Citroën Bijou


 * This article is from Wikipedia

The Citroën Bijou was a small coupémanufactured by Citroën at their factory in Slough, England from 1959–64, and based on that company's 2CV model. There was at the time a perceived mismatch between the conservatism of British car buyers and the unconventional look of the 2CV.

The body was made of fibreglass, and the car featured the two cylinder 425 cc 12 bhp engine also seen in the 2CV. Only 207 were produced, plus 2 prototypes.

The car was originally designed to take the company's 602 cc engine.

It was designed by Peter Kirwan-Taylor who also designed the Lotus Elite.

A car tested by The Motor magazine in 1961 had a top speed of 44.7 mph (71.9 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-40 mph (64 km/h) in 41.7 seconds. A fuel consumption of 59.5 miles per imperial gallon (4.75 L/100 km; 49.5 mpg-US ) was recorded. The test car cost £695 including taxes which was considered expensive by the testers.

As of 2008, 140 are on the 2CVGB club register.