Story by Ronan Glon
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If simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class is rather grotesque. ©Renault
While some manufacturers leverage technological prowess as a selling point, others have gone to significant lengths to prove that less is more. Immediately after World War 2, keeping a car simple was often a way to make it affordable to the widest audience possible. In the subsequent decades, and especially in the 21st century, simplicity has often been celebrated as an enthusiast car’s best quality.
From the cheap to the exciting, and confining ourselves to the post-war period, join us for a look at some of the simplest cars ever created:
1.
Citroën devoted a considerable amount of energy to making the 2CV as cheap and basic as possible. Pierre-Jules Boulanger (1885-1950), a Michelin executive who became the carmaker’s president in 1938, told engineers the car needed to be a bicycle with four seats. “It replaces the bicycle, the motorcycle and the horse-drawn carriage,” he wrote. These guidelines shaped the TPV, which was cancelled shortly before its launch due to World War 2, but they permeated the regular-production 2CV.
Released in 1948, the original 2CV came with a 9bhp flat-twin engine, a canvas top that stretched from the windscreen to the rear bumper and front windows that pivoted up. At the time, French law stated drivers needed to be able to put their arm out to signal and pivoting windows were cheaper than semaphores ('trafficators') or indicators. The 2CV eventually got indicators but it kept these windows until 1990. And yes, that hole in the grille really is where you put the starting-handle in, if need be.
2.
Chevrolet’s first-generation Corvette is rare, pretty and valuable, but one thing it’s not is complicated. Its glassfibre body initially concealed an evolution of the Blue Flame straight-six engine that the company had used for years in a wide variety of models, including pickup trucks. It was bolted to a two-speed automatic transmission. Chevrolet added a V8 and a manual later in the production run.
3.
Its KR175 (pictured) and KR200 models offered drivers tandem seating for two, a Plexiglas roof, three wheels and little else. Power came from a two-stroke single-cylinder air-cooled engine. In some models, the driver even accelerated using a twist grip mounted on the steering bar. Production ended in 1964. Messerschmitt returned to aerospace, and would-be buyers turned to larger small cars.
4.
Although the Isetta was developed by Italian firm Iso, BMW created the improved version of the car that’s best known in 2020. It kept the basic design, including the front-hinged door, but it was powered with a 12bhp single-cylinder four-stroke engine borrowed from one of its motorcycles. It also made several visual modifications, including moving the lights further up on the front fascia.
Like all bubble cars, the Isetta blurred the line between a motorcycle and a car. Some of the variants built and sold in England were even fitted with three wheels to land in a cheaper tax bracket.
5.
Fiat developed the rear-engined 500 to bridge the gap separating mopeds from family cars. Weight and cost were extremely important during the development process, and making the 500 front-wheel drive wasn’t possible, so engineer Dante Giacosa (1905-1996) put the drivetrain behind the passenger compartment to make the car smaller (and, consequently, lighter) by eliminating parts like the driveshaft. He selected an air-cooled two-cylinder engine that produced 13bhp in early cars, and his quest to reduce manufacturing costs to the bare minimum led him to install a pull-type starter.
500 production ended in 1975. Its replacement, the 126, was just as simple, and it stuck around until 2000 in Poland. PICTURE: 500R.
6.
What hasn’t been said about the original Mini? Created by Sir Alec Issigonis (1906-1988), it was an alternative to the bubble cars that were becoming increasingly common in the UK and abroad. Issigonis knew a big part of their appeal was their compact footprint so he made the Mini as small as possible by dropping the four-cylinder engine directly over the four-speed manual transmission, rather than mounting them side by side. He further simplified the layout by making them share the same oil.
Ensuring the Mini was simple to build was hugely important, too, which explains why it received a speedometer mounted in the middle of the dashboard. It eliminated the need to manufacture different dashboards for right- and left-hand drive models. Mini production ended in 2000.
7.
Although the 4 is often referred to as Renault’s answer to the Citroën 2CV, the two cars were shaped by completely different guidelines. As we’ve mentioned, the 2CV was primarily created as an alternative to more rudimentary forms of transportation, while Renault boss Pierre Dreyfus (1907-1994) imagined the 4 as the automotive equivalent of a pair of jeans. It had to be cheap, versatile and, above all, durable.
Introduced in 1961, the 4 offered users a tall hatch and folding rear seats before the vast majority of its competitors. It was also front-wheel drive, though some four-wheel drive models were built by Sinpar. Windows that slid horizontally (if they opened at all) and a shift linkage that travelled through the firewall, over the engine and down into the transmission kept design and production costs in check. Production ended in 1994 but its spirit arguably lives on in the modern-day Kangoo van.
8.
Designed to replace the 600, the Trabant 601 was the simplest and cheapest form of transportation in a long list of Eastern European countries. It was the industry’s lowest common denominator so it didn’t need anything fancy – like, say, a four-stroke engine. For nearly 30 years, Motorists settled for a two-stroke, two-cylinder engine and body panels made with Duroplast. The only major change came in 1990, when the Trabant received a 1.1-litre four-stroke four-cylinder engine from the Volkswagen Polo.
Germany reunited the same year, and East Germans were able to exchange their make-believe currency into West German marks at a generous rate. They went out and bought VW Golfs. Trabant sales collapsed, and production ended in 1991.
9.
Nearly every car powered by Volkswagen’s air-cooled flat-four is characterised by a degree of simplicity which approaches the surreal, but the Porsche 914 stands out because it was developed for enthusiasts. It offered motorists extremely balanced handling, respectable performance figures, and a head-turning design without the complexity often associated with sports cars. While some 914s received a flat-six, the vast majority of the production run carried a flat-four that could be repaired with a stick and gaffer tape.
10.
In the early 1970s, after a Jeep-like off-roader with a soft top was ruled out, Russian officials reportedly asked Lada to make the Niva a Renault 5 on a Land Rover chassis. Look at it from the side, and you’ll notice that’s exactly what the firm created. It was essentially a city-friendly hatchback made tougher and taller to handle Siberian roads. It was also a Lada, so complexity was weeded out of the project early on.
Launched in 1977, the Niva received a Fiat-derived four-cylinder engine and a robust four-wheel drive system. It’s still in production as of 2020 and it’s one of the simplest cars sold anywhere in the world.
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