Driving a Slow, Strange French Car In Modern American Traffic!
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#classic #car #dragrace - Auta a dopravní prostředky
In 1985, I saw one in Germany with a bumper sticker that said, "This car will not be driven over 100 Km/Hr to save the environment."
Keep Alive at 55 (mph)
@@toyotaprius79 I go 55 MPH in 2024 in my car, and get by in California. But I drove to Florida, 2,500 miles away, and after leaving California, the speed limits went up. 60 MPH is what I drove at, it was a bit sketchy at times. But was fine.
Should be written "to save the driver" , haha!
Smart
@@itryen7632 No, Citroën.
The 2cv is actually the safest car of the world, due to its construction:
Whenever there is a dangerous accident, the 2cv isn't there yet.
this car is not safe in case of accident and i m french, i know it. But the 2cv has a very good handling. If you are a good driver , it 's very safe. The maintenance is very easy and the pieces are easy to find in europe.
@@stephen10. t'as pas compris la vanne
@@guilhemsd2949 Ca y est j'ai compris ...
The engineers in 1938 believe that the Truck that hits the car from the side would hit first the two wheels which are on the very outside so that the axes take up the main physical energy. Until the truck has pressed himself to the door the energy has already gone.
@@stephen10. there is a French Guy who brought up all tools from closed factories so you can get every part factory new. frame parts doors or handsewed seating.
To enjoy this car perfectly, you need narrow, winding country roads, even narrower cobblestone streets in small towns and a deeply relaxed work-life balance with six weeks of paid vacation and a maximum of 37 working hours per week. And what you definitely don't need is an environment where pickup trucks are the best-selling cars. So in Europe the "duck" ( how we call it in Germany ) makes sense, in the USA it is only something for connoisseurs with a pinch of death wish
True, they're specifically suited to the environment in which they were built. America is far outside the comfort zone of a 2CV.
Das Ente.
@@taunuslunatic404 Die Ente 🤗
@@taunuslunatic404
Actually it is "Die Ente"😅
...and a really long loaf of bread sticking out of the sunroof!
In Germany when I went to visit my grandparents you could find these things running around and I always thought it was cool. It was affectionately called the “Duck”, so at that time from the 50’s through the 90’s you had Ducks and Bugs running around Europe.
Why duck and not snail?
@@justmechanicthings ...look how a duck is walking and you know why ;-)
I still see them driving arround occasionaly. In the Netherlands we call it the "Ugly duckling".
Ente Ente Ente 😁
@@f.d.robben159 .....oohhh!
Take it off road, you WILL be impressed! :-). I drive one daily since 1997 and just love it.
its the most unassuming looking offroader ever
He has in a previous episode
It's natural environment.
I love cars like this. It's proof to me that you don't need tons of horsepower to have fun driving. These kinds of cars always make me smile when I see one.
you don't need 300+ hp for a car, that's more than enough to have fun driving places
Problem is todays cars are so stupidly heavy @@danielzhang1916
Model T vs 2CV vs Beetle on drag race, 0-60, rolling race and braking. I think that would be fun. Oldest vs older vs old.
Even the first iteration of the Beetle was 22.5hp, a full 10% more than the model T! By the time the last 2CV rolled off the line, it had nearly quadrupled its pre-war power to the low 30's hp mark. As much as you could be led to believe that this would overwhelm the chassis, brakes and suspension, it didn't. By this stage, though, the VW Beetle boasted a massive 4 cylinder 1600 cc. high compression (7.?:1) engine. It has been claimed that this engine produced stratospheric levels of power. I've even heard claims of 60hp, but nobody really knows, not even Volkswagen Group.
But the secret sauce was the rear engine layout and the transaxle in the Beetle, and the very low first gear. This makes it the indisputable champion out of the three, not just that big block 1600 cc engine.
the model Ts top speed is like 40 😂
Don't take my comment seriously guys. Just for fun only. ✌️😁
@@co92715 Oh, I'm not. I suspect that like you, my sense of humour is as dry as an Englishman's bath mat.
