Two Cylinders, Two Horses - In praise of the Tin Snail

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Citroen 2CV © Elsewhere

    Our first car was a mid-eighties 2CV Club in a similar shade of red to the above, later model. The origins of this eccentric little beauty are well-documented. Aimed squarely at a rural market and making it's debut in 1948, the 2CV was designed around the basic requirements of cheapness and adaptability in post-war France. A farmers' runabout, it could act as either a family car or as a small van, transporting a goat or a sheep,  a bale of hay or cask of ale, along rough tracks or across fields. Although the car gained some creature-comforts over the decades of it's production, the basic remit and it's abilities remained.
    I can say that I still think of that little tin box as one of the greatest automotive achievements to date. Not only was it economical and great fun to drive in it's natural environment of twisty back roads and lanes - we lived on Anglesey at the time - but as a vehicle for hauling stuff around, it was unparalleled for it's type. We moved house twice with the old bus - removing all the passenger seats was a five-minute job and the resulting space with the canvas roof peeled right back was enough to take three fully-packed tea-chests and a load of loose stuff at once; as much as an Escort van could handle.
    As long as you avoided motorways and stuck to the back lanes, driving was a joy in the 2CV. And it had inboard disk brakes - F1-style! Over the years, I've missed the sheer simplicity of the thing and so it's no accident that when I decided to downsize my car last year in preparation for retirement this year, I decided the no-frills option was the way to go. And guess what? another Citroen - my second, but this time a base-model C1. No electric windows, no air-con, no central-locking, no weight (there are Harleys out there that weigh more) and no road-tax. It's noisy like the old Citroen, has a three-cylinder rather than two-cylinder engine of only slightly larger capacity, but it will cruise happily at motorway speeds and is fun to drive on the bendy stuff. The only down-side is I can't carry three tea-chests of stuff in it - but then we don't intend moving house any time soon anyway.

Comments

  1. Helen14 June 2020 at 20:01

    I see a 2CV going in the opposite direction everyday when driving to work (pre-home working anyway). It's purple and so cute. One of those instant things that remind me of France and all things French. ����

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sideways14 June 2020 at 20:06

      They were superb - pity you need a lot of money to get hold of one now!

      Delete

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