Topic

Now here is a 'real' car!! 0-60 eventually - 602cc of air-cooled power purring along with 33bhp and not a K&N or TT in sight!

But what fun!

All the seats come out for a picnic, the roof comes off, and so do the panels. The only car that you need to take a 'Stugeron' to drive due to seasickness on the corners. You can take a pig to the market, carry a whole family of Whippets and a picnic hamper at the same time! Maybe it isn't a 'babe magnet' but I think Clemence Poesy would be happy to ride with you!

Also it would be hard to get done for speeding as no self respecting Judge would ever believe it!

Yes it's slow...well actually slower than slow..but it's such a charactor and fun to drive...I know it rots, but you can replace bits so easily....and the lady drivers can hang their handbags on the odd gear lever. Cooooool



But, is it cool?

To see all the Cool Wall cars click on this link

All the cars are now in the new Cool Wall section in the T-Bar

one of the worst cars to ever grace this earth.

Ummm didn't take long for someone to take me seriously!!

not at all, just my thoughts on them

A true icon.

Oh Yes, very cool, not sub zero, but definitely cool

Pierre Boulanger, the father of the 2CV, set a brief to his Chief Engineer, Maurice Broglie, for a new car to be codenamed "Becassine" (snipe) to be an "umbrella on wheels" to carry two farmers, along with 50kg. of potatoes or a small barrel of wine at a maximum speed of 60 km/hr. It must travel in good comfort over rough rural roads. Economy was to be a priority - less than 3 litres of petrol was to be used to cover 100 km., and the car must cost less than one third of the then current Traction Avant.

By 1936, a fullsize wooden mock-up had been made. Boulanger was tall, and was unhappy with the headroom. He ruled that the car should be modified to allow him to drive wearing a hat. A first prototype appeared early in 1937. The body was aluminium for lightness, wheels were magnesium, the windows made of mica. Hammock- like seats were suspended from the roof by cables. Since the new engine had not been tested, a BMW 500 cc. motorcycle engine was used instead, the kickstart being operated by the starting handle.

By the end of 1937, 20 prototypes had been produced. Secrecy was important to the project, and cars were tested at Bois de Meudon, near Paris. An old chateux at La Ferte-Vidame, east of Paris, had the grounds converted to a 2.5km. test track.

With the occupation of France, Boulanger was concerned the project would fall into the hands of the Germans. He ordered the remaining cars to be destroyed. However, development continued in secret and some prototypes survived. The aluminium body was finally shelved in favour of light guage steel. The innovative suspension for which Boulanger defined a specification to enable the car to carry a basket of eggs without breakage across a ploughed field was developed, electric start was added, a single headlight was deemed sufficient initially bit was later given a partner, and a heating system was added.

So, on the 7th October 1948, at the 35th Salon de l`Automobile, after a gestation period of 13 years, the 2cv was born. The press and public found the car very strange but irresistable. The car was however accepted as being well needed in austere post-war France, and when production started in earnest in 1949, demand was very heavy. Citroen had cornered a niche market, a market that other manufacturers did not know existed. The car was very comfortable, it could be driven up and down steps at 20mph, across ploughed fields. It rapidly became part of the fabric of French life. Farmers and country dwellers were the primary market, but town dwellers were also desperate to buy 2cvs. Demand exceeded supply. In 1949 only 924 cars were made but this rose to over 6000 the next year.

The rest as they say is history....

Which reminds me....

I have only ever ridden in one once, an early 80's "Charleston" model. What a gas!
Not fast, leaned like a Geordie on Saturday night, Had an umbrella handle shifter sticking out
of the middle of the dash, and you could see the road go by between the door and the body.
Great car!
They are very rare here as they were never officially imported, just a few private imports.

I've had deux 2CVs - in fact the first one was my first ever new car bought in 1977 of around £1200. It took us around 40 000 miles before I decided I really did need something faster for the commute along (Dutch) motorways to work. It was totally reliable apart from the August Bank Holiday when we got lost in Kent and drove through a ford...we came out on one cylinder only and I had an initiation lesson in 2CV ignition systems - they are somewhat unusual. The handling is also somewhat unusual and it was common to be on 3 wheels taking a Dutch cloverleaf junction with some brio..the inside rear would lift off and flop up and down. Despite all this it never skidded nor fell over. It was also brilliant in snow and if you did get stuck in a deep drift you could bounce the car out (or even carry it a bit if you were 4 blokes). We transported a dining table and a grandfather clock in the car without resorting to the Antiques Roadshow solution. The 2nd one was a 2nd car and perhaps that was a better transport solution - cool? Well the heating was but really a great little car that you either love or hate.

Richard

I have always loved them and you still see some in daily use around here. One girl at the school where the navigator works has owned one from new. Its a Dolly special edition. They can make very good progress once you get the knack and can be held flat out permantley on motorways just like the beetle. In the little Citroens case this is helped by the oil cooler being in the circuit just before the cylinder heads where the engine runs hottest. As noted above the ingition shows the same engineering genius as the rest of the car being a wasted spark system, just like our TF which has 2 of them so we brits caught up 60 years alter.
So yes I voted cool.
It isnt massive power that makes a car attractive to a really skilful driver. A few weeks a go i was parking the trusty Fiat with the owner of that Evo and F355 as passenger. We went past an 800cc Daewoo Matiz and that was the one car he mentioned. he used to have one bought for his wife who couldnt stand it. He just got hooked as driving it to the best it could achieve was so difficult and involving and you could do it on the way to work without the Plod helicoptor getting scambled. James Hunt drove an A35 van for the same reason.

The 2CV is a design classic - little touches such as the wheels being at the same distance as a french tractor so they could use french farm tracks and an engine that ran on the cheapest petrol.

As much as I don't like the French its got to the point where enough time has passed and they are rare enough to be considered cool.

Retro even.

Converted into Lomax or similar perhaps but as standard never. I'd rather own a Trabant!