The Legend of the “Tin Snail”

2CV prototypes built before WWII were buried to hide them from the Nazis, lest they aid the Wehrmacht—but how?

by Rob Sass

Prior to WWII, the mostly rural population of France did not have a cheap and utilitarian vehicle that would allow them to embrace the automobile the way Americans had with the Model T. The 2CV was conceived as the car that would mechanize the French peasant class.

Like the Volkswagen Beetle, the 2CV had its roots in the pre-WWII era. Pierre-Jules Boulanger, a Michelin executive assigned to Citroën, called for a car that could carry two people and 200 pounds of farm goods over lousy French roads and go at least 100 kilometers on 4.8 liters (about 58 mpg) of equally lousy French gasoline. And the ride had to be smooth enough to traverse a plowed field without breaking a crate of eggs.

The resulting proof of concept was called the “TPV” for Très Petite Voiture, or very small car. Also like the Beetle, the war intervened before production could get underway. It is rumored that the five or six prototypes built before the war were buried to hide them...