It’s been a while since I’ve shared a 2CV over here. But I finally found the one that is most dear to me. The two-tone 2CV4 Spot. Orange on white: What’s not to love?
And the reason it’s my favorite 2CV is the fact it once was in the family. In my younger years my uncle, who owned a shop selling fire works (amongst many other things but you can imagine that alone had quite the impact on an 8 years old lad), drove one of these.
But what was the Spot? Well, Citroën introduced it in 1976. This special limited edition commemorated the fact Citroën had built five million 2CV and 2CV-based cars already since it’s introduction in 1948. The Spot was the first limited-edition model offered by Citroën and paved the road for other special editions 2CVs like the Dolly and the probably best-known Charleston.
As said, the Spot was finished in a two-tone orange and white paint job. It’s wheels were painted in the same shade of white as the body and fitted with chromed hubcaps. These were similar to the ones seen on well-equipped Dyane and Ami 8 models. And to finish of it’s body it gained edition-specific “Spot” stickers on the front doors with some striping.
The Spot was based on the entry-level 2CV4 and had the same masculine 435cc air-cooled flat-twin engine. It sent 24 hp and 28Nm of torque to the front wheels via a dog-legged four-speed manual transmission. Given enough tarmac, it could reach top speed of 63 mph. Can you imagine what it was capable of down-hill?
Inside it was all orange and white as well: the door panels were two-tone and the seats were totally wrapped in orange cloth. Only things that weren’t orange or white were the dash, steering wheel and controls: these were brown or black.
Initially Citroën made 1,800 Spots. Solely for the French market. And they were sold out almost immediately! That wasn’t actually all that surprising as it only costed a 248-franc premium over the normal 2CV4. That’s an additional 1.5%. As the Spot came standard with the individual front seats that were available at an extra cost on the regular 2CV4 one can imagine that alone being enough to convince prospects to opt for the Spot.
So how did my Dutch residing uncle get one? Simple: Surprised by the positive response the Spot generated from buyers in France, Citroën offered the “limited-edition” model in other countries across Europe in late 1976. Luckily our Dutch market could purchase the car with the more powerful 602cc flat-twin under the hood. That 2nd batch was limited as well though and sold out quickly too. My uncle got it 3rd or 4th hand but owned it for many years. After this one he bought a Lada 1500/2103. What a guy.
The model itself is an Eligor in 1/43. You could get it with car magazine AutoPlus, there’s quite some (but not just) French cars in that series, lots of Citroëns. Not that strange when you know these were made by Eligor of course.
It comes with a “remorque”, a small trailer. So small it needed just one wheel. I’m not sure if this was some factory feature, it looks cool though. Nice detail is the sunscreen that was mounted over the front seats. And the rolled up canvas roof (both came as standard on the Spot). Although the latter might be somewhat too obvious made of plastic.
Otherwise it’s great for such a cheap cast. Sure the paint isn’t on par with the major players (just look at the black “rubber” parts on the bumper rosettes) but it’s a great replication of a great youth-memory for me. Not sure if I’ll use that trailer a lot though.
And that’s it for this week’s French Friday. Bon Week-End!!!