Add the old jeep in this race too.
It is a very safe car, the crumple zone is as long as the car itself.
Good to know!
Although, granted, in a front end impact the shock would mostly go into the cabin, which would become taller and shorter the faster you hit something.
And the passengers double AS the airbags.
We race them in Belgium ! we have the 24H 2CV in Spa-Francorchamp
That still exists? I forgot about it.😊
@@EnthusiastCarHangarthe UK 2CV racing series was so successful that they had to ban further entries as the UK pool of 2CVs was being demolished - as they were so cheap back then - and the 2CV owner’s club asked them to stop, as rare and mint cars were being entered.
This lead to the C1 Racing Club starting (including 107s & Aygos latterly) to take the heat of the 2CV series.
Oh I’ll add, this was before ‘new’ 2CV shells being built were common place in the UK.
The ratio of pleasure to hp is the best in this car. It's very fun to drive this very slow car the fastest possible on a winding small single lane mountain road.
Here in France, in my small town in the Alps, I see at least one of them every day.
I am wondering how it handles hills? If you're in the alps are they just doing 20km/h up hills?
@@SmolPotatowo If the climb is very steep about 30 km/h. It also depends a lot with the car load. You drive fast only going down hill...
@@SmolPotatowo It's very light compared to a new car. so load really makes a huge difference.
That thing's a beast! Seven more horsepower than my zero turn mower and slightly faster, too.
The 602cc from the 2cv produce 29hp DIN, i think not your lawmover is that strong...2cv (= 2 horsepower) seems to be "2hp", but no this designate only the french tax level mostly based on displacment and transmission reduction: older 2cv (around 400cc) was... 2cv tax, buy the 602cc is a 3cv tax, but the historic name 2cv survive
Best type of race, forget 500+ hp evenly matched shootouts. One at full throttle, ultra concentration. The other remains completely unaware even when the race is "over". No one gets a speeding ticket. And its still a toss-up who wins.
Once so one in France with a Porsche Engine in the back. Didn't saw him drive though. Pretty sure that one would have been noticed, as they are very light.
In Denmark the 2CV had nicknames as 'Studenter Jaguar' (students Jaguar), 'Presset Citron' (Squeezed Lemon), 'Gyngehest' (Rocking Horse). It was slow compared to contemperanous cars in the 80'.
I still love how 6 men, 2 women and 1 child were fitted in the 2CV for Les Gendarmes En Balade all the while going as fast as it could
Have to watch that one ? - reminds me of chauffeuring 4 adults in the back of my 2CV, the mother of, my now 15 years old, daughter - 15 years and one month ago, on the co-drivers seat, plus myself as a chauffeur, returning from a restaurant in Ticcino,....only the front row being sober, but no one in the back.
Does that count as 6 and a half ? at least.
And I had a hitch hiking couple sitting stacked one on top of anothers lap, in the middle of nowhere up north in Norway, around the polar circle - it was raining heavily and their two back packs and my lugage occupied all the space in the back, that was devoid of the back seats anyway, being converted into a camper by plywood sheets forming a flat plane to sleep on.
They didn't stop emphasising how they are still perfectly comfortable every time I asked wether they wanted a brake,.. having been waiting beforehand for hours in the rain, that wasn't stopping...
My mother had a succession of those, as that suspension is the only thing that could handle the roads of Central Africa, and not break.Yes low and underpowered, but perfect if you wanted to travel around, and that did drive all around, including a few 2600 miles trips, one way, to the coast as well. On roads that only later on even saw tar, and in general which were, at best, unpaved dirt, that possibly had seen a grader in the last decade.
It looks like it would handle rough roads nicely.
@@volvo09 It was designed for it. I think, right after WWII, only 1/4 of the roads in France were paved.
People can say what they want about the 2CV, but they can't deny it absolutely nailed the brief given! A cheap, durable, comfortable car for everyone to drive through unpaved roads and fields.
