Citroen 2 CV. Red body in Spain (Catalonia, Tarragona)

The Citroën 2CV is an economy car produced by the French company Citroën from 1948 to 1990. Introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial de l’Automobile, it has an air-cooled engine that is mounted in the front and drives the front wheels.

Conceived by Citroën Vice-President Pierre Boulanger to help motorise the large number of farmers still using horses and carts in 1930s France, the 2CV has a combination of innovative engineering and straightforward, utilitarian bodywork.

The 2CV featured overall low cost of ownership, simplicity of maintenance, an easily serviced air-cooled engine (originally offering 9 hp), and minimal fuel consumption. In addition, it had literally been designed to cross a freshly ploughed field, because of the great lack of paved roads in France then; with a long-travel suspension system, that connects front and rear wheels, giving a very soft ride.

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