Citroën 2CV

The Citroën 2CV (French: deux chevaux, pronounced [dø ʃ(ə)vo], lit. "two horses", meaning "two taxable horsepower") is an economy car produced by the French company Citroën from 1948 to 1990. Introduced at the 1948 Paris Salon 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 6.6 kW, 9 hp), and minimal fuel consumption. In addition, it had been designed to cross a freshly ploughed field with a basket full of eggs on the passenger's seat without breaking them, because of the great lack of paved roads in France at the time; with a long-travel suspension system, that connects front and rear wheels, giving a very soft ride.