You saw it here first, the 2cv is faster than the Audi A8
"Every expense spared", sounds like Stellantis.
The 2CV is more than a car. As French say it's an 'Art de vivre!' a way of life different from the usual one which was invented by the Nazis in the 30s when they conceived the VW beetle to put on the autobahns they were building all over Germany.
The VW beetle was not just a cat. It was an entire economy : highways, garages, all sorts of business to sell gaz, tired, sandwiches, you name it. It became the American way of life as well.
Citroën had another idea. He wanted a car fitted for the existing facilities of rural France in the 30. Able to go cross country, to ride on unpaved roads, easy to take apart and self-repaired by a farmer with usual tools, burning a very reasonable quantity of gaz so that you can buy it in a can at the village's grocery's store.
A way of life that will triumph in the near future since we reached pick oil and maintaining large infrastructures will become harder and harder.
By the way the 2CV is an excellent candidate for EV conversion because of that. The car does not need a power station to provide assisted steering, air conditioning and other luxuries.
The French were right in the long term.
No!
Not though unplowed field, but thru a PLOWED field which is basically just rows of high mounts of soil one next to another.
That's tough.
The 2CV in 1982, in europe, wasn't only a car, it was and it still is an "art de vivre". This is why this car never change !
To be fair, you're testing it on major roads. Put it in downtown traffic or some rural small town (dirt) roads and it'd fare better.
En france, on la surnommait "la deudeuche". Il y avait un jeu amusant dans les années 80 : quand on voyait une 2cv verte, on disait " deudeuche verte !!!" et on pinçait son camarade ! J'ignore l'origine de ce jeu mais il fallait que ce soit une 2cv verte ! Une règle permettait de ne pas se faire pincer en retour si on précisait "deudeuche verte sans retour"...on devait alors attendre qu'une autre 2cv verte arrive. J'ai eu la chance de monter dedans quand j'étais jeune ado....le bruit et surtout les suspensions, vous donne l'impression d'être dans un bateau...C'est une voiture fun ou pas, belle ou moche, sécurisante ou pas, on l'apprécie pour diverses raisons... C'est une icône de la culture française comme la baguette. Si vous avez la chance d'en essayer une ou de monter dedans, n'hésitez pas, souvenirs garantis !
Thank you Tommy for making the effort of pronouncing Citroën properly :)
I came here to exactly make the same comment
The founder was Dutch and his name is pronounced like 'citroune.' But he would have been very proud of the gallification of his name 🙂
Good name for a car - LEMON.
You guys should get a Renault Twingo 1
Renault 4 better 😊
Yes, Twingo1 was a modern (1993) rebirth of the concept of a simple car. I had one and it it was a great, very clever car.
@@wietholdtbuhl6168 Une 4L... bien meilleure que la Deuchevau'
@@ArandelaGriffe Oh mein Onkel fuhr in den 70'eine Göttin DS. Kombi Station Waggon und ich habe das Auto 🚗 geliebt! Meine Freundin fuhr 2CV sie war Lehrerin!
@@wietholdtbuhl6168la DS mérite bien son nom en français DS prononcé "Déesse"... Une tenue, suspension et conduite divine. ^^
Un voiture de légende !
I had 15 years altogether (1989-'92 & 1998-2011) of driving two examples of 2CVs all across Europe from the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway to the Ebro Delta in Spain, from thousands of Kilometers across Swiss mountain passes to Istanbul,..living with it in germany, spain and switzerland, as my only motorized transportation for most of the time, even commuting with it, adding around 290KKm over the years to their mileages.
I did enjoy urban and rural roads the most, but motorway long-distance travel, too. On european highways you can go at truck speeds of about 55MPH and enjoy a stress free travel experience - staying in the right lane for hours without having to brake or accelerate, because of overtaking maneuvers. The one thousand kilometres "Zürich to Bremen" trip took me around 12 to 14 hours including relaxed brakes. Doing the same trip, once with the Audi TT of a friend, borrowed to me just for this occasion, wanting to collect something "quickly", it took me only 8 and a half hours but I was knackered until noon of the next day, instead of starting the next day relaxed and well-rested.
