COBI Citroen 2CV Type AZ 1962 Set 24511

COBI's Citroën 2CV Type AZ 1962 is a 1:35 model built from 82 blocks, 11 cm long, with four movable wheels, a separately coloured roof with printed fastenings, and printed number plates carrying the model name. A plate with the period Citroën logo is included. Pad-printed throughout.

The roof rolls back, and it is made of cloth

The 2CV's roof is canvas, from the windscreen to the rear bumper, and it unrolls.

The obvious reason is cost: fabric is cheaper than a pressed steel panel, and steel was scarce in France in 1948. But the roof kept its cloth long after steel was plentiful, because it turned out to be useful in ways nobody had planned.

Open it and the car will carry things taller than itself — a wardrobe, a ladder, a bale, a calf. French farmers did exactly that, and the 2CV's reputation in the countryside rests on it as much as on the suspension.

It also saves weight high up, which helps a very tall, very softly sprung car stay upright, and it is a convertible in a country where the weather usually does not justify one.

On this version the roof folds only as far as the rear window. Earlier cars opened all the way to the bumper, which also made the boot accessible from above — useful, since the earliest 2CVs had no boot lid at all.

The AZ

The improved saloon of the early 1960s, with a larger engine. The 2CV ran from 1949 to 1990 and sold close to four million, having been called the ugliest car in the world at its launch.

In the COBI range

Set 24512 is the 2CV Charleston of 1980 at this scale, and 24340 the Charleston at 1:12 as an Executive Edition.

Specifications

Pieces: 82 · Scale: 1:35 · Licensed by Citroën
Model dimensions: 11 × 4.5 cm (4.3 × 1.8 in)