I thought in this blog I'd ruminate a little about the
Citroen Deux-Chevaux or 2CV. The stripped-down
French classic that's having somewhat of a renaissance
as a cute, practical and fun car. However, even we as fully fledged
‘Citroenians’, thought long and hard about yet another purchase of a quirky
French voiture and eventually decided what the hell and took
the plunge in April 2012. As it turned out it was one of the best car buying
decisions we've ever made.
I’m sure most car
aficionados are familiar with the unalloyed simplicity of the 2CV which,
depending on your point of view, is its abiding appeal or the source of much
mirth for those who like a little more content in their classics. Of course, their
many owners love them, but I
do enjoy, and empathise with the oft-quoted
line from a British Autocar review of the early 2CV which stated that it is: ‘the
work of a designer who has kissed the lash of austerity with almost masochistic
fervour’.
This is undoubtedly true when
you’re familiar with the stripped-down nature of these cars, but it does somewhat hide the
remarkable engineering that went into making what was essentially a French
peasants’ car. Ruthlessly simple, utterly logical and the very definition of
what the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery meant when he wrote: ‘[that]
perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there
is nothing left to take away.’ He wouldn’t have seen the final car as
he died in 1944 when the secret prototypes were
hidden from Nazi tyranny but I think he would have happily had a picture
of the Toute Petit Voiture (its development
name) appended to his writing to make his point.
When Citroen was specifying the car, they had
a simple USP in mind; similar to Henry Ford when he designed the ‘Model T’. They wanted to mobilise the French
populous and move them from agricultural vehicles which still included the
horse and cart. As such, it needed to be cheap to buy, easy to maintain
and highly adaptable.
People familiar with the 2CV usually
know one of the key design concepts that
it had to be able to travel across a ploughed field carrying a basket of eggs
without breaking any of them. It has also been described, pretty
accurately, as an umbrella on wheels. Citroen designed adaptability into the car from the start. Did you know that you can remove the roof, back window, boot lid and rear seats creating what is essentially a pick-up truck? In doing this, it can easily take cases of wine, bales of hay or livestock
to the local market.
Looking at it today you have a four-seat vehicle which has; progressively, a sunroof, can convert to a cabriolet or at its
most stripped down, a modest flatbed capable of making a trip to IKEA very doable.
Sounds pretty good? But there are reservations some would express
about power and speed. The original car,
launched in 1948, had a 375cc two-cylinder,
air-cooled engine. Slow, to say the least. It was progressively
updated to a snaillike 405cc, and by the
end of its production run in 1990,
it only had a 602cc engine capable of 65-70 mph with a following wind. Hardly a ball of fire. This, however, serves to mask the remarkable
automotive engineering that underpinned the development of the deuche’s air-cooled powertrain.
When considering the engine, you’ll be surprised by its breath-taking
simplicity. There are no pumps, hoses, or complex electrics to go wrong and
there are no belts to wear and snap. All essential services including
ignition, cooling and electrical generation are driven directly from the drive
shaft. As long as the car is running it’s likely to continue to do so. So
robust is this simple engine that in bench tests it was successfully run at
full throttle for 100 hours, the equivalent of 50,000 km of continuous driving
without issue.
Putting all that together what most find
surprising (including me) is that when used as a basic run-around the 2CV is
highly adept. In the low range it is
surprisingly quick. When driven with some brio on suburban roads you’ll
struggle to shake it off in any car especially as they can take corners at
terrifying speeds assisted by its alarming body roll and long-travel, spongy
suspension.
When you put all this together what you
get is the distilled essence of a car. Everything you need is there and not
a gramme more. Admittedly, it’s not that that safe when compared
to modern cars. Crashing one should not be considered an option at any
speed. But when used as a quirky urban road warrior, even today, there are not
many cars that can compete in
versatility, economy and in being sheer grin-like-an-idiot fun to drive.
So there you have it. You might
still have your reservations, and none
would blame you but as a coda to my little homage, and to confirm the 2CV is
the gift that continues to give, our humble example won, to our astonishment,
the ‘Modern Classic’ category at 2014 Gawsworth Car Show this
year. An outcome as surprising and delightful as owning such a plucky piece of
Gallic motoring history. So let me end by wishing you: Au revoir et Bon chance!
First published in the H&H CVC Magazine May 2014. Copyright Anthony Boe 2014. All Rights Reserved
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