Both 2CVs were 29PS engines, weighing exactly 1500lbs including me as a 60Kg driver, doing more than 40MpG(US) = around 5 to 6 litres per 100Km on journeys over rural roads and motorways, only short distance cold engine city driving could get it to around 7litres. By the way: "auto motor und sport" magazine clocked it at 39second to 62MpH, on close to sea level, near Stuttgart, supposedly.
In 1990 my sister, mother and me owned a red 2CV each - only my father owned, what he called a real car, a W124 series Mercedes.
I overtook many tourists in the swiss alps, sometimes even going up hill. Paddy Hopkirk, training for the Monte-Carlo Rallye on the foothills of the alps close to the mediterranean sea, couldn't catch up in his Mini, with a car he thought, was of a rival competitor training, too. He could only get glimpses of back lights in the distance. Arriving at a stop light in the next small town he catched up with a nun in a 2CV.
On country roads in europe it still is a vehicle quite lively. In France they changed the general speed limit on country roads from 62MpH(100Km/h) to 50MpH(80Km/H) in 2018, I think. The 29Ps Version has a Max Speed of 70Mph=113Km/h measured and of the speedo showing around 120Km/h at sea level on flat terrain. 90 to 95Km/h on the speedo is, what I would recommend doing as continous speed.
I do not regret having parted with the last 2CV, since I enjoy traveling in lovingly self converted VW T3 and T4s (by an architect) ever since and just as much, but I personnaly would not feel any urge to make fun of 2CVs either, since I exclusively remember having a lot of fun.
Two very highly regarded german motoring journalists of the second half of the 20th century, Fritz B. Busch (who had his own huge car museum in a castle) and Klaus Westrup were declared Fans of the 2CV, drove them daily and on vacation.
When I picked up my daughter's mother for a sunday drive in Zürich, a little outing to the mountains, our first date, she later stated, my 2CV was the only car, she could think of, to have charmed her.
I can’t imagine these videos (or perhaps the entire channel) are particularly profitable, but I’m sure glad you make them! And Tommy and Kase have become quite the team! Keep it coming!
YT pays around $10 usd per 1k views and they also have sponsored videos where an advertiser pays them. If they pay themselves a salary and they barely make a profit after all other expenses, then that's a good day.
It makes me think of the James Bond film for your eyes only with the Citroen chase!
Very cool classic. Just want to say Hello from Miami’ Classic car scene. There is one of these driving around here but haven’t been able to interview him yet.
Great work💪💪
peoples put motorcycles engines in it, the gearbox can take 140hp BMW GS1200 and you keep the classic gearbox whine
Man guys living dangerously with these old vehicles. Love it thank you
These cars were still pretty common where I live back when I was a kid in the late 90s and early 2000s,then by the mid 2000s most of them (alongside Renaults 4, classic VW Beetles, Fiats 500, Mini Coopers and other old European cars) disappeared from traffic,getting replaced by newer cars. I saw one in mint condition parked on the street a couple of months ago,for the first time in I don't know how long,made me feel really nostalgic.
My best friend has one of theses. His dad got it for him in High school there are entire racing leagues of them in Europe, when I lived there in the 1987-89. The Duc was a fun car, especially the fold down windows.
Es war für viele Menschen der bezahlbare Einstieg in die Mobilität. Und emotional hat es auch viele Menschen berührt, bis heute. Greetings 🇩🇪
I own the High End Version of this A-Type chassis, the Dyane. I still find it the best and most relaxing car for the sunday afternoon. In 2018 I drove it from The nord of Europe to Spain in just 2 days. Roof down. 100 km/h on the highway and thru rural France. Downhill in the Pyrenees I did 140 km/h (GPS) in 4th gear at maximum revs.
This car has a very good handling, if you are a good driver it 's safe.
