Back in February, I had a powerful dream. A vision, perhaps. A vision of a kind of Citroën that never actually existed, a version of the 2CV Sahara – that wonderful and strange twin-engined car that let Citroën make a four-wheel-drive version of the 2CV without having to, you know, do too much new engineering, which often involves a lot of complicated math no one feels like dealing with. The version I was thinking of was a Fourgonette – a little van.
The 2CV Sahara is a rare and valuable car today – only 694 were built between 1960 and 1966 (oh and one extra in 1971) so there’s not many out there today. And, of course, there are no Fourgonette van Sahara versions out there with a second engine at the rear.
Or so I thought.
That’s diagram there is the car I imagined – a twin-engined variant of the 2CV van – and yesterday a reader from the Netherlands named Fer Cools sent me this picture he took a few years ago of a car he spotted behind “old Citroën garage in the French Ardennes.” Just look at it:
I know it’s in pretty terrible shape there, but do you see the important part there? Look:
An engine! At the rear! And note that quarter-circular cutout in the door for air intake for the cooling fan, and that shelf/raised rear floor over the engine, pretty much just as I imagined it could be:
This is literally a Sahara version of the Fourgonette: engines at front and rear, giving full 4×4 capability. I have no idea how the builder dealt with shifting the twin transmissions or any of the other details, but I assume they used the OG Sahara as a template.
The big difference, of course, between my daydream and this car is that I just imagined something and made some pictures in Photoshop, while the garage owner, a person named Helas, actually built this thing, which Fer says was used for hunting and trekking around the mountainous forest roads in the area.
Helas wouldn’t sell the Four by Fourgonette to Fer, so it’s likely this thing has by now returned to the Earth from whence it came. But it did once exist, and was being used, and just knowing that makes me quite happy.
Oh, and Mr.Cools also sent me a picture of his two lovely 1957 2CVs, and I think you should see them, because they’re lovely:
Also I promise tomorrow’s Cold Start won’t be about Citroëns again. Sorry.
two 2CV’s?
So a 2^2CV?
Or a 2²CV?
420?
I saw a DS wagon on the highway this weekend. It was in wonderful condition. In a nice period correct minty green. All one colour. Perfect. I find two tone wagons end up looking too much like ambulances. I couldn’t talk to the driver or get a picture as I was driving myself. I wondered if they might be known to George Dyke (seems like every Citroen owner in Canada is). It had NY license plates, so probably not.
So uh, what if I want to send a picture of a 2CV from my travels in Spain. How can I send the pictures to you?
Dutch car-friends are very good car-friends to have.
“Also I promise tomorrow’s Cold Start won’t be about Citroëns again. Sorry.”
Noooooo! PLEASE make tomorrow’s Cold Start about Citroëns! In particular, I’d love to see something about the DS, any DS will do (although the 21 is my personal preference). Citroëns are such lovely and interesting cars, whether you’re discussing the 2CV, the DS, the Traction Avant, or whatever. In fact, if you want to start a new site called “The Citroëpian”, I wouldn’t mind at all!
Jason, check out an episode of Wheeler Dealer from last year. Mike and Elvis bought and restored one of these in France just last year.
[Sting voice] I want my; I want my; I want my 2CV
[Chili’s jingle voice] I want my 2CV2CV2CV
Mark Knopfler voice…
Sting sang the falsetto intro line (I want my…) on “Money for Nothing.”
it aint workin…
I will never complain when reading about Citroens! Far from promising tomorrow will be Citroen free, you should be promising us a week straight of all Citroen cold starts! And if you can work in an other French car post throughout the day as well, even better! The Renault 5/Nissan Micra is the perfect example of this today! Maybe tomorrow a Peugeot focus after the Citroen cold start??
One of them should be just a video of his 2CV doing a cold start.
Once he gets it running I’m sure we’ll get exactly that
I suppose it was a fourgone conclusion
helas sounds like a pseudonym namely beacause Hélas in french is “Alas!”
Citroen 2CVs are VW Beetles with extra standard baguettes, so you’ll never have to apologize for going down a rabbit hole, Jason.
VW Type 1 = beetle
Citroen 2CV = the tin snail
How many other garden dwellers are out there in the people’s car world? Does the Ape (bee) scooter count?
Why not? Also Vespa.
Wow how did I forget Vespa?!
…probably repressed wasp related trauma from growing up in Atlanta.
Nissan Leaf?
Does spyder count? Plenty of those
Nissan S-Cargo definitely does.
Dodge Hornet
Superbee is a bit of a stretch.
Jeep. DT has a garden full of them.
David as the Johnny Appleseed of Jeeps. David Jeepleseed.
I’d rather hear about old Citroens than some new hybrid crossover.
I have no problem with the amount of Citroen content on this site.
Well I do what are we some french crepe pastry eating weirdos? No we are murcians we need more truck stuff and burgers and fries /s (do we not have sarcasm font on here?) Sarcasm aside I love articles like this about weird quirky cars and quirky things about cars.
Also side note I actually like crepes but prefer polish blintzes more.
Need more fillo dough!
Citropean
Ermmmm, WHY will it not be about Citroens? I don’t understand??
“Also I promise tomorrow’s Cold Start won’t be about Citroëns again. Sorry.”
I also hear David plans on reducing the size of his fleet.
One extra 2CV Sahara in 1971? What’s the story behind that, I wonder? Did Steve McQueen request one or something?
I can see why they didn’t mass-produce it. The raised rear floor makes it hard to access the well space ahead of it, with the front passenger door being the least-worst option for most things. VW had the same problem developing the Type 2 which led to the huge curbside loading door that’s become such an essential part of a real van, but adding that to the 2CV Fourgonette would require deleting the tool locker on at least the right side and it looks as though the inner part of it is structural.
My brain interpreted the rear engine’s fan as a propeller in the top image. I am sad to learn that it is not a 2CV 4WD van that is also amphibious. Looking at the engine’s position though, you could rig up a belt-driven propeller with some kind of mechanism to pull it up against the body so it doesn’t get in the way while driving on land.
Yeah but remember yesterday’s cold start? These things aren’t water proof haha
The Fourgonette came to its inevitable conclusion.
Bien joué!
Magnifique!
It should have been mass produced.
No. Please no. And I say this as a 2CV owner. The complexity of some stuff makes it feel like less of a 2CV. You lose (IIRC) the dashboard umbrella handle shifter, as the shifter needs to have a crazy linkage to shift both transmissions. And ofc two clutch linkages and accelerator linkages. I have yet to find a full dashboard image, so I dunno the choke situation. The one bit I do love is that the photos I have seen indicate it has a separate key and starter button for each engine. “Honey, have you seen the key to the rear engine of the Citroen? No… Okay, I’ll just drive it in FWD today” (no idea how you could disconnect one transmission and leave it in neutral. In my car it would require pulling a cotter pin and disconnecting the umbrella handle)