2 CV Prototypes - TPV - Très Petite Voiture (Very Small Car)

Right despite a total prohibition on any photographs of the TPV, this photograph was taken at the Bureau d'Etudes in Ferté-Vidame during road tests in 1939.

Below this TPV prototype was displayed at the Classic Motor Show 2009.

For years it was believed that only this vehicle and the pickup had survived and then, in 1995, an additional three cars were found in a barn at the Bureau d'Etudes but unlike the car above which has been fully restored, these have been left pretty much as they were found.

1939 TPV techical specifications
ENGINE
Layout	2 horizontally opposed cylinders
Bore and stroke	62 x 62 mm
Cubic capacity	375 cc
Max power	8 bhp @ 3200 rpm
Valvegear	2 overhead valves per cylinder, central, gear-driven camshaft
Electrical system	6 volt, dynamo, 25Ah battery, no starter - starting handle
Carburation	Solex 22 HD, dry air filter, mechanical fuel pump
Cooling	Water
TRANSMISSION
Layout	Front wheel drive
Clutch	Single dry disc, foot operated
Gearbox	3 forward speeds and reverse. Fascia-mounted gearlever
Tyres	Michelin Pilote 125x400

BODYWORK
Chassis	Platform
Body	4 door, 4 seat, fabric roof
SUSPENSION
Type	Fully independent on all 4 wheels, 8 torsion bars, anti-dive geometry
BRAKES
Front	Drums
Rear	Drums
Operation	Hydraulic, pedal operated
Parking Brake	Mechanical with hand operated lever
STEERING
Type	Rack and pinion
WEIGHT
Unladen	400kg
PERFORMANCE
Top speed	50 km/h
Fuel consumption	5l/100 km

The war years gave the company time to revise and simplify the design.

By 1942, the TPV was beginning to look much more like the car that was revealed in 1948 although only a single headlamp was fitted.

Mechanically too, it was far closer than the 1939 models - the over--complicated torsion bar springing had been replaced by the familiar inter-connected longitudinal coil springs of the production vehicles.

Transmission was only three speed and the engine was a 700 cm³ flat twin.

The cars made widespread use of duralinox - a lightweight aluminium alloy but more conventional (and cheaper) materials were employed in the production vehicles.