I'd take it over any modern Jeep product. 🤷♂️
I don’t know I would take a track hawk
My 2CV is way faster than my Jeep CJ5.
You just reminded me of coming out of some (very light/dry wash/creek bed) offroading in an early 90's Honda Accord. Came out past a couple in a maxed out probably-never-been-off-the-road Wrangler in an animated discussion... They stared at us like some sort of apparition had emerged. (I was also young and stupid, but got away with taking that car a lot of places it had no business being.)
I would take over almost any modern car.
There is a great video here on CZcams of a "Citroën 2CV Semi-trailer" No affiliation, just a cool concept this guy built - you might like it too^^
".. a Citroën 2 CV transformed into a pick-up and associated with a custom-made trailer..."
I had two, my first was a Charleston (same colours, which is rare) and a later Dolly with a "performance" upgrade to the engine. Lovely to drive everywhere and rewarding to go flat out on a country lane if you're brave! I once got stuck behind a Ferrari that left me on every straight but slowed me down when it got twisty.
2cv : honk honk
Ferrari :???
For the heater , it works with the "red and blue" shifter. moving a panel to make air flow around cylinders to get hot air, or close the panel NOT to get hot air, thow you consider it as fresh .
My new weight unit of measurement is
“ an American on a HarDley “
I love how you can give a detailed tutorial AND have small talk between the 2-3 shift and 3-4 shift while doing a max acceleration run.
Wonder how happy of a society we’d be if we all had a fun little car like this.
Road rage.. just reach out an shake the other car..😂
In Europe, you can buy right now a Citroën Ami, pretty much a modernized version of the 2CV. About the same speed and horsepower too.
@@noseboop4354Absolutely not the same charm though
@@starstencahl8985yeah...
@@noseboop4354 the new Ami hardly is as practical a car as the 2cv was; why do you think it's a modernized version of it (apart from being cheap and not fast)?
You can't rage in a deudeuche.
It has a party trick , drive backwards about 10 or 15 mph and zig zag kinda hard , you should be able to let go of the wheel and it will continue the zig zag on its own ..
I remember being on the German Autobahn, driving my (3 yo) '84 Chevy Cavalier 2.0L and seen these quirky little cars also on the autobahn, albeit in the slow lane....where we stayed most of the time. I liked seeing them because I knew someone slower than me was out there.
I bought my wife her 2CV a few years ago, it is an awsome little car, in Belgium there are still a lot of oldtimer rallies and we have the best 'bad' roads for this car, right in between the fields.
I myself drive an '69 opel gt 1900 but the little 2cv puts far more smiles on peoples faces
You didn't close the top or the windows!! Thats gonna impact the arrow dynamics and the performance!!
That car is cool - glad it’s still in the TFL fleet
I love the old car videos!
Still the most cute & entertaining car ever made. The things you can do with it... The fact that there are so few parts that break & that everyone can fix it in their garage with a few YT videos as guide... Frugal faithful mule, absolutely worth the price they sell.
I love Kase's reactions to the 2CV's handling. He definitely has a "Get me out of this thing" vibe whenever he's in it in all the 2CV videos. He is definitely not a fan of that car, but it is so hysterical, and he clearly still rides in it whenever he's asked. Keep it up guys. lol.
I'm born in 1982 and my parents had this car. It's nice to see you boys having a blast with it. It was a really good car, even in the 80's in europe. Our roads are quite differents. Like you said, it was a post-war car for every family to have, so it needed to be cheap and the car reeks of cheap. Though, it suspension makes it way safer than what you induced. It was a lot safer than a lot of european cars at the time (we're speaking at the time where car crash tests weren't a thing yet)
You guys need to cruise at the wheel of the DS!
Actor Richard Dreyfus (sp) in the classic movie "American Grafitti". He was shown driving one of these early on in the movie.
