The Citroën Type C was a light car made by the French Citroën car company between 1922 and 1926 with almost 81,000 units being made. Known as Citroën 5HP or 5CV in France and 7.5HP in Britain, it was the second model of automobile designed and marketed by André Citroën, between 1922 and 1926. It followed the 10HP "Type A " (1919), then 10HP "B2" (1921); they were the first European mass-produced cars.
The first colour in which it was made was a pale "grapefruit" yellow which earned it the first nickname "petite citron" (little lemon). It was also nicknamed "Cul de poule" (hen's bottom) or "boat tail" due to the rear of the little car's body and also "Trefle" (clover leaf) referring to the shape of the three-seat version.
History
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The genesis of the Type C took place in the immediate post-war period, when the whole of Europe was in a disastrous state, especially economically, with relentless inflation reducing the value of savings and investments of all kinds.
Only those industrialists with a particularly modern approach to production could hope to weather the financial crisis with a minimum of damage.
The first of these in Europe was André Citroën, a fervent admirer of Henry Ford's methods of mass production, especially after his visit to Detroit in 1912.
He had been able to put these methods into practice during the war in his ammunition factory where he had achieved remarkable levels of production (50,000 shells per day).
By the end of the war, Citroën had a fully equipped factory, which he decided to use for mass production of vehicles as Henry Ford had done with his famous Model T since 1908.
While the French government encouraged, by means of tax benefits, car manufacturers to invest in cyclecars (maximum weight: 350 kg), André Citroën preferred to enter the small car sector, then monopolized by Peugeot and Renault.
Despite its resemblance to the Type A designed by Jules Salomon, the 5HP was above all the work of the engineer Edmond Moyet who, like Jules Salomon, arrived at the Quai de Javel from "le Zèbre", after a significant experience in the field of popular cars; a few months earlier, he had designed a very similar vehicle for Amilcar: the "CC"
The result of this project was presented for the first time at the Motor Show in November 1921 as the Type C, although orders and first deliveries of the car were not received until spring 1922. It was a small car offered only with a two-seater Torpedo body, with a length of only 3.2 metres and a wheelbase of 2.25 metres (short chassis).
The lines were elegant, despite the small size of the body. The front had one of the most handsome radiator masks and the rear bodywork had a tapered boat deck shape.
The 5HP was a popular car, intended to enter the market segment below the 10 HP Type A. It was "delivered complete, without extra charge, with electric starting and lighting, five tyred wheels and a rear axle with differential".
The selling price of the 5HP Torpedo in 1922 (8500 FR) was about 60% of that of the 10 HP B2 (13900 FR) and was also much lower than its main competitor, the Peugeot Quadrilette (10000 FR) which was only a cycle car.
Although an engineer by training, André Citroën was above all in search of new ideas to assimilate and exploit. Thus he founded a consumer credit company, allowing customers to buy cars on credit, a new method for the time.
Citroën also invented the spare parts manual, the repair instructions manual, detailed repair rates and the standard exchange system for mechanical parts refurbished at the factory.
The genius of André Citroën was to promote this car to a female audience, which was very unusual at the time. All the 5HP advertising documents represented the car driven by a young woman.
After a slow start in 1922, the 5HP was so successful that by 1924 it accounted for half of Citroën's sales: nearly 30,000 vehicles per year and became the leading popular European car. The initial commercial name: 5HP became 5CV in 1925 on the occasion of the change of calculation of the power of engines: from HP (Horse Power) to CV (Cheval Vapeur).
Louis Renault is said to have described the 5HP as "the car that kept him from falling asleep"..
Pierre Dumont in "Quai de Javel, Quai Andre Citroen", (1976) wrote: " The 5 CV Citroën ran at 60 km/h, a speed it seemed to be able to maintain indefinitely, and it was incredibly robust. It was a great success, as much because of its qualities, its elegance, especially as a cabriolet, as its price"..
Between 1919 and 1925, Citroen set up a network of five thousand agents throughout the world, and subsidiaries and exclusive dealerships were established in Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, North Africa, Australia, South America, etc. Factories were built in Spain, Italy, Poland, Algeria, Belgium, and England from 1925 in order to avoid customs taxes on imported products (such as Mac Kenna taxes in England).
Launched in May 1922, the "Torpedo" (tourer), was a two-seat version, which in 1923, became available in a more luxurious "Cabriolet" (convertible) version. In 1924, a three-seater version of the "Torpedo" and a van were added.
The 5HP was a model of reliability and frugality compared to the competition; it was extremely robust evidenced by the journey of 17000 km in 5 months around Australia in 1925 of Bubsy, a "used" Torpedo with two students on board: in extreme conditions without any engine problem.
Unfortunately, although the 5HP was a success, it was insufficiently profitable, and in order to prepare for the introduction of the "all steel" B14, André Citroën personally took the decision, against general opinion, to end its production in May 1926.
A C4 "all steel" version was envisaged but was abandoned because of excessive cost. Today, the 5HP is the typical 20s vintage car. Its success is due to the fact that it was already an immense commercial success in its time and also that it is possible to rebuild it very easily from period parts and re-fabrications.
Of the 81000 5HP built, many have been converted into utility vehicles, tractors, etc. It is estimated that about 3000 (4%) survived.
