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Home > Citroën 2CV


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The 2CV (deux chevaux - French, literally "two horses", from the tax power rating) was a popular French car made by Citroën. 3,872,583 2CV sedan, 1,246,306 utility models and even more derivatives were produced from 1948 to 1990.

1 History

1960 2CV. Notice " suicide doors"

Pierre Boulanger 's early 1930s design brief - said by some to be astonishingly radical for the time - was for a low-priced, rugged ' umbrella on four wheels' that would enable two peasants to drive 100 kg of farm goods to market at 60 km/h, in clogs and across muddy unpaved roadThis page is related to transport you may be looking for the 2002 Bollywood movie Road''. A road is a strip of land, smoothed or otherwise prepared to allow easier travel, connecting two or more destinations. In the context of railways, a road is a singles if necessary. It would use no more than 3 litreThe litre (or liter in US) is a metric unit of volume. The litre is not an SI unit, but is "accepted for use with the International System". The symbol for the litre is the lowercase letter l or the uppercase letter L . A cursive or script small letter ls of gasoline to travel 100 km. Most famously, it would be able to drive across a ploughed fieldGenerally, a field is an open land area, used for growing agricultural crops. In Australia and New Zealand a field as defined above, particularly one for grass grazing, is called a paddock . When applied to a subject, a field is the area or set of topics without breaking the eggEgg has multiple meanings. The term is used synonymously with ovum, the female sex cell in animals and plants. These are a part of the female reproductive cycle. The term is also used for the ovum of animals together with its various protective layers ands it was carrying. Boulanger later also had the roof raised to allow him to drive while wearing a hatHAT is also the abbreviation for histone acetyltransferase. A hat is an item of clothing which is worn on the head a kind of headgear. Hats often have a brim, and may be either placed on the head, or in the case of some women's hats, secured with hat-pins.

André Lefebvre was the engineer in caharge of the TPV project. By 1939Events January-June January 2 End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson. January 24 Earthquake kills 30. 000 in Chile about 50. 000 sq mi razed January 26 Falangists take Barcelona January 26 the TPV (Toute Petite Voiture - "Very Small Car") was deemed ready and several prototypes had been built. Those prototypes made heavy use of aluminium parts and had water-cooled engine. The seats were hammocks suspended from the roof by wires..

During the German occupation of France during World War II, Michelin and Citroën managers decided to hide the TPV project from the Nazis, fearing some military application. Several TPVs were buried at secret locations, one was disguised as a pickup, and the others were destroyed, and Boulanger had the next six years to think about more improvements. Until 1994, when three TPVs where discovered in a barn, it was believed that only two prototypes had survived. As of 2003, five TPVs are known. For long it was believed that the project was so well hidden that the all the prototypes were lost at the end of the War. (In fact it seems that none of the hidden TPVs was lost after the War, but in the 1950s an internal memo ordered them to be scrapped. The surviving TPVs were, in fact, hidden from the top management by some workers who were sensitive to their historical value.)

After the War, internal reports at Citroën showed that producing the TPV would not be economically viable, given the rising cost of aluminium in the post-war economy. A decision was made to replace most of the aluminium parts with steel parts. Other changes were made, the most notable being an air-cooled engine, new seats and a restyling of the body by Flaminio Bertoni . It took three years for Citroën to rework the TPV and the car was nicknamed "Toujours Pas Vue" (Still Not Seen) by the press.

Citroën finally unveiled the car at the Paris Salon in 1948. It was laughed at by the journalists, probably because Citroën had launched the car without any press advertising. Boris Vian described the car as an "aberration roulante" (rolling aberration) and the car was qualified as a "Spartan car" by many. History has confirmed that the car was charming in a lot of people's views, and a revolution in consumer transportation, at least on the French market.

The 2CV was a great commercial success: within months of it going on sale, there was a three-year waiting list. Production was increased from four units per day in 1949 to 400 units per day in 1950. Some of the early models were built at Citroën's plant in Slough, England. A coupé version was even produced briefly, called the Bijou.

It was mainly sold in France and some European markets. The conservative management of Michelin (Citroën's main shareholder) was focusing on ROI and would never make the production and marketing required to develop export sales on a world scale. Consequently, it suffered a similar fate to the Morris Minor, and a very different one to the Volkswagen Beetle, which was sold worldwide.



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