COBI Citroen 2CV Charleston - Executive Edition Set 24340

COBI's Citroën 2CV Charleston Executive Edition is a 1:12 model built from 1,669 blocks, 30.5 cm long, under Citroën licence. Both pairs of doors open, so do the bonnet and the boot, the steering wheel turns the front wheels, and the engine and interior are modelled in brick. Accessories include a toolbox and a crate of vegetables that fit in the boot. A black display stand with a plate carrying the model name and the period Citroën logo is included. All markings are printed; no stickers.

The brief was a basket of eggs

Pierre Boulanger's specification for the car, written in the 1930s, is one of the most quoted in automotive history: four wheels under an umbrella, able to carry two farmers in clogs and fifty kilos of potatoes at 60 km/h, using three litres per hundred kilometres.

And it had to cross a ploughed field carrying a basket of eggs without breaking any of them.

That last requirement is why the 2CV rides the way it does. The suspension is interconnected front to rear by springs in a horizontal tube, so that a wheel rising over a bump is partly compensated by the wheel behind it. The body leans alarmingly in corners and the wheels stay on the ground. It was designed for a France where most roads outside towns were not paved.

Critics at the 1948 Paris Salon called it the ugliest car in the world. Nearly four million were built over 41 years.

The Charleston

Launched in 1980 as a limited run of 8,000 cars, with a two-tone body and matching interior trim in a 1920s style. It sold out so quickly that Citroën made it a permanent model, and it is now the version most people picture when they think of a 2CV.

In the COBI range

The smaller 1:35 Citroën 2CVs are sets 24510, 24511, 24512 and 24513.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,669 · Scale: 1:12 · Licensed by Citroën · Display stand, plate and accessories · No stickers
Model dimensions: 30.5 × 13 × 13 cm (12.0 × 5.1 × 5.1 in)