![]() 09/05/2013 at 14:55 • Filed to: citroen, 2cv | ![]() | ![]() |
You can't make a car that can transport 4 people and their luggage with 9 horsepower.
You can't make a car that can transport a basket of eggs across a plowed field and not break any.
You can't make a car that'll get treated as a farm implement, gets fixed by the village blacksmith with a hammer, weighs only 600kg (1200 pounds) and still won't break.
Except that Boulanger's team at Citroën did all of these things by flouting every common sense car engineering rule in the book. Their tin snail shouldn't work, except it did. Brilliantly.
This is the 2 cv development team's story in their own words.
(warning: it's an '80s British channel 4 production. It assumes you're not an idiot, and that you have a greater attention span than a goldfish)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
![]() 09/05/2013 at 15:01 |
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I happen to agree with #1. I mean you can transport 4 people with 9hp... so I guess I'm wrong, but it means you accept a very flexible definition of "transport"
![]() 09/05/2013 at 15:42 |
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I've only got experience with the later 2CV6s, which had a heady 29hp. Driving one is the definition of 'de-hasting'; much like the slow food movement. Gently rocking along at 60 mph allows you to savour the experience, helped no end by the fact that you hear, feel and smell everything, and you can control everything too.
Just don't be in a hurry.