Not familiar with that red light on the C pillar. Is that a turn signal light that works for both front and rear?
I suspect that some of our readers may not get the “egg home delivery” part. The original brief of the 2CV included a ride soft enough that it wouldn’t break the eggs in a basket as the farmer was driving through a rough field/road. Mission accomplished.
In the picture below there is another version of the same device on an Opel Kadett B (front fender, right side).
To explain: Many Euro cars only had parking lights ex works, which illuminated as well the front as the back of the vehicle. Namely right and left. So 4 x 5W power consumption.
The aftermarket parking lights shined with a common bulb to the front and rear and could usually be switched to either the right or the left side with a separate switch.
So instead of 20W power consumption only 5W (or only 3W for some types).
I wonder whether these are to retrofit to AZs. AZAMs have these as standard and a factory switch (slightly willowy) on the left hand side of the steering column.
Yes, this is an early sixties AZAM. When the c post/rear quater windows appeared in 1966 the rear light clusters were redesigned to incorporate the indicators/turn signals. The front turn signals became circular fittings in the front fenders (getting used to the US terms for these things). I had a couple of eighties 2CVs and the larger 602 engine was a real boost having driven a 425 Dyane as a one off. The other interesting thing about the original spec was a roofline high enough to allow the driver and passengers to wear hats in the car, rural France was still quite conservative in The 30’s when the 2CV was planned.
Great little cars! 2CV’s are basically indestructible, very comfortable, practical and super reliable. Once you’ve driven one, you want one. It’s a unique driving experience.
Looks like -despite its ripe old age- this 1967 is still a daily driver and the owner probably uses it all year round.
Bought mine 30 years ago and it still brings a big smile to my face every time I drive it.
Here’s a picture of it taken yesterday, when I took it out for a spin.
We’ve just had one built. Starting with the bare frame. With the big bore motor from the Visa, built by Burton. (The engine is still being run in. After the first oil change we’ll be able to pedal-to-the-metal, I can hardly wait).
Absolute “Fahrvergnügen”.
…and I’ve never seen so many smiling people at the side of the road in any of our old cars as in the last few journeys with the 2cv.
You don’t often get to see an older version without the third window, but it looks solid. Great find. I have a newer version and it remarkable how similar they are.
Every time I got to the Citroen mecca in Auckland there is a 2CV in for something, actually rare Citroens abound there when did you see 3 C6s in the one place they had 3 in for servicing last time I was there.
To properly explain the title, it comes from the design brief from Citroen’s Management Committee of March 15, 1938.
At pg: 22, under “Specific Capabilities” (which, with my pretty-good French, I have here translated), it was stated:
“The alleged car must resemble a basket, and be able to drive a rough, air-cooled farmer into his field of ploughed eggs without breaking wind or two horses.”
This is definitively a pre-1965 2CV, as 1965 was the year when the suicide doors were replaced by front-hinged doors. 1965 was also the year when even the cheapest French-produced 2CVs got the C-pillar “third window” that the more posh Belgium-produced models already had for some years. So both the suicide doors and the windowless C-pillar indicate this is a pre-1965 one. The small rear lights on the sloping back panel (instead of larger rear lights on a more vertical panel) indicate the same. Oh, and these small rear lights did not include turn indicators. Instead, the side lamps on both C-pillars are the turn indicators. On the second photo you can see these side-mounted turn indicators are red all around: if they had been parking lights, they would have had a red back and a white front side.
Very nice! Hope it stays exactly this way for as long as it can.
Don’t the suicide doors make it a 1961-64 model, though?
All I know is that its first registration (as a first owner’s car) was in NL, on November 9, 1967.
Title amended T, thanks.
Not familiar with that red light on the C pillar. Is that a turn signal light that works for both front and rear?
I suspect that some of our readers may not get the “egg home delivery” part. The original brief of the 2CV included a ride soft enough that it wouldn’t break the eggs in a basket as the farmer was driving through a rough field/road. Mission accomplished.
A so called parking light. Shinig red to the rear, white to the frontside. Allegedly aftermarket – look here:
https://www.francetec.de/Blinker-Parkleuchte-Seitlich-rot-komplett-2CV-AK/54019
Frequently to be seen on Euro cars from the 50s to the 70s.
