Yet another cool car

[aczlan]

My favorite is French Citroen model "deux chevaux" that is first top left picture. It has two cylinders and drives like a dream mainly going down hill only Going uphill is a battle.It does have the most unique shifter that you can not find on any other car, you push the shifter handle in and out along with quarter turn to the right and left for different gears. it's a blast to drive

I have ridden in several similar Citroens (in Argentina) and they were interesting cars. the ones I was in were falling apart, but got people from point a to point b seemingly reliably.

Aaron Z

 

[Bird]

I have ridden in several similar Citroens (in Argentina) and they were interesting cars. the ones I was in were falling apart, but got people from point a to point b seemingly reliably.

Aaron Z

50 years ago there was a Citroen dealer in Dallas on Ross Avenue. I once took one out for a test drive. Then in 1972, when we went to Alaska, we went to see the old Independence Gold Mine. I left my truck and travel trailer where the pavement ended and we went on with my brother in his Olds. Unfortunately, when we got up there, it was very foggy that day and there was a locked gate, so we didn't get close enough to the mine to see anything. But on the way back down the mountain, a Jeep pickup came around a curve on our side of the road and we had a little head on collision. Fortunately, both vehicles got slowed down enough that there was no serious injuries. Of course, there wasn't much traffic up there, but the first vehicle to come along was a Citroen and they gave me a ride back down to my truck, where I unhooked the trailer and went to call a state trooper. The thing about Citroen that stands out in my mind was the fact that they had to be the smoothest riding cars I had ever been in.

 

[JC-jetro]

The thing about Citroen that stands out in my mind was the fact that they had to be the smoothest riding cars I had ever been in.

Bird,

Citoren "Deux shevaux" had the softest spring and shock system ever. One of the selling point of it was that you can drive it on freshly plowed field and carry a box full of eggs without breaking any. If you took the lug nuts off, then two beefy guys could lift it up for a tire change, that's how light it was.

JC,

 

[Bird]

JC, didn't they also run some ads that you could drive it over most curbs and hardly feel the bump?

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Thanks for posting Scotty,

My favorite is French Citroen model "deux chevaux" that is first top left picture. It has two cylinders and drives like a dream mainly going down hill only Going uphill is a battle.It does have the most unique shifter that you can not find on any other car, you push the shifter handle in and out along with quarter turn to the right and left for different gears. it's a blast to driveD

JC,

Great shots of some real oddball stuff Scotty. I would really love to look over or under a lot of those cars such as the Trabi, Davis, Tatra 603 and the Plastic Pig to see how they were "engineered". Some of them must be pretty bizarre judging by the looks of some of them. I remember one of the pizza delivery vehicles I used to drive back in the mid 70s was an early Renault R5 which also had the shifter that came out of the middle of the dash. I believe this arrangement was due to the tranny being in front of the engine. I vaguely recall the shift linkage snaking over the top of the engine.

I'm also curious what the Lane Motor Museum building was before. Looks like it could have been some sort of light industrial manufacturing facility, like a clothing, food or furniture maker.

 

[JC-jetro]

JC, didn't they also run some ads that you could drive it over most curbs and hardly feel the bump?

Bird,

That's right it could have been much better dune bugggy if it had a more robust engine. It really was designed to take people and cargo from point A to B with least use of resources. I think it had 60-70 mpg for normal driving.
Below you'll find a good link on it.

JC,

Citroën 2CV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Bird]

With all the weird cars there, don't they have an Isetta? I took a 1957 model from a dealer and kept it over a weekend in 1958, deciding whether I'd want to buy one or not. I decided not. But it was fun to play with.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

With all the weird cars there, don't they have an Isetta? I took a 1957 model from a dealer and kept it over a weekend in 1958, deciding whether I'd want to buy one or not. I decided not. But it was fun to play with.

I think they have at least 2 Isettas (one looks like the BMW 600 version), judging from the pics on the website. They appear to have a Messerschmitt too, perhaps a KR175(?). The museum seems to lean heavily toward various little "peoples" cars, three-wheelers and bubble cars. My kind of stuff!

 

[Bird]

JC, it's an interesting website, but I don't recall ever seeing the 2CV. All I remember were the DS body style.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

The Citroen 2CV prototype from 1939 looks like basically an engine surrounded by 4 sheets of corrugated roofing.