The Citroën 2CV (French: deux chevaux, literally "two horses", from the tax horsepower rating) is an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1948 to 1990.*******************The 2CV belongs to a very short list of vehicles introduced right after World War II that remained relevant and competitive for many decades - in the case of the 2CV, 42 years. Pierre-Jules 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 roads if necessary. France at that time had a very large rural population, who had not yet adopted the automobile due to cost. The car would use no more than 3 litres of gasoline to travel 100 km. Most famously, it would be able to drive across a ploughed field without breaking the eggs it was carrying. Boulanger later also had the roof raised to allow him to drive while wearing a hat.*********************André Lefèbvre was the engineer in charge of the TPV (Très Petite Voiture - "Very Small Car") project. By 1939, the TPV was deemed ready and several prototypes had been built. Those prototypes made use of aluminium or magnesium parts and had water-cooled engines. The seats were hammocks suspended from the roof by wires. *************************************** During the German occupation of France during World War II, Michelin (Citroën's main shareholder) 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 were 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. The car on display was nearly identical to the type A version that would be sold next year, but lacked an electric starter: the addition of this one was decided the day before the opening of the Salon of Paris. It was enormously criticized. In spite of that, it had a great impact on low-income population. It was laughed at by 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" or a "sardine can" 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. The waiting list was soon increased to five years. At that time a second-hand 2CV was more expensive than a new one because the buyer did not have to wait. 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 but the 2CV sold poorly in Great Britain in part due to its excessive cost. Expecting to boost sales, Citroën introduced a glass-fibre coupé version called the Bijou that was briefly produced at Slough. Styling of this little car was by Peter Kirwan-Taylor who was better known for his work with Colin Chapman of Lotus cars, but it proved to be too heavy for the diminutive engine to endow it with adequate performance.*********In 1967 Citroën built a new car based on the 2CV, the Citroën Dyane, in response to the direct competition by the Renault 4. At the same time, Citroen developed the Méhari off-roader. A rare Jeep-esque derivative, called the Yagán, after an Aborigine tribe, was made in Chile between 1972 and 1973. After the Chilean coup of 1973, there were 200 Yagáns left that were used by the Army to patrol the streets and the Peruvian border, with 106 mm cannons. A similar car was sold in some west African countries as the Citroën "Baby-brousse". A very special version of the 2CV was the «Sahara» for very difficult off-road driving, built from December 1960 to 1971. This one had an extra engine mounted in the rear compartment and both front and rear wheel traction. Only 694 «Sahara»s were built.********************The purchase price of the 2CV was always very low. In Germany in the 1960s for example, it cost about half as much as a Volkswagen Beetle. As time went on, this rural horse-substitute gained favour with a new audience: European nonconformists who protested mass consumer culture. At the time, a popular joke was that 2CVs came straight from the factory with Atomic Power - No Thanks! bumperstickers. Owning a 2CV was like being in a club - 2CV owners would wave to each other on the road. The 2CV was mainly sold in France and some European markets. In the post war years, Citroën was very focused on the home market, which had some unusual quirks, like puissance fiscale. The management of Michelin was indulgent of Citroën up to a point, but was not prepared to initiate the investment needed for the 2CV (or the Citroën DS for that matter) to truly compete on the global stage. Consequently, the 2CV suffered a similar fate to the Morris Minor and Mini, selling fewer than 10 million units, whereas the Volkswagen Beetle, which was sold worldwide, sold 21 million units. Only a few thousand 2CVs were sold in North America when they were new - the car was so small and inexpensive that the cost of transport alone put it into a different and uneconomic price category. The 2CV was built in Chile and Argentina to address this issue for South America.********The 2CV has also been used for travel around the world. In 1958–1959 two young Frenchmen, Jean-Claude Baudot and Jacques Séguéla started at the Paris Motor Show on October 9, 1958, headed south and crossed the Mediterranean by boat from Port Vendres to Algeria; traversed the African continent and crossed the South Atlantic from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro; cris-crossed South America and the United States and boated from San Francisco to Yokohama. They were back in Paris on November 11, 1959. During the 13 months, they drove 100 000 kilometres, consumed 5 000 litres of petrol and 36 tyres.************Popular French nicknames were "Deuche" and "Dedeuche". They also called it "an umbrella on wheels" and "the big beast". The Dutch were the first to call it "het lelijke eendje", the ugly duckling, or just "Eend" (duck), while the Flemish called it "de geit", the goat. In Germany it is called "die Ente", the duck. English nicknames are Tin Snail and Dolly. In the former Yugoslavia the car was called "Spacek" (pronounced "spa-check", meaning—affectionately—"oddity" or "aberration"). In Spanish-speaking countries they were nicknamed "patito feo" ("Ugly duckling"), "citrola" or "citroneta" (derived from "Citroën"). In Finland, the 2CV is known as "Rättisitikka" (Finnish for "rag Citroën") because of its canvas roof. Outside France, the 2CV's most common nickname today is "The Duck", which seemed to be endorsed by Citroën which released a stuffed toy animal in the 1980s representing a duck with Citroën on its side and 2CV under its right foot. It is commonly referred to as the "Deux Chevaux" and in Britain it is also known as the "upside down pram" or the "Tin Snail". A Micro Machines video game offered a vehicle called the "Super Snail", which resembled the 2CV.***************The 2CV was produced for 42 years, the model finally succumbing to customer demands for speed and safety, areas in which this ancient design had fallen significantly behind modern cars. Citroën had attempted to replace the ultra-utilitarian 2CV several times (with the Dyane, Visa, and the AX), however its comically antiquated appearance became an advantage to the car and it became a niche product which sold because it was different from anything else on sale. While not a replacement for the 2CV, a straightforward, unremarkable urban runabout supermini like the Citroën AX seemed to address the automaker's requirements at the entry level in the 1990s. In 1988, production ceased in France but was continued in Portugal. The last 2CV, grey with chassis number VF7AZKA00LA376002, rolled off the Portuguese production line on July 27, 1990. In all, a total of 3,872,583 2CV sedans were produced. Including the commercial versions of the 2CV, Dyane, Méhari, FAF, & Ami variants, the 2CV's underpinnings spawned over nine million cars. The 2CV was outlived by contemporaries such as the Mini (went out of production in 2000), VW Beetle (2003), Renault 4 (1994), VW Type 2 (still in production) and Hindustan Ambassador (still in production).