A Half-hour History of the 2CV
Andy Haslam, better known online as BigCar, is an English educational automotive YouTuber who joined in 2019 producing history videos on a variety of classic cars that usually range from about 15 to 30 minutes in length.
Andy’s engaging and personable delivery style comes across in his latest effort — a well researched profile of the 2CV.
He discusses the creation of the 2CV and gives a great overview of all the 2CV derivatives — Sahara, Ami, Dyane, Fourgonette (Truckette), Acadiane, Baby-Brousse, Bijou, 3CV, C-15, Citroneta, FAF, M3, Visa and Méhari — even touching on the GS that has some lineage to the 2CV.
View the video here:
For the most part he is correct, though he does error in stating that the 4×4 Sahara has a single transmission when in fact it has two. Each of the Sahara’s engines (front and rear) have a gearbox mounted to them, enabling the Sahara to be mobile using either one individually, or with both in 4WD mode.
And the 3 original TPVs (Tout Petite Voiture – the prototype to the 2CV) that he mentions were found in the roof of a building, but they were not in a barn. They were in a building at Citroen’s La Ferté-Vidame test facility. You can read more about their discovery in an interview John McCulloch did with Jean-Claude Lannes of the Conservatoire Citroën back in 2003 (in the Winter 2003 edition of the Citroën Autoclub Canada newsletter — pages 6 -7). Download the article here: https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D1866000_192_144136550.
Further reading on the TPVs:
https://citroenvie.com/insightful-documentation-discovered-about-german-takeover-attempt-of-the-tpv/
To date Andy has produced BigCar Citroën videos on the history of the DS, BX, CX, SM and XM. You can find those here:
BX – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXs9ZKHxxwo
CX – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJIikK432Rs
DS – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flMvtuQ_u7M
SM – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXqTkzMB0oY
XM – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPDKw609-4I