1962 Citroen 2CV 4x4 Sahara

Two engines at different ends of the car, two carburetors, two gearboxes, two ignition keys: It’s a miserable thing to drive. I should know, as I owned one and commuted in it daily for six years

The slab-sided, roll-top Citroën “Deux-Chevaux” was conceived as a people’s car, a front-wheel drive contemporary of the Volkswagen Beetle. The first 2CV was introduced in 1948, powered by an air-cooled, twin-cylinder, 375-cc engine. By the time the last one rolled out of the factory in Vigo, Spain, in 1990, around four million had been made.

In the late 1950s, French oil company Total needed a rugged vehicle for desert exploration. Citroën dispatched recent acquisition Panhard to design a prototype based on the 2CV. The result was the Sahara, fundamentally a 2CV with another engine and gearbox mounted in the trunk, driving the rear wheels.

The rear deck was modified to include an air intake for the fan-cooled engine and the rear carburetor breathed through louvers over the rear wheel wells. The wheels were widened to take 155-15 tires and the rear fenders cut out to accommodate them. Tube bumpers were fitted at both ends and the spare...