Citroen has produced some memorable cars, from the amazing SM to the lowly 2CV. In the sixties you might have seen a few on this side of the Atlantic. In the seventies they were a favorite of those who competed in ice racing. I had a professor at my college that commuted every day in his.
You can see them in the movie “Day of the Jackal”.
It had an air suspension that would allow the driver to raise and lower the vehicle as required, a silky smooth transmission, and the looks of a modern age.
The 2CV on the other hand was minimalist to the maximum. It has a two cylinder engine and not even windows to roll up. The 2CV intorduced in 1955 had an engine that was rated at only 9 horssepower. The side windows folded up instead of winding down. They were the perfect vehicle to convince rural French farmers that they too could use a motor vehicle in their lives.
It was once voted the world’s ugliest car, but I think homely would be more appropriate.
It came in your very basic sedan as well as a few variants, including a small van-truck.
An Italian rally team found some spare time to take a Ferrari chassis and graft a 2CV truck body on to it creating the most wondrous Citroen ever.
Thanks to Kevin for steering me to this video.
June 3, 2009 at 7:57 pm |
[...] Original post by jimsgarage [...]
June 3, 2009 at 8:48 pm |
[...] Original post: Citroen 2CV ala Ferrari « Jim's Garage [...]
June 4, 2009 at 10:36 am |
[...] Citroen 2CV ala Ferrari [...]
June 8, 2009 at 9:20 am |
Wow!
One of the first cars I ever drove was a 3CV (note that not a 2CV) mini-van that my brother had to deliver goodies. The Gear shifting was a challenge… and on a mountain place such as where we used to live going up some hill required quite a bit of inertia to begin with.
Fun times… those cars were cheap and reliable as hell.
June 9, 2009 at 8:07 am |
I was just in France and saw at least two 2CVs in Paris. I’d love to bring one home and knock around my NH town in it. They are very cool cars.
Citroen has some great looking cars these days, too.
June 9, 2009 at 2:21 pm |
Here’s another clip of fun and games in 2 CVs.