Post-war and the 2CV (1945-1955)Post-war and the 2CV (1945-1955)
The result was the 2 CV, the company's second try at the design-it-differently-and-then-leave-well-enough-alone
formula, and for the second time a golden hit. It succeeded because it took
the theme of toughness and simplicity much further than anyone else dared
to. It was, The Autocar said, "the most original design since the Model
T Ford." It was crude to the point of mechanical obscenity, the only
car which made Porsche's Beetle seem like a Phantom V Park Ward in refinement
and luxury. In fact, the original idea had been summed up by Citroën
head Pierre Boulanger not long after the Michelin takeover as "an umbrella
on four wheels." The first designs had been drawn around a tiny liquid-cooled
engine, but a prototype built in 1937 had changed to an air-cooled unit
for even greater simplicity.
The war halted all development, and postwar efforts to get the TA back into
production held things up until 1948, but by then the buyers were even more
ready for a car like the 2 CV. Its horizontally opposed two-cylinder 375
cc engine, hardly overstressed in producing a mere 8 hp at 3500 rpm, was
blessed with oversized bearings and the ability to run on the very cheapest
gas. Driving the front wheels, this light alloy twin was mounted in an absurdly
upright corrugated body-the body was designed, remember, during the occupation
and as factory executives feared they might be left with few tools or presses,
the 2 CV was geared to be built with a minimum of press tools - hung on
sponge soft suspension. Inside was a quartet of factory-canteen steel-tube
and canvas seats, removable for load carrying or for the roadside picnics
so dear to the French - roof and doors were also removable without affecting
the performance. It was cheap to buy and run, yet on the long straights
of the Routes Nationales patient drivers would wind it up to respectable
speeds at the expense of dentist-drill noise and vibration. And provided
you could live with a roll which would have done credit to a Mackay clipper
with wind and sea on her quarter, the bump soaking suspension did a remarkably
good job of holding the wheels in contact with the road, so there wasn't
much need to slow down on the corners either.
"On the road, the car imposes its own tempo, and rolls imperturbably
along with a fine disregard for the condition of the road surface,"
said The Autocar whose road testers achieved 63.2 mpg with the car. They
found the 2 CV able to maintain maximum revs - all 3500 rpm of them - without
complaint and able to climb any hill, or traverse any terrain, if given
enough time. Top speed was 40 mph. "The 2 CV really has to be judged
as a new kind of car," they concluded. "It is as functional as
a bicycle or a lawn mower and seems designed to serve, as they do, with
the minimum of skilled attention." (That attention incidentally was
well within the bounds of the home mechanic and all the little car's vitals
were, and are, easily reached.)
The 2 CV had little enough riding on it for the engineers to improve on
- but they did their best. It had a dramatic fifty percent power boost -
all of four brake horsepower - after five years, and a centrifugal clutch
and an extra 50 cc twelve months later. In 1956 came higher compression,
and in 1958 you could have a staggering 24 bhp by ordering a special model
called the Sahara, which produced it by the clever if unusual expedient
of a second engine hidden in the trunk. This was the start of the power
race in earnest: an extra 1% bhp was added in 1961, and another 4-1/2 bhp
two years later. By 1965 power fanatics could order a 3 CV engine using
a power unit designed originally for a middle-range model called the Ami
6: an air cooled twin of 602 cc, churning out a full 25 bhp at peak.
In all, the 2 CV was destined to become a true cult car. Like the Model
T. it had humourous songs written about it and became the butt of cartoonists'
jokes. But, today, after more than three decades of production, it has become
recognized and accepted for what it is. Doubtlessly, there are many of its
owners who could afford a different car - the 2 CV in its most deluxe form
costs about $US1200 in Europe - but who would not even consider it. The
2 CV is quite sufficient, thank you, for daily trips, vacations, and occasional
around-the-world treks.
A companion model to the 2 CV was introduced in 1967. Basically, this
was the same mechanical package in an equally homely but slightly more comfortable
and more aerodynamic body, this time blessed with a proper name - the Dyane.
Even now, engine size of the standard version is only 10 cc's up, at 435
cc, but there is also a 3 CV Ami-engined version with a top speed of 68
mph. Virtually everything else, including the essential character of the
beast, is exactly the same as it always has been. An all-purpose gadabout
variation called the MŽhari - "aptly named after the swift, adaptable
steeds of the old Camel Corps" and boasting the first use of an ABS
plastic body - debuted during the late Sixties.
