted guy. The text is in french but browsing through the 16 pages of photos is already worth it.
I hope you'll enjoy it, as I did!
bugaclaude's blog - buga-buga - Skyrock.com

A few kilometers away from where I leave in Alsace, France, is a museum dedicated to the 2CV.
Here is their site: Le musée 2CV du Framont :: 2cv-legende.com ::

Lastly.. In 1953 (excellent year..) a 2CV a bit prepared.. won 'Le Bol d'Or' which was a 24h competition in Le Mans. They even established a new record.. Amazing..
More details here: Séries spéciales 2CV :: 2cv-legende.com ::
There is a list of all the special series which made this car so popular..

Take Care et 'Vive la dedeuche!!!'

Serge