Boulanger mostly wanted to protect the DS project from the nazis. Your 2CV is wierd, the wiring, the gear shifter and all. The first versions had suicide doors in front and had a hole to start the engine with a crank on the front. The car was produced from 1939 to 1990 but you can still see one or two rarely in Paris. Also, there is a scene in "Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez" where they drive a 2CV very fast and brutally but don't get an accident. By the way, the French comedian Bourvil once told that he had musicians friends, and what they did is each time they saw a 2CV on the road, they passed it and went slowly but fast enough so it cannot pass them; usually, there was a family inside and the dad, driving was mad at them, so one of the guys went to the back windshield, put his pants down and the dad in the 2CV could only watch the show, kind of mean.
DS project did not exists in that times, was started at debut 1950...the preserie 2cv version from1939 was never sale because the war, 250 2cv 1939 was built, body was in aluminium alloy and engine was water cooled and all was dismanteled. Only 5 prototypes called TPV survive...The real production, all steel body and air cooled engine 2cv was launch in 1948
I love the car chase in one Roger Moore Bond with the 2CV
You two are killing it with the goofy, but enjoyable and entertaining, vids of late. Keep it up, lads!
A friend had one years ago and got pulled over as he was overspeeding downhill (there was a 50kmph limit there ;-) ). When he told the cops that he had to take some momentum before the hill, they laughed and said "that's right, you wouldn't make it" and cancelled the fine :-)
wait a minute…. The sound of the engine is GREAT!!!
Ok, I am French
Bruni
My hometown in Hamburg had a car race in the central park since (approx) the 1920s. They revived it in the 2000s as a vintage car race. EVERY YEAR there was a local Citroen-dealership who entered one of these, driven by their four mechanics (so...every seat filled). That thing had some impressive bodyroll^^
The "if you can flip one over" is a rumor though, they didn't actually have that claim or a competition.
This has got a German registration from Fürth/Bavaria, the town that Kissinger was fond of at soccer.
I politely disagree with Case in regards to "better engineered" -- the 2CV is _exquisitely_ engineered... just not for most of the things a modern American would care about. It was designed for reliability, and
By the way, from what I've heard, if you throw a rear sway bar on the suspension, you'll kill most of that body roll. It was left off, originally, because it was too heavy, is what I've been told.
This is a cool car. I remember seeing These all over Paris. The famous Citroën Deux Chevaux
A few weeks ago i saw a video about people in Fracnce doing Ice-racing with these, one of the blokes installed a supercharger on it. That one was so cute. It reminded me of one of those crank powered pencil sharpeners.
When I was a child in the late 80s and early 90s you could still see them drive around here and there. Now they've become very rare though.
Thank you for this video ! "2CV" does not mean "two steam horses", it means "two fiscal horses", which was a calculated power upon which taxes were based in France.
I love the direction you guys are taking your channels. 👏🏼 I’ll be waiting for the next video. 👍🏼
I drove a 2CV on the Autobahn in Germany in the 90s. It was one of the scarier experiences. Everytime I was passed by a truck I could feel the doors pumping by the draft.
I love this series of “Tommy & Case in slow and dangerous cars on the freeway.” 😂
Bonjour, you are saying "citroen" very well :)
Thanks! 😃
There are 2 1983 Corvettes. One is in the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The other one is my daughter. She lives in the state of OR with her husband. She was born in 1983. She never changed her name, although she hated it as a child. Then she got out into the adult world and found out how cool her name was. Suddenly she figured out the old man wasn't so stupid naming her Corvette.
Tommy and Case are the modern day Hope and Crosby.
This and the Fiat CZcams videos are great. Hilarious!
I have never seen so many Subaru Outbacks in one video. Holy biscuits. 24:49 describes the entire wholesome vlog. With you three bros also I would want kase and tommy and Alex to play James Bond actors but then probably not because then they would leave Tfl for acting and I would lose my best friends 😭. Anyway hilarious vlog. 26:54 the harmonies were tight on that
I was thinking the same. They look huge compared to the citreon
Colorado, the land of Subarus and Tacoma's 😂
@@stevekniess3665. Right it was shocking.
