French Life: the 2CV
Oh là là! La belle France! Wine & cheese, the Eiffel Tour, baguettes, garlic, black berets, twirly moustaches… and the iconic 2CV!
The original 2CV, also known as a TPV (Toute Petite Voiture) or Deuche (pronounded dersh not douche!), amongst other names, was initiated by Citroën President Pierre Boulanger.
Originally conceived to motorise farmers in rural areas who were still using horse and cart for transport, it was designed to go anywhere and do anything, with a bouncy suspension good enough to drive over a ploughed field.
Boulanger’s original specifications included:
- tall enough to take the owner and passengers to church in their Sunday-best hats
- big enough to carry 50kg of potatoes
- able to carry a basket of eggs over a ploughed field without breaking any
- cheap!
In fact, the motor was held by four screws so that owners could do their own repairs.
It was ready to launch in 1939…. then came the war.
The TPV construction line was requisitioned by the Occupation, but Citroën continued to work secretly on the prototype.
Boulanger refused to collaborate with the German occupiers and was listed an ‘enemy of the Reich’ by the Gestapo.
Almost all assembled cars were dismantled and the rebellious Citroën team hid the remaining cars in various secret locations.
In 1994, three of the original prototypes were discovered buried in a barn!
Quintessentially French and a whole lot of fun!
Fancy testing one for yourself?
Former driving instructor, Cyril, fell in love with the diversity and beauty of the Pyrenees-Orientales… and the iconic 2CV. A qualified tourist guide and a certified passenger transport operator, join him aboard Albertine, his 1982 2CV.
Find out more here.
One of the lesser characters in my series of stories Rags to Riches set up a business renting out Deuches to holiday-makers after leaving the army. – Life imitating fiction again.