In October 1980, Citroën presented the special “Charleston” series of the 2CV at the Paris Motor Show, which was initially limited to 8,000 vehicles and cost 24,800 francs. “To satisfy 2CV purists, the headlights are round, with a red housing,” was how the limited edition was described in the press release at the time.

With its chic and unconventional two-tone design, houndstooth-trimmed seats and round headlights, the 2CV 6 Charleston represented the most unusual version of the 2CV and successfully joined the ranks of the newly emerging, coveted limited editions after the 2CV Spot of 1976. With them, Citroën boosted sales of the “duck”, which was already completely obsolete at the time.

Due to the great demand for the limited special edition, the 3.83-meter-long, 29-horsepower Charleston was then put into standard production a year later, in July 1981. Manufactured at the Levallois plant near Paris, the new variant differed from the limited edition with chrome headlights and gray velour upholstery with a diamond pattern.

Initially, the 2CV 6 Charleston, weighing only 560 kilograms, was available exclusively in the Delage red/black color combination and was later joined by the Hélios yellow/black combination, which was, however, replaced by night gray/cormorant gray in July 1983.

From 1988, production continued at the Mangualde plant in Portugal. The vehicles produced at this location can be identified by their windows, which bear the name of the Spanish glazier “Covina”. On July 27, 1990, at 4:30 p.m., the last “duck” finally rolled off the production line in Mangualde: a 2CV 6 Charleston in night gray and cormorant gray. A total of 5,114,969 2CVs including derivatives were built.

The 2CV remains one of the icons of automotive history and enjoys a large collector scene around the world. The Charleston also made a significant contribution to this outstanding success.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)