Car Of The Day: January 14, 2012

Today's car of the day is Maisto's 1982 Citroën 2CV Spécial.

The Citroën 2CV (French: “deux chevaux” i.e. “deux chevaux-vapeur [fiscaux]”, literally “two tax horsepower”) was an economy car produced by the French car manufacturer Citroën between 1948 and 1990. It combined technological innovation, utilitarian looks and simple bodywork.
In 1953 Autocar in a technical review of the car wrote of "the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford". It was described by CAR magazine journalist and author LJK Setright as "the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car". It was designed for low cost, simplicity of use, versatility, reliability, and off-road driving. For this it had a light, easily serviceable engine, extremely soft long travel suspension (with height adjustment by lengthening/shortening of tie rods) , high ground clearance, and for oversized loads a car-wide canvas sunroof (which until 1955) also covered the boot).

Over 42 years between 1948 and 1990, 3,872,583 2CVs were produced, along with 1,246,306 Fourgonnettes (small 2CV delivery vans) and mechanically similar variants including the Ami – 1,840,396; the Dyane – 1,444,583; the Acadiane – 253,393; and the Mehari – 144,953, a total of 8,756,688
From 1988-1990, production took place in Portugal until 2CV production ended.

For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Citroën 2CV

This is a recent RAOK from James (thanks!).  I'm not 100% sure of what model year is represented here, but I think it's a 1980s example.  I know it's post 1960 due to the hood, and post 1970 because of the turn signal indicators.  The Spécial model was introduced as a stripped down model in 1975, and I suspect that this is what was replicated.  If this is a Spécial it has to be post 1978 due to the third side windows, and probably an '80s model due to the round headlights ('70s models had square lights).

The 2CV was produced for 42 years, the model finally succumbing to customer demands for speed, in which this ancient design had fallen significantly behind modern cars, and safety, where it was better than was generally realised: the front of the chassis was designed to fold up, to form a crumple zone according to a 1984 Citroën brochure. It was rated as comparable for safety, with contemporary 1980s small cars, (that are all very poor by modern standards), by Which? magazine since 1983 when it started rating safety. (The drive for improved crash worthiness in Europe has happened from the 1990s onwards, and accelerated with the 1997 advent of Euro NCAP.) Its advanced underlying engineering was ignored or misunderstood, by the public, being clothed in an ultra basic anachronistic body. It was the butt of many a joke, especially by Jasper Carrott. It was not helped by Citroën failing to promote it after the mid-80s and by falling quality standards. The car was viewed as an embarrassment by Citroën, and they tried to kill the model for several years before the end came.

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. Because of its down-to-earth economy car style, it became popular with people who wanted to distance themselves from mainstream consumerism – "hippies" – and also with environmentalists.

Although not a replacement for the 2CV, the AX supermini, a conventional urban runabout, unremarkable apart from its exceptional lightness, seemed to address the car makers' requirements at the entry level in the early 1990s.

In 1988 production ceased in France but was continued in Portugal. The last official 2CV, a Charleston with chassis number 08KA 4813 PT which was reserved for the Mangualde plant manager Claude Hebert, rolled off the Portuguese production line on July 27, 1990. But during the following week, five additional 2CV Special vehicles left the plant; three of their number (one blue, one white with chassis number KA 372168 fitted for a 1991 series that also never materialized, one red) for exhibition at the French "Mondial de l'Automobile" in Paris, October 1990 but this project was later cancelled.

The chassis numerical incrementation was not always sequential. The series number identification badge stock were ordered in bulk and fixed at random on the vehicles when leaving the production line. It often left gaps in the numbering sequence. For instance, on February 29, 1988 a gap of more than 17,500 numbers existed between cars carried on the last truck leaving the Levallois plant. Furthermore the official end of this last French line had been observed on February 19. This confusion began in 1948: the first six 2CVs received in succession the chassis numbers 000 007, 000 002, 000 005, 000 003, 000 348 and 000 006. Thus it is not possible to locate precisely the assembly date of the ultimate chassis numbers displayed: KA 366 694 (Great Britain), KA 359666 (Belgium), KA 375 563 (Germany), KA 376 002 (France) and 08KA 4813 PT (Portugal).

In all a total of 3,867,932 2CV's were produced. Including the commercial versions of the 2CV, Dyane, Méhari, FAF, and Ami variants, the 2CV's underpinnings spawned 8,830,679 vehicles. The 2CV was outlived by contemporaries such as the Mini (out of production in 2000), VW Beetle (2003), Renault 4 (1992), VW Type 2 (still in production as of 2010) and Hindustan Ambassador (originally a 1950s Morris Oxford, still in production as of 2010).