Last evening my wife and I were driving back up from visiting her cousin and her family, down in Cohasset (birthday party). Coming north we saw an auto carrier with two cars on top and a Citroën 2CV—the deux chevaux (actually, the deux chevaux vapeur)—on the bottom, all by itself. The photograph to the right shows the general design of the automobile (Copyright Graham Cullimore, PinkDylan, Car Rebuilt by Frome 2CV.)For reasons not totally obvious, I always thought that name stood for two chevrons, since, in fact, the front grill has just that, two chevrons, for decoration. Well, not all 2CV, but most I have seen. It turns out that the French for chevron is chevron, at least according to Babel Fish.
The vehicle we saw looked to be in good shape, especially considering that the model hasn't been produced in 20 years.
Like the VW Bug, the 2CV is a pre-World War II design that found its place after that war.
Maybe I should file this under memories of Europe.
Regards — Cliff
1 comment:
"Deux chevaux" is literally "two horses", and the expression is, I think, a combination of the fact that the car's engine has but two cylinders, as well as the popular observation that it often feels like the whole thing has little more than two horsepower when you step on the gas.
A friend of my father's who served in the ETO also suggested there was also some sort of government classification by that name related to how the cars were registered and taxed that may have contributed to the moniker, but I don't know much more about it than that. The two cylinder explanation always seemed most reasonable to me all these years later.
I've always loved the very cool Bauhaus body design, and the way the roof comes off. It's always fascinated me how a good engineer can make something purely useful also a thing of beauty.
Post a Comment