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the 2 CV :
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new! Cathedrale Saint-Gatien at Tours
the perpendicular or English style of cathedral the fire at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris Stone tracery in church and
cathedral construction stained glass and cathedrals in Normandy fortified churches, mostly in Les Landes cathedral labyrinths and mazes in France Germans in France on first arriving in France - driving
Transbordeur bridges in France and the world 2: focus on Portugalete, Chicago,
Rochefort-Martrou France’s western isles: Ile de Ré Ile de France, Paris: in the context of Abelard and of French cathedrals Marianne - a French national symbol, with French definitive stamps la Belle Epoque
Pic du Midi - observing stars clearly, A64 Futuroscope the French umbrella & Aurillac 50 years old:
Citroën DS the forest as seen by Francois Mauriac, and today bastide towns what a hair cut! m & french pop/rock
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When the 2CV first appeared, it surprised the world by being a car stripped to basics in the extreme, by being out of fashion with its added-on headlights, and by its low price. (In 1948 - 1950, the price of the 2CV was about US$650, about half that of a Volkswagen beetle.) Only the Citroën name stopped the car from being thought a joke. But the 2CV had a surprising career. It received popular approval in the rural world for the go-everywhere suspension, was adored by the low earners for its unbeatable price, and loved by everbody for what it represented: a car beyond time, beyond fashion, and which knew every variation - from a 2CV 4 by 4 to the price Citroën 2cv 1948 CV cross-country car - and all the adaptations of its motor made by 2CV lovers: from tractor to pump, from buggy to motorbike. Today, this ageless little rustic car has been loved by its millions of owners. The 2CV is a true symbol and historic monument of French motoring that draws generations of supporters, with more than 300 clubs worldwide and rallies. Now 2CVs can be seen buzzing around French towns and countryside, some beautifully restored and maintained, others dented and dull from hard use. See impecunious young people touring around France, stopping by the roadside for picnics, the car complete with camping equipment on board. Or meet a farmer, bumbling along, on his way to check his maize crops with their giant irrigation systems, or off to the local farmer’s suppliers for a spare part. Down at the local supermarket, a 2CV proudly renovated will disgorge a family to go for their week’s shopping. The pater familias will even show off the well-thumbed parts manual, the new bible for 2CV lovers, while the family waits long sufferingly in a car that’s now as ‘good as new’.
The deuche represents France for all of an epoch. Made for forty-two years, the 2CV had been sold all over the world with a production total of more than 5 million examples. a small car for the average Frenchman Early sales were restricted to doctors and farmers, felt to be in most need of a car. At first there was only one colour, gray, to help maximise production. Many other colours followed. Very few changes were made over the years, most being to the mechanics rather than the outer body. When, in the USA, the headlamps were changed from round to rectangular, they were then returned to round headlights after a few years. After all, an ugly duckling has round not square eyes. The 2CV became as ubiquitous in France as the Ford Model T had been previously in the United States.
The first colour was a single choice - grey - to simplify and speed production.
The full range of ‘official’ colours was:  The 2CV was conceived as an economical car, both to buy and to maintain. This allowed both fast manufacture and slow general deterioration. For a simplified manufacture, the same screw was used practically everywhere, the motor could be put in place very easily and held by four screws. The same applied for the sheet metal bodywork. For low deterioration, longevity was favoured rather than performance, which translated technically into a larger play between pieces (in thousandths of a millimetre) and, above all, simple but effective solutions to problems. When Michelin the famous tyre maker bought out Citroën in 1935, the Michelin brothers - founders of the family business - had the idea of creating an economical car for the peasants and others with small incomes. They asked Pierre Boulanger, the new boss of Citroën, to make a market study to sound the expectations of future clients regarding such a car project. Following this study, Boulanger wrote the specification which would be so close to the heart of the largest pre-war French car maker. To transform this dream into reality, Boulanger had the services of André Lefebvre as engineer, and Flaminio Bertoni, whose nickname was gold fingers, as stylist. This team gave birth to one of the most iconic cars of the 20th century. Pre-war prototypes from Lefebvre formed a car in thin and undulating sheet metal, with a water-cooled 375cc two-cylinder engine and suspension that allowed interaction between front and back wheels. It used expensive materials like magnesium to reduce weight. Tests were made in a top secret centre at La Ferté-Vidame, west of Paris. By May 1939, 250 examples of the newly named “Type A”, were collected in the Levallois-Perret factory to be available for the Paris car show in October 1939. But the intervention of war decided otherwise. On the outbreak of war, almost all of the “Types A” prototypes already assembled were dismantled. Of the cars remaining, three were hidden at La Ferté-Vidame in the lofts of the test centre, while another was hidden in the basement of the study offices of Citroën in rue d’Opéra, Paris. During the war, the Nazis, who were up to date with the study of the TPV, asked Pierre Boulanger to make available the plans of the TPV in exchange for him seeing Hitler’s plans concerning the German car that would become the “Volkswagen”, the people’s car. The boss of Citroën remained firm and never divulged the plans. In 1995, the three prototypes were found at La Ferté-Vidame. They “were apparently hidden under bales of straw in the roof of a barn. It needed special lifting equipment to remove them.” [1]
helpful sources of information
end notes
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