Citroen 2CV 6 Charleston
The Citroën 2CV ( French: deux chevaux, literally "two horses", from the tax horsepower rating) was an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1948 to 1990. The 2CV belonged to a very select few cars that were released right after WWII and lasted an extraordinary 42 years on the market. The TPV (Très Petite Voiture - "Very Small Car") project was kickstarted by Pierre-Jules Boulanger in the early 1930s, with a brief to create an affordable, robust vehicle that would enable two people to carry 100 kg of goods to market at a speed of 60 km/h, over unmade and muddy roads, if need be. This was due to the large rural population who had not as yet adopted automobile use as the cost of driving was prohibitive. This brief also necessitated the car's engine to use no more than 3 litres of fuel to travel 100 km. It also had the ambitious requirement to be able to traverse a ploughed field while keeping the eggs intact in the process! The Engineer in charge of the project, André Lefèbvre, managed to get prototypes ready by 1939. Many of the parts used for the TPV prototypes were made from magnesium and aluminium, and the car also had a water-cooled engine. The seats were also constructed from a suspended hammock type design suspended from the roof. By fear of the Nazis discovering the project and making some military use from it, the Michelin and Citroën managers opted to hide the TPV project during the German occupation in WWII, and several TPV were hidden in different locations. Some were destroyed, whilst others were camouflaged as pickup trucks. It was believed until 1994 that only two prototypes had survived. However, five TPVs were discovered in a barn that same year, which proved this assumption wrong as some workers had the sense to hide them from the top management who ordered them to be scrapped back in the 1950s.
Show off your classic car style with this iconic Citroen 2CV 6 Charleston 1983 poster. Add it to your walls, use it as a mouse pad or t-shirt design, or add it to your calendar - either way, you'll have classic Citroen style all year round! Buy yours today!