If you race it to violent then the rivets of the clutch disk can break. Don't ask me how i know but i have replace a few when i was younger.
The first car of my life. I drove it on an acre in Germany when i was eleven years old, in 1992. A schoolbuddy's dad had a Citroën shop with a backyard leading to an open acre. That's where we started learning how to drive.
And apart from six months in a Protege, i never drove automatic cars in 25 years, successfully.
By the way, Protege was the Mazda 323F over here.
I actually began driving in a minimal car from japan, which had a lot in common with the 2cv. It had only slightly thicker doors, which I actually miss till today in very narrow european parkings because you didn't need the first 20cm of sidespace only for the thickness of the door itself. Plus it was designed along practical needs. As much space inside as possible by the outside as compact as possible. Mine Was a 2003 Daihatsu Cuore. Not by manufacturer a relative to a 2cv, but a well thought out modern interpretation of the idea. Except, it wasn't off road capable at all. Which didn't matter to me.
We need such cars back, which where built according to the needs of the users.
I do regret not buying one of these when I lived for 10 years in Europe. This would be perfect here in Hawai'i. We DO have a lot of kei-trucks on the roads, though...
I love these videos! You guys are a great team! You had me loling.
If you haven't already you should try a Renault 4L, another iconic french car from the 1960s, which was produced until 1995!
La R4 or "4L", also an epic compétitrice of the 2CV !
Love these 2CV vids. I pretty much smile the whole time!
With the front wheel drive and the original suspensions system, la deux chevaux was the most avanced economy car of his time. The handling on snow and wet roads is amazing, even by actuals standards.
This and the Citroen Traction Avant are so interesting to me. I just wish they became successful in the US so I could find one easily.
I have a 2007 Toyota Yaris that we drag around behind our motorhome when traveling, it is also a car where you drive with your foot on the floor in everyday driving. The difference is that it has 106HP with a 5 speed manual transmission and weights 2,300 pounds
In 1967 my family and me spent 10 weeks camping all over Europe. I remember the seats in the 2cv were metal tubes and canvas, they looked like cheap lawn chairs. Cool cars!
Well documented and a good fun to watch 😊
Just a mistake, 2CV is not for 2 steam horses, but for taxes, cars in France are taxed : registration document and years ago the "vignette", wich was a yearly tax to be paid, and in order to determine the tax amount, cars are classed with "chevaux fiscaux", first 2CV was "2 chevaux fiscaux", last ones 3 "chevaux fiscaux", and so on, i have an old french Renault Mégane, 110 HP but 7 "chevaux fiscaux", and a Peugeot 206 "coupé-cabriolet", 136 HP for 9 "chevaux fiscaux". Excuse my english if there are mistakes, i'm french :)
One of the coolest car chases i have ever seen in a movie is the 2CV one from the Bond movie with Roger Moore!
Starting procedures where you had to know when to hit the throttle pedal just enough to get her started!
It was an art form in itself.
The other thing about the removable seats is that you can remove them all and then hose out the interior. Very practical for farm use.
it was a car for the post war period, where everybody was skint and resources where minimal. 2CV is a "Peoples Car" James May did a show on various Peoples Cars. They are legendary and now getting very rare. so look after it and enjoy it for what it is xx
It's not a performance car, it's performance ART! 😂
my grandad had a 1967 ''citroneta'' the chilean version wich instead of a boot , it had a pick up making it look like a pick up truck (camioneta), the most amazing and cheapest maintainance car u can ever have u can fix that thing literally with a pair of pliers ands wire , better than a modern pick up truck for muddy situations and on bumpy dirt roads its comfier than a camry, sadly around the 2000's instead of repairing it my uncles scrapped it coz they hated my granda , to be fair he wasnt the most pleasent guy thou and around the same time , early 2000's i was dating a girl who's dad had one of these and drove it as a daily driver for years and he refused to drive another car, if u guys in america have the chance to buy a citroen , make it this one , dont ever buy any modern day citroen, they are just an evergrowing list of issues and will sit at the repair shops for longer times than the time u will spend driving them
When André Citroën gave the instructions for the construction of this car to his engineers, he said that he wanted a car capable of transporting 4 adult people and 1 sack of potatoes comfortably on any road in France.
