Citroën 2CV

The Citroën 2CV, pronounced "deux chevaux" (French for "two horses," a nod to its tiny tax horsepower rating), rolled out of the 1948 Paris Salon de l'Automobile and stayed in production until 1990. It was the brainchild of Citroën Vice-President Pierre Boulanger, who wanted to motorize the French countryside, where farmers still relied on horses and carts. The result was a car that combined ingenious engineering with stark, utilitarian simplicity: an air-cooled, front-mounted engine driving the front wheels, with a suspension so soft it could cross a plowed field without breaking eggs in a basket on the passenger seat.

The 2CV was famously dubbed "an umbrella on wheels" for its canvas roll-back sunroof that extended nearly to the rear bumper in early models, and it was the first car to feature Michelin's revolutionary radial tires. Over its 42-year run, more than 3.8 million 2CVs were built, making it the world's first front-wheel-drive car to sell over a million units. Its platform spawned a family of vehicles known as the A-Series, including the Ami, Dyane, Acadiane, Mehari, and the fourgonnette delivery vans. Combined, these derivatives pushed total production past 9 million.

Critics and enthusiasts alike have praised the 2CV's originality and rationality. A 1953 Autocar review called it "the most original since the Model T Ford," and writer L.J.K. Setright lauded it as "the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car." Its parallels with the Volkswagen Beetle are striking: both were conceived in the 1930s to make cars affordable to the masses, both featured air-cooled boxer engines and a 2,400 mm wheelbase, and both remained in production for over four decades with minimal changes. A prototype 2CV 2000 was developed in the late 1990s but never reached production. [edit]