Citroen 2CV

The story of the 2CV is an interesting one and it didn’t begin in 1948 when the car came onto the market or when Ian from HubNut bought Elly many years ago!

In the 30s, Citroen wasn’t in the best of health and in fact, it was bankrupt; which led to a take over by Michelin - which gave the car an interesting first - but more on that later.

Andre Citroen died in 1935 but his successor, Pierre Jules Boulanger, was just as much of a visionary. He wanted a cheap car for the masses - what was dubbed ‘an umbrella on wheels’ to replace the horse and cart.

The 1936 TPV (Tout Petit Voiture') may have been designed to be simple and cheap to produce, but France's front wheel drive people's car was in fact, engineered without compromise and to the highest precision standards.

But then, the Second World War happens. Citroen weren’t about to let Hitler march in and take their designs to further his war efforts so they did something very brave and hid all the prototype cars. This level of deceit would’ve been punishable by death had the ruse been discovered, so it was an incredibly courageous act to take.

We get to the end of the car and finally, the 2CV can come to fruition. Two CV by the way, stands for deux coeval, which is French is two horses. The two horses is two taxable horsepower.

The new car from Citroen was unveiled to the public in 1948, the 2CV’s H-frame chassis lay underneath aircraft style tube framework, bolt-on panels, and a fabric roof - we talk about why you’d have fabric over steel later on in the video.

The car was designed with independent swing arm suspension which meant the wheelbase on the outside of the corner increased in the bends, so it had astonishingly good grip.

I suspect a lot of the ingenious ideas were coined or at least encouraged by Andre Lefebvre, who was in charge of the early TPV project because he’d raced and designed cars for the Grand Prix - he knew what was needed for a car in terms of suspension and handling.

Plus he took more than a keen interest in tyes; which is perhaps why, coupled with Michelin’s ownership, we have radial tyres on this car, a world first.

We talk later on about the FWD affording extra cabin room, but so too did the interconnected suspension, which was laid flat along each sill for low centre of gravity.

Also low in the car was the air-cooled flat twin and four-speed 'box - designed to require as few moving parts as possible.

It could run for hours without overheating.
During development, test units were run
for 50,000 miles at full throttle and used virtually no oil.

I know some of you will be asking at home how big this is, because some countries did not receive the 2CV. Well, it is 3.86 metres long and 1.48 metres wide, which is about 152 by 58.3 inches.

Cosmetic changes were few throughout the car’s lifepan, as were engine upgrades (375cc at the start, upgraded to 602cc later), in a remarkable 42-year production run that proved just how right Citroën got it in the first place.

And with over 3.8 million of these sold, I think we can all agree it’s not only a classic but produced in many countries around the world; an instantly recognisable symbol of France and their automotive industry.

Now testing this car today is rather special, not just because it belongs to a dear friend, but because it probably shouldn’t be here!

The car, named Tupperware, is a car you may recognise from Practical Classics as it is owned by deputy editor James.

A couple of years ago, James went on a breathtaking adventure through Europe in the car and then at the last hurdle, was smashed into at a ferry port whilst awaiting his ferry home.

Barry, the star of our recent episode of Classic Heroes, painstakingly rebuilt the car with his son Pete and did quite frankly, one of the best jobs I’ve seen in years.

Many would’ve scrapped the car and called time on it, but James, Barry and Pete stuck at it and today Tupperware not only represents the interesting story of the 2CV but of her own and her second chance after such a horrible incident.