2CVParisTour : Sightseeing Paris Tours by 2CV! More about the 2CV
Chances are that if you’re not french, you don’t really know what exactly is a 2CV. In short, it’s a marvelous vintage car. In french, we sometimes give it sweet nicknames like “Deuche” or “Dodoche”, because it is prononced “Deux Chevaux”.
The 2CV History :
The Citroën 2CV (French: “deux chevaux” i.e. “deux chevaux-vapeur” (lit. ‘steam horses’), “two tax horsepower”) was an economy car produced by the French car manufacturer Citroën between 1948 and 1990.
It was technologically advanced and innovative, but with uncompromisingly utilitarian unconventional looks, and deceptively simple Bauhaus and Junkers early all metal aircraft inspired bodywork (corrugated for added strength without added weight), that belied the sheer quality of its underlying engineering.
It was designed to motorise the large number of small-holder farmers in 1930s France, who were still using horses and carts. It is considered one of Citroën’s most iconic cars. In 1953 Autocar in a technical review of the car wrote of “the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford”.
It was described by Car Magazine journalist and author L. J. K. Setright as “the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car”. It was designed for low cost, simplicity of use and maintenance, versatility, reliability, low fuel consumption and off-road driving.
For this it had a light, easily serviceable engine, extremely soft long travel suspension (with height adjustment by lengthening/shortening of tie rods) high ground clearance, and for oversized loads a car-wide canvas sunroof, which (until 1955) also covered the boot.
Eglantine, our little 2CV, having some rest near the Champs de Mars :
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