In the picture below there is another version of the same device on an Opel Kadett B (front fender, right side).
To explain: Many Euro cars only had parking lights ex works, which illuminated as well the front as the back of the vehicle. Namely right and left. So 4 x 5W power consumption.
The aftermarket parking lights shined with a common bulb to the front and rear and could usually be switched to either the right or the left side with a separate switch.
So instead of 20W power consumption only 5W (or only 3W for some types).
I wonder whether these are to retrofit to AZs. AZAMs have these as standard and a factory switch (slightly willowy) on the left hand side of the steering column.
Renaults had these, yellow facing front and red facing rear. A switch on top of the steering column turned on one side or the other.
Yes, this is an early sixties AZAM. When the c post/rear quater windows appeared in 1966 the rear light clusters were redesigned to incorporate the indicators/turn signals. The front turn signals became circular fittings in the front fenders (getting used to the US terms for these things). I had a couple of eighties 2CVs and the larger 602 engine was a real boost having driven a 425 Dyane as a one off. The other interesting thing about the original spec was a roofline high enough to allow the driver and passengers to wear hats in the car, rural France was still quite conservative in The 30’s when the 2CV was planned.
The view from the other side:
I got the “egg home delivery” part and was going to ask if it was a deliberate allusion, but you beat me to it.
…egg theme combined with its grimy ‘backroad’ appearance, as if it came straight from the farm. Alrighty, enough explanation.
Great little cars! 2CV’s are basically indestructible, very comfortable, practical and super reliable. Once you’ve driven one, you want one. It’s a unique driving experience.
Looks like -despite its ripe old age- this 1967 is still a daily driver and the owner probably uses it all year round.
Bought mine 30 years ago and it still brings a big smile to my face every time I drive it.
Here’s a picture of it taken yesterday, when I took it out for a spin.
Oh yes, a 2cv is fun.
We’ve just had one built. Starting with the bare frame. With the big bore motor from the Visa, built by Burton. (The engine is still being run in. After the first oil change we’ll be able to pedal-to-the-metal, I can hardly wait).
Absolute “Fahrvergnügen”.
…and I’ve never seen so many smiling people at the side of the road in any of our old cars as in the last few journeys with the 2cv.
Happy days, it’s smiles per hour not miles per hour.
Nice to see one still being used as designed .
I had a 1959 AZ and those sidelights were the turn signals .
The speedometer drove the wipers so you had variable speeds wipers….
Strange and fun little cars, centrifugal clutch meant clutchless up shifts.
-Nate
You don’t often get to see an older version without the third window, but it looks solid. Great find. I have a newer version and it remarkable how similar they are.
Every time I got to the Citroen mecca in Auckland there is a 2CV in for something, actually rare Citroens abound there when did you see 3 C6s in the one place they had 3 in for servicing last time I was there.
To properly explain the title, it comes from the design brief from Citroen’s Management Committee of March 15, 1938.
At pg: 22, under “Specific Capabilities” (which, with my pretty-good French, I have here translated), it was stated:
“The alleged car must resemble a basket, and be able to drive a rough, air-cooled farmer into his field of ploughed eggs without breaking wind or two horses.”
No mention of the farmer’s wife whatsoever? Strange.
She divorced him the moment she saw it.
Makes sense, after witnessing that scene.
This is definitively a pre-1965 2CV, as 1965 was the year when the suicide doors were replaced by front-hinged doors. 1965 was also the year when even the cheapest French-produced 2CVs got the C-pillar “third window” that the more posh Belgium-produced models already had for some years. So both the suicide doors and the windowless C-pillar indicate this is a pre-1965 one. The small rear lights on the sloping back panel (instead of larger rear lights on a more vertical panel) indicate the same. Oh, and these small rear lights did not include turn indicators. Instead, the side lamps on both C-pillars are the turn indicators. On the second photo you can see these side-mounted turn indicators are red all around: if they had been parking lights, they would have had a red back and a white front side.
+1 agreed.
Right, title amended.
“… if they had been parking lights, they would have had a red back and a white front side.”
Seemed to me that the front directed side of the lens was white. But might even be just a reflection on the plastic housing.