In October 1948 the first Citroën 2 CV was shown to the public in Paris. 1998 celebrated the 50 years jubilee, to an actual production period of 42 years and an overall production number figure of five million vehicles.
In this article we have look at the history of the CV, links to World 2cv clubs and the fascination inspired by this quaint Parisian, his sisters, derivatives and the bigger brother the H-Van aka HY created over the years.

Late 30's Traction Avant

A brief history of the Front Wheel Drive:

In 1934 Citroen revealed the Traction Avant, the first mass produced front wheel drive car. It had a monocoque body and independent front suspension. From the Traction Avant onwards, all Citroens would be front wheel drive cars.
In 1935, after the founder Andre Citroen died, the company was bought by Michelin and Pierre Boulanger took charge. He had a love of cars and, with his team of talented designers, would create two of the most ingenious cars ever produced.

The first thing he did was to set a design brief for a small, simple and basic car for people without transport. Numerous prototypes were produced to ensure the car was going to be comfortable, economical and absolutely reliable. This car was to be the 2CV.

During the 1940's work was to have begun on a luxury car. As with the 2CV the suspension and handling were going to be strong points and a lot of work would be carried out to find a solution to high speed driving on bad roads. A mass of new ideas and creativity with a style and elegance unrivalled would be called the DS.

'Paris-Dakar'-style late 60's Dyane. Notice early type door handles

First produced in 1948 in the suburban Paris factory located at Lavallois the 2 CV was definately not a Ferrari having a "massive" nine HP 375 cc 2 cylinder engine, compared with the 600 cm˛-motor, of 1980 with 29 HP.

Sturdy construction technique and build from the designs of a brilliant team leader / designer André Lefčbvre, complimented the commitment of Citroen chairman Pierre Boulanger.

Whilst in many cases it was not 'love at first sight', the 'duck shaped" 2cv like with models of some other companies at the time... such as the Bubble shaped Morris Minor of the UK., sympathy for the design grew steadily as reliability and economy won popularity amongst the working class and cheapness of repair ensured a steady growth in sales in the comming years through out a battered post war France.

The slight, front wheeled drive 375 cc motor provided reliability but had shortcomings in terms of speed and comfort over long distances these problems were later to be rectified through suspension variations and incresed power plants, first to 425cc of much greater horsepower, initially an additional three HP increase improvement gave way to the much later cars producing in 1980 29 HP, other changes included body work, without third side-windows and of course the old standard grey colour scheme eventually gave way to variations even in the rare color-combination of Schwarz-yellow.

French 'mobilehome'. This car has Mehari 4x4-transmission

The steel steering wheel and hammock like seats (remind you of the old picture theatres?) and exhaust fumes, dust and twigs which frequented early 2 CV model interiors entering through the floor boards all gave way to improvements in both construction design, safety and comfort, as did the feeling as if sitting on a drafty porch.

Thoughout the years however the basic shape has continued to remain the same, and the latest 2cv is still immediately identifable from the original production model of over 50 years ago even after The change of the classical round-headlights to rectangular! (athough The last 2 cv "ducks", from the Portuguese production factory at Mangualde, carried again the original round head lamps.), a significant change as as dramatic as the variation in accelerator pedal design from decades of obstructed oblong plate yielding to a cheaper, but more practical sheet metal-tongue as seen by the fans of the 2cv.

In line with the 3 fold increase in engine power drum brakes gave way over the years to disk-brakes, weather sealing improved, and interior comfort standards continued to be upgraded.
The 500 kilo 2CV boasted a performance-weight ratio of 80 kg/ HP, still unable to tackle a Porsche 930 let alone a stock 1600cc VW Beetle the 2cv was in it's own league and in fact it's own realm, economical and reliability continued win over over the buyers so much so that they were over 50,000,000 produced!

Dyane

The last variations to May 1990, from out of the Portuguese production facility of Mangualde have proven the worth of cavity sealing with many ealry 2cv's not showing a trace of rust.

Aside from the Dyane, the 2cv heritage continues is a variety of other models:

Mehari

Gs-Club

Perhaps it's because of an owners financial position, or because the owner fell in love with the shape, but one thing that remains for certain and is evidenced from the 2,000 plus enthusiast groups and 2cv clubs....... the duck is here to stay.

2 cv Racing Link [2cvracing.co.uk]
links to 80 World 2cv clubs