Citroen 2CV at the Josefuv Dul Car Show, Liberecky kraj, Bohemia(CZ), 2015

This was one of the more common cars at the show, albeit as vintage as the others. This is, of course, a Citroen 2CV, which has sometimes been claimed to be have been France's answer to the Ford Model T and the Volkswagen Beetle. It was, however, very different from either car, and did not achieve the same universal acceptance in other countries.

The 2CV was actually based on a Citroen prototype from 1936 called the TPV, that had initially not been pursued because of World War II and the German occupation of France (the 2CV had originally been planned for release at the Paris Motor Show in 1939, but this never happened). The TPV was developed in cooperation with the Michelin tire company, and this collaboration continued after the war. It was almost certainly because of this connection that the Citroen 2CV was the first mass-market car with radial tires, despite its cheap design and low performance.

The first official model year for the 2CV was 1948, but numerous improvements were added in the coming years, including radial tires in 1949. The original Citroen 2CV was so spartan and primitive that it was considered by many critics to be outdated when it was new, and many basic features had to be added later. For example, the 2CV didn't have a fuel gauge until 1963, as previously the fuel tank had been equipped with a dipstick. One exception to its primitive design specifications was its 4-speed manual transmission, in an era when most 4-speed transmissions were in sports cars.

The 2CV's "sardine can" sunroof may be seen by modern people as a luxury, but it was partly intended to allow oversize loads in the passenger compartment. In spite of its light overall weight and soft suspension, the 2CV could tolerate a relatively high center of gravity without tipping over, much like the Ford Model T and unlike the Beetle (obviously, do your research before attempting anything in real life).

The 2CV was very light (at 600 kg.), with a very soft suspension that was designed to cross a ploughed field without breaking a basket full of eggs in the passenger seat. This test was to ensure that it would be able to deal with the low quality of French roads in the years immediately after World War II (or for that matter, before World War II). Another design specification was that it had to achieve a fuel consumption of only 3 liters per 100 kilometers, which is equivalent to 80 mpg US. For comparison, the 2001 Toyota Prius managed about 55 mpg, according to EPA standards. The 2CV, unlike the Prius, wasn't a hybrid or a diesel, but achieved this high fuel economy by being very light, at 600 kg (1,323 lbs.), and by being extremely underpowered, with a 375cc, 9-horsepower, flat-twin engine. For comparison, the Ford Model T had a 2.9L I-4 engine that could put out 20-23 horsepower, depending on the year, and the Volkswagen Beetle initially had a 25-horsepower flat-4 of about 1200cc displacement. This wasn't necessarily a problem from the perspective of Citroen's design specification for the 2CV, as the target top speed was only 50km/h (31 m.p.h.). In the end, the finished 2CV could achieve about 65Km/h (40 m.p.h.). Again, for comparison, Ford Model T's could achieve 35-40 m.p.h., while Volkswagen Beetles could reach about 110 Km/h (70 m.p.h.) in their original form (even if later Beetles were much faster).

The 2CV, unusually for 1948, had a front/front layout, with the engine mounted longitudinally. This is an unusual arrangement by modern standards (to mount the engine longitudinally in a front-wheel-drive car), but Citroen had been using this design since the 1930's, when they had been one of the first companies to market large numbers of front-wheel-drive cars.

Perhaps the weirdest aspect of the 2CV's design was that, once 4-wheel-drive was offered as an option from 1960 onward, a second engine was added in the rear on the 4WD "Sahara" model, rather than a linkage being designed to power the rear wheels from the front differential. This may have been down to the engine not being powerful enough for both the front and rear wheels, but I haven't been able to determine in my research if Citroen openly admitted this.

Due to its popularity, the 2CV remained in production until 1990, making it one of the few cars to remain in production for over 40 years without a complete facelift.