Technical
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The little Citroën was ahead of the competition: it was equipped with a differential and an electric starter, allowing the car to be advertised as especially suitable for lady drivers sensitive to ease of driving. The weight of is essentially that of the engine, gearbox, and rear axle. The maximum speed was with a fuel consumption of .
The 5HP chassis were assembled in the Levallois factory (Paris suburbs), and the assembly of the car was in the Javel factory; Right-hand drive versions were available for the French market (there was still a demand for this) and for export (England, Commonwealth, Sweden, Argentina, Australia).
The body was of a wooden structure, on which the body panels were nailed. It was the last Citroen with a wooden body. The car had only one door, on the passenger side, it opened forwards. The hinges were invisible (except for the "Cabriolet") and the vibrations were absorbed by a double cone lock avoiding accidental opening of the doors.
Early vehicles had a bonnet with 3 air vents that was quickly followed by a 16 air vents version. In 1922, for technical reasons, the radiator was separated into a cooling element and a nickel-plated outer casing. Initially the first Citroën badge on the radiator was blue chevrons on a nickel-plated base; later the colours were swapped.
The four-cylinder, 856 cc (52.2 cu in) engine had a bore of 55 mm (2.2 in) and stroke of 90 mm (3.5 in), generating an output of 8.2 kW (11 bhp) and was cooled by thermosiphon. From June 1, 1925, the cooling system was improved on all models by a fan ( previously fitted only to the Cabriolet ).
There was a single Solex carburettor. The original battery, coil and distributor ignition was replaced after only six months by a magneto ignition due to insufficient reliability.
The gearbox had three unsynchronized ratios plus a reverse gear; the straight-sized sprocket tended to "sing" especially in 1st and 2nd gear (not in 3rd, direct drive), and became noisy when the gears were worn or when the bush between the primary and secondary shaft was loose. This excessive play caused the primary train to become misaligned from the second train.
As on contemporary cars of the time, the accelerator pedal was located centrally between those of the clutch and the brake.
There was no braking on the front wheels but braking on the transmission was controlled by the foot brake and on the rear wheels by a hand brake lever. Braking was not the strong point of the car; it was necessary to anticipate and balance the action of the two braking systems at the risk of breaking a rear wheel shaft. Many 5HP have been modified to couple the transmission brake and the rear brakes.
To avoid distortion of the U-shaped side members, the ladder frame was trapezoidal and reinforced by cross beams.
The suspension consisted of four inverted quarter-elliptical leaf springs. Friction dampers became fitted at the rear from 1925 on the heavier "Cabriolet".
At the end of 1923, the short chassis Type C.2 was lengthened by 100 mm from to and re-inforced by an additional crossbar which protruded from the rear deck and supported the rear of the body. This became the long-wheelbase chassis Type C.3. The extension of the bodywork had become necessary to allow the construction of the new "three-seat" version of the "Torpedo" as well as the "Voiture de Livraison" (delivery car). The lengthening can be noted by the long distance between the spare wheel and the rear wing. This chassis was produced without modification until the end of production.
The rear axle was of the "banjo" type with a round, then oblong (oval) shape. The teeth of the rear axle pinion were of the "Citroën chevron" type. A helical-cut, easier to produce, and more robust part became available, as replacement parts, in 1928.
Initially, the 700x80 beaded edge Michelin "Cablé" tyres were inflated at a "high pressure", , hence mediocre road holding and comfort. They were replaced in June 1924 by 715x115 beaded edge Michelin "Cablé Confort" (balloon ) tyres inflated at a lower pressure , initially offered as extra equipment, and then fitted on all cars in June. 11-12x45 wired on rims appeared in 1927 with " Confort Bibendum " tyres, low pressure and were fitted as replacement of the original beaded edge rims.
The equipment level of the 5 HP being relatively basic, many component suppliers took the opportunity to offer multiple solutions to improve driving comfort or performance such as luggage rack, fuel gauge (OS), water thermometer (Boyer-Meter), speedometer, and watch (Jaeger, OS), shock absorbers (Houdaille, Repusseau), front brakes (Poulet, Acmos), engine improvements (Super-Culasse Desprez, Transformations F. Crespelle, Ruby-Ricardo cylinder head).
Vehicles imported to England or assembled there were retrofitted with side lamps, rear-view mirrors, windscreen wipers, and speedometers by the importer in Slough (London).
Models
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In 1922–23, the "2-seater Torpedo" T2 and the "2-seater Cabriolet" TL were mounted on the short chassis (C2). In October 1923, these bodies, as well as the "Delivery Car" VL and the "3-seater Torpedo " T3-1 will then be mounted on the long chassis (C3). In October 1924, the Torpedo T3-1 was replaced by the "3-seater Torpedo Cloverleaf" T3-2 with room for a single passenger in the rear.
The Citroën system of naming car types, chassis and bodywork was complex and confusing. The lack of historical documentation due to the total destruction of the archives during the war allowed errors and legends to develop and spread in the following decades. It is now accepted that only two types of cars: the "C" and "C "3 types on two chassis types: the "C.2" (short) and "C.3" (long) types were marketed... in spring 1922 and October 1923 respectively.