CV is not for "Cheval-Vapeur", but just "Chevaux" (plural of "Cheval").
"Cheval-Vapeur" is just your regular "HorsePower", or 0.735 Watt for 1 "Cheval-Vapeur"
They gave the name 2CV, "2 Chevaux", because it refers to a tax based on engine displacement. And for the 2CV, the 375cm² engine fall into the category 2.
Beside the altitude, the roof is open which makes it impossible to reach top speed on an even road. Come on guys, lol...
You don't win the speed race, but you will certainly will win the ultimate race, longevity. And style, and fun, and character and so on.
One important thing to understand part of the 2CV design, is that back then in France, a vehicle with an engine under 400cc was classified as a quadricycle and not an automobile, so the requirement to drive one would have been... I think back then, nothing? And the tax bracket would have been ridiculous.
The law changed around the 2CV introduction but since the car production was almost ready and most of the Citroën factory had been destroyed during the war, they had to go on anyway.
And funny you mention motorcycles because one inspiration for the engine, after Citroën tested a water-cooled engine, was I think, Walter Becchia (the 2CV engine designer) who took inspiration from a Citroën's worker BMW bike engine. In fact, some 2CV prototype were powered by bike engines for tests until the definitive engine was designed.
And 2CV isn't for «steam horses» it's a fiscal horse. Fiscal horses were and still are commonly used in Europe and this is why many European cars have low numbers in their names. The Austin Seven is called Seven because it's a seven (British) fiscal HP car.
Citroën's earlier cars, the famous Traction, were officially called by Citroën the 7, 11 and 15 based on the French fiscal horsepower.
For Pierre Jules Boulanger, he hid the 2CV because he hated the Nazis. Actually, the Germans were REALLY curious, and they had prototypes of the VW bug delivered to Citroën in a sort of «car for car» trade. PJB had the prototype covered with tarps and chained so nobody would even try to look at them.
He also slowed down as much as he could the production of Citroën trucks that were to be used by the Nazi, and provided them with faulty oil dipsticks that would show an okay oil level when in fact it was dangerously low.
Also, he provided fake work certificate to people that would have been forced to go work in Germany otherwise, hid Jews and Resistants in the factory. At the Liberation of Paris, it was found that Pierre-Jules Boulanger's name was on a list of about 77 French people that the Nazi deemed «ennemies of the state».
So yeah, I'm not sure the 2CV would have been a game changer for the war, but there's a reason it was hidden from the Nazis anyway.
Also, yes, when the design was made, PJB insisted for the 2CV to be ugly. Not just utilitarian, but really ugly, so people (remember, people that would have never owned a car before for some of them) would not care about denting and scratching it.
Very fun video, the arguing was hilarious:D
If only Toyota made a car with this much character.
The Geo Metro was the last US sold car with a tiny engine
Watching from Scotland. That was fun.
CitROen emphasis on the RO... s'il vous plait, says me an Australian, who has lived here for 20 years and have never driven or even sat in one.....great upload guys and you do your research!
So this idea a 2CV KIE car 600cc motor swap to get it to like 85hp if I remember my kie car specs right I mean even 60hp kie cars would be a really interesting experience
some people did install a Bmw 1200cc flat twin motorcycle engine in the 2cv, but original 602cc 29hp is upgradable only to 50hp, over this it's not reliable...
So how would you fit the Kei car engine? It's an entirely different engine, in alignment and shape. Just because it's small doesn't make it worth trying fit
@@tauncfester3022 I realized this after that it would need to be a 600cc boxer from some type of motorcycle to fit and have the power
I see a few still in France, some really clean ones too.
P.S for insurance purposes they still use the CV designation here. Example, my 136hp Swift sport is 8CV while a civic type R is something like 13CV.