The Citroen 2CV is one of the more important cars in history, but few Americans have ever seen one. Here’s a video introduction to France’s beloved Deux Chevaux. 

While it never made any impact in the United States, the Citroen 2CV put France on wheels. The name 2CV was short for deux chevaux-vapeur or in English, two steam horsepower, a reference to the French vehicle tax system.

First developed in 1939, the 2CV was shelved for the duration of World War II, then reintroduced to a car-hungry French public at the Paris Auto Salon in October of 1948. There it was an instant sensation with thousands of orders taken straight from the show floor. The 2CV would then remain on the market for another 42 years, with more than five million units produced.

As bare and basic as any automobile ever produced for a mass audience, the Deux Cheavaux sold for half the price of a Volkswagen Beetle and could barely do 40 mph. Initially, the design did not include even an electric starter. British auto journalist LJK Setright famously called the 2CV “the most intelligent application of minimalism ever to succeed as a car.” But its many attributes were nearly legendary, like the ability to cross a freshly plowed field without disturbing a basket of eggs. A few of these abilities are included in the fast-moving video history below.