It was 1984. At Quai de Javel, in Paris, they could not understand what was happening: the 2CV had outlived the Dyane, the model Citroën had released back in 1967 to replace it. However, even sales of the evergreen 2CV were declining; something had to be done.

At Slough, Citroën had wanted to market a new model but fresh "type approval" would have been necessary. It is possible this would not have been granted without costly modifications and Citroën needed to have a car on the market that would hopefully attract the younger driver.

Limited series releases with striking colour designs are one way of creating new interest to boost slumping sales; a successful advertising campaign, with some clever marketing would perhaps delay the inevitable.

Following the success of the Charleston, Citroën decided to create a new special edition. The starting point was to use existing colours already in the Citroën palate. Naturally, Serge Gevin was the man for the job, having already been responsible for the Spot, Caban and Charleston, and Citroën commissioned him to produce a design scheme, as exciting as the Charleston for a new limited model series.

It seems likely that the Dolly was designed to have the roof the same colour as the wings and bootlid, but to save costs they were made using the parts that were used on standard models - so red and white (and red and grey) got the appropriate red hoods, but as green and "plum" Spécials/Clubs weren’t being made at the time they used the hoods from the contemporary Blanc Meije/Jaune Rialto ones instead.

Serge had wanted to use the name Dolly for the model that would become the Charleston, but his wife Micheline had disagreed, instead settling upon the safer option.

Continuing along the Art Deco, roaring twenties theme, Serge decided to give this new limited edition the name Dolly, after the Dolly Sisters.

The Dolly Sisters were a Hungarian-American dancing, acting duo. Rózsika and Janka Deutsch were identical sisters, living hard and fast in the spirit of the times, eventually buying a château in France.

March 1985 - 2CV6 Dolly: First Series

Serge initially came up with three, two-colour design combinations. This first series of the Dolly would be quite restrained. Grey predominated the livery and, unlike later editions, the coloured parts of each of these three versions differed. Additionally, on two of the models, two paint passes are required, adding to the cost and complicating the production process.

Colours: Gris Cormoran & Rouge Vallelunga; Gris Cormoran & Blanc Meije; and Gris Cormoran & Jaune Rialto. All that had to be decided upon now was the specification.

Red and grey Dollies had decals on the doors, rather than paint - so only wings, bootlid, and lights had to be painted a different colour to the main body.

Specification

Whereas the Charleston was based upon the more upmarket Club, the Dolly would be based upon the basic model, the Spécial. There was a reason for this: the facelift editions added to make the 2CV a little less dated in 1970 had not weathered the test of time. Buyers preferred the original round headlights over the Club’s rectangular ones. The older Jaeger compact trapezoidal instrument cluster was preferred over the larger, rather cumbersome plastic Jaeger/Veglia instrument cluster, originally from the Ami 6, plus the revised hard-plastic, two-spoke steering wheel of the Spécial, based upon the Quillery wheel of the sixties, looked more in keeping with the 2CV’s minimalistic image. The plastic door capping of the Club robbed the interior of the character Citroën was now realising to be the 2CV’s trump card, a real selling point. In many ways, the Dolly was a return to basics. But it was not just a Spécial with a different colour scheme; there were to be some extras added:

Exterior

  • Plastic chrome trim on the rain gutters

  • Colour matched hood that could be opened from the inside (à la the Club)

  • Wheels painted in Blanc Meije

  • Stainless steel trim along the sills

  • Club type rear bumper (11cm - taller than the 8cm of the Spécial)

  • Stainless steel hub caps from the Dyane 6

  • A “Dolly” graphic on the vent flap and on the bootlid (in Britain, there was also a 2CV6 Spécial badge on the boot, unlike in other countries).

Interior

  • Seats, the more luxurious, grey diamond-stitched fabric from the Charleston

  • Two Sun visors

  • Interior light

  • Door cards were black, rather than the grey of contemporary Spécials.

  • Rear hammock parcel shelf (first appeared with the AZAM Export)

Launch

The 2CV6 Dolly first series was launched on the 21st March 1985. There was a limited run of 3,000 units: 1,500 for France and 1,500 to be exported to Italy, Austria and Great Britain.

October 1985 - 2CV6 Dolly: Second Series

The first series Dollies were snapped up very quickly. Flushed with this success, Citroën decided to launch a second series, selling at a price of 34,200F, a price barely higher than the basic Spécial model and a lower price than the Club. Three new editions were released, with a much higher production of around 6,000 units. This time, the coloured parts were the same for all three editions. For example, wings and boot. Furthermore, there was a sticker set to connect the two colours, saving on painting costs.

Colours: Blanc Meije & Rouge Vallelunga; Blanc Meije & Vert Bambou; and Jaune Rialto & Rouge Delage.

March 1986 - 2CV6 Dolly: Third Series

Citroen continued with the Dolly and a third and last limited series, with three editions, was released at a price of 35,700F. A new edition was launched, the Bleu Nuit and Jaune Rialto. Bleu Nuit was previously a Dyane colour that had been used on the Dyane Caban special edition.

Colours: Blanc Meije & Rouge Vallelunga; June Rialto & Rouge Delage; and Bleu Nuit & Jaune Rialto.

Dolly Mixtures

The Dolly proved to be very popular with the car-buying public, but a nightmare for the dealers. As the cars were imported in batches of one colour scheme only, there were sometimes a large number of that colour and a shortage of others, and dealers would exchange cars all over the country. At the time, it was not unknown for a dealer to be desperate enough to exchange a BX for one, even though there was more profit to be made on a BX!

Additionally, if dealers had a predominance of one or two colours, or older stock to shift, they were encouraged by Citroën to jazz up these cars to make them more attractive by adding stickers and changing things as such as outer panels, wheels, headlamp shells, and roofs thus creating three-coloured cars, such as in red, green and white. These were called Dolly Mixtures and it is known that that at least one dealer - Lovekyn of Kingston Upon-Thames - even produced an additional graphic on the vent flap and bootlid to this effect. Unfortunately, none of these are known to survive.

Some dealers even swapped the roof, so Dollies were supplied with a black or white roof, although this is believed to be carried out at the dealer, rather than supplied by Citroën like this. All of which makes it very difficult for restorers to put back a Dolly to “as-new” condition.

Dolly Production Model

As a result of the Dolly’s great success, Citroën made the decision to add it to the production models and it ceased to be a special edition series.

Originally the Dolly was manufactured at Levallois in Paris before the factory there was closed. The Dolly continued to be manufactured in three colours in the factory at Mangualde in Portugal until 2CV production ceased in 1990: Blanc Meije & Vert Bambou; Jaune Rialto & Rouge Delage, and Blanc Meije & Vallelunga.