2cv HEADLIGHT

During the designing of the two brackets, no legal text or administrative norm required having two headlights on a vehicle. Thus, the antecedent of the 2CV, the TPV (Tout Petite Voiture (Very Small Vehicle)) prototype developed before the war by the Citroën teams had only one light at the front, which earned it the name of Cyclops. This single headlight was positioned to the left of the bonnet and not at the centre of the car, and during night travel, numerous vehicles would be confused or mistake the TPV for a bike and would come dangerously close to it.
During its launch in September 1949 at the Paris Trade fair, the 2CV revealed its famous round front lights. Their positioning outside the bodywork was required as a sign of very strong recognition and contributed to giving this vehicle a stylistic personality and form that marked the history of automobiles.
These lights evolved very little over time even during the period of gradual switching from an electric system functioning under a voltage of 6 volts to a 12 volts electric system. This switch would be made between August 1965 and February 1970 with the simultaneous launch of the 2 CV 4 and 2 CV 6 that marked the definitive serial adoption of 12 volts by the 2CV sedan. The main change concerning the lights would take place in September 1974 with the appearance of the rectangular headlight that replaced the round headlight on all the 2CV, sedans as well as vans. The adoption of this rectangular format also required the assembly of a new bracket where the spacing of the fastenings was increased. In fact, these new headlights were bigger than the round models and required a new bracket so that the bonnet would not scrape on top during its opening and closing. The rectangular headlights were the only ones mounted for a year till the release, in September 1975, of the 2 CV Special made on the mechanical base of the 2 CV 4. This model marked the return of the round light. However, for obvious reasons of production cost, the specific bracket for the rectangular lights was kept, and so it would be till the end of the production of the vehicle in Portugal on 27 July 1990… The rectangular light would be fitted in the 2 CV 4 till it was removed from the catalogue in July 1978. Likewise for the 2 CV 6 till its disappearance in July 1979 or for its replacement, the 2 CV 6 Club, which would also retain the rectangular lights till it stopped being sold in July 1988. Only certain special series would give their mark of prestige to the round headlights like the 2CV Spot from 1976 or even the Charleston.
Over the years, numerous vehicles originally equipped with rectangular headlights replaced them with round headlights, be it for aesthetic reasons or because it was getting increasingly difficult to find properly operating rectangular lights till the Méhari Club Cassis relaunched their production a few years ago. The replacement of the round lights by rectangular lights created no specific problem. One only needed to adjust the beams so as to not blind the car drivers coming from the front. Note that our online store also offers LED lights that have numerous advantages and mainly a controlled luminous flux so as to not blind the other users, as well as a light intensity that is higher to that of the incandescent lamps coupled with a very low electricity consumption. You can find our LED range in our lamp and fuse section.