1971 Citroen 3CV

STOCK # 2902

THIS 1971 CITROEN 3CV IS LOCATED IN: HOMESTEAD, FL 33032

The Citroën 2CV (French: deux chevaux or deux chevaux-vapeur, lit. "two steam horses", "two tax horsepower") is an air-cooled front-engine, front-wheel-drive economy car introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial de l'Automobile and manufactured by Citroën for model years 1948–1990.

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 utilitarian, straightforward metal bodywork—initially corrugated for added strength without added weight. The 2CV featured low cost, simplicity of overall maintenance, an easily serviced air-cooled engine (originally offering 9 hp), low fuel consumption, and an extremely long-travel suspension offering a soft ride and light off-road capability.

Often called "an umbrella on wheels", the fixed-profile convertible bodywork featured a full-width, canvas, roll-back sunroof, which accommodated oversized loads and until 1955 reached almost to the car's rear bumper.

Michelin introduced and first commercialised the revolutionary new radial tyre design with the introduction of the 2CV.

Manufactured between 1948 and 1990, more than 3.8 million 2CVs were produced. The car spawned many variants, as detailed in the "Production" section. The 2CV and its variants are collectively known as the A-Series. Notably these include the 2CV-based delivery vans known as fourgonnettes, the Ami, the Dyane, the Acadiane, and the Mehari. In total, Citroën manufactured 9 million 2CVs and variants.

A 1953 technical review in Autocar described "the extraordinary ingenuity of this design, which is undoubtedly the most original since the Model T Ford". In 2011, The Globe and Mail called it a "car like no other". The motoring writer L. J. K. Setright described the 2CV as "the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car", and a car of "remorseless rationality".

Both the design and the history of the 2CV mirror the Volkswagen Beetle in significant ways. Conceived in the 1930s, to make motorcars affordable to regular people for the first time in their countries, both went into large scale production in the late 1940s, featuring air-cooled boxer engines at the same end as their driven axle, omitting a length-wise drive shaft, riding on exactly the same 2,400 mm (94.5 in) wheelbase, and using a platform chassis to facilitate the production of derivative models. Just like the Beetle, the 2CV became not only a million seller, but also one of the few cars in history to continue a single generation in production for over four decades.

From 1965, Nordex produced its own panel van and pick-up versions of the Citroën 2CV. While the doors and the rear structure (in the case of the panel van, the roof as well) were made of sheet steel, the fenders and bonnet were made by Dasur (Danrée, Soler & Bonet) and were made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic. In contrast to the original, the frame was manufactured on a sheet metal bending machine. Start of production was 1966 for the "3CV" model and the Ami 8 model in the 1970s.

Citroën Argentina Sociedad Anónima produced 223,442 cars (all A-Series), in Argentina, from 1959 until the revolution came in 1979.

Model designations produced were the 2CV sedan, 3CV hatchback, AZU van, AK van, AK 400 van, AMI 8, and Méhari. The derivation called "3CV" was a special Argentina model with various modifications such as a hatchback.

• CLEAN TITLE
• THIS CITROEN HAS ACTUAL 73,302 KM (45,547 MILES), TITLE ALSO SHOWS ACTUAL MILEAGE
• RESTORED A FEW YEARS AGO
• 2 CYL. ENGINE
• 4 SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION
• NO LEAKS, NO SMOKE
• WELL MAINTAINED, GARAGE KEPT
• RUNS AND DRIVES