Dyane Production History

The following information does not include the Acadiane, which is covered in the van’s section.

Instant expert: “bluff your way in Dyane in 10 minutes…​’

For those of you unfamiliar with the Dyane for whatever reason, the following is a collection of facts and figures to enable you to answer some basic questions regarding this particular model. It probably won’t help you in a pub quiz though…​

The Dyane was introduced in August 1967. Two versions were initially available: Luxe and the higher specification Confort.

The Dyane is a five door hatchback.

Until September 1969 there was no glass in the rear quarters of the bodywork. This is referred to as a “four light”, as in the number of side glass apertures. Later models with the additional glass are known as “six light”.

Panhard designer Louis Bionier was partly involved in the design of the Dyane.

According to Citroen, the Dyane was not intended to replace the 2CV.

The first Dyanes were fitted with a 425cc engine, although this lasted just a few months until it was replaced in March 1968 by a 435cc motor. The 435cc motor wasn’t an enlarged 425cc motor but a smaller version, and thus lower tax class, of the M28 602cc motor.

A 602cc engine appeared in January 1968, in a model designated D6. This engine (type M4) was discontinued in July 1968 (although the D6 tag itself only lasted two months), and was replaced by a new M28 engine, also 602cc.

The 435cc model became known as the Dyane 4, even though it was simply badged as “Dyane”. In March 1968 the 602cc model became the Dyane 6, and was badged accordingly. In February 1970 the 602cc engine received an increase in power to 35bhp (SAE) by increasing the compression ratio to 9:1 (from 8.5:1) and adding a twin-choke carburettor (note: compression ratio of 2CV6 is normally 8.5:1).*

At the same time, the gearbox from the Ami 8 was installed. Compared with a 2CV gearbox, this effectively has lower gearing in the first three gears, but a higher fourth gear to aid cruising at speed**. This does leave a large gap between third and fourth, which is sometimes inconvenient in those situations where fourth is too high, but third is not quite high enough.

The Dyane 4 has lower gearing overall, particularly on the final drive (same gearbox as the 2CV4 of the same period).

Dyane 6 models with front drum brakes have larger drums at the front than the Dyane 4, which has drums the same size as the 2CV4 and 2CV6 up to 1981.

The Dyane 4 was discontinued in July 1975.

Except for the earliest models, the Dyane 6 engine is equipped with a form of forced air induction; the cooling fan blows air into the air filter and carburettor via ducting on the engine cowling, thus increasing the power output in a manner similar to supercharging.

For the UK market, the Dyane 6 Weekend was introduced in July 1974. This featured a folding rear seat as standard. The Weekend was an additional model to the Dyane 6, but for the 1977 model year the standard model was deleted and the Weekend became the sole Dyane model available.

The Confort model was still available in various Continental markets, as well as a more expensive Commerciale model, up until the end of production. The Luxe designation had disappeared by 1969, the basic models being referred to as either Dyane 4 or Dyane 6, without any further description.

Front disc brakes became standard in September 1977.**

The Dyane model code always starts AY. There are several variations, e.g. AYA (425cc model), AYA2 (435cc), AYA3 and AYB (the earlier 602cc models). The most common version is the 602cc AY series CB from February 1970 onwards (all the others mentioned were available in either series A or AM according to specification).

The fuel tank of a Dyane 4 has a capacity of 20 litres, whereas a Dyane 6 is 25 litres.

A Dyane is 3.87 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, which is marginally larger than a 2CV, but is lower at 1.54 metres.

A Dyane 6 is recorded as having travelled from Paris to Poitiers, a distance of 202 miles, at an average speed of 69 mph (bear in mind that this was in the early 1970s, and a Dyane 6 has a top speed of about 75 mph).

Most Dyanes have a hood colour coded to match the bodywork. There are a few exceptions: early 1970s body colours jaune primevere and bleu camarge have hoods as close to the colour of the paint as possible, as does the later colour of bleu petrel. Only jaune cedrat had a hood vastly different in colour to the paintwork - black.

Blue was a popular Dyane colour and there was at least one variation of it available throughout its production lifespan. Bleu weekend (1968), bleu crystal (1968-1969), bleu mesange (1969-1970), bleu thasos (1970-1971), bleu camargue (1972-1973), bleu lagune (1974, then again in 1982-1983), bleu petrel (1975-1976), bleu myosotis (1977-1979), bleu marine (Caban, 1977) and bleu azurite (1980-1981). Bleu camargue would also make a reappearance in 1984 on the Acadiane van.

The only metallic paint applied to a Dyane was beige opale in 1978.*

Seats could be upholstered in either vinyl or cloth. The most commonly seen vinyl is Targa, a material with a pattern resembling a coarse cloth weave imprinted upon its surface. This was available in dark grey, brown or black.

The cloth material used on the seats is generally referred to as Jersey, although this covers a variety of fabrics. In the early 1970s it was a plain cloth, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s it was striped multicolour. For one year in between (1978), there was a Jersey velour in a lozenge pattern material.

A number of special edition Dyanes have been produced. The Caban of 1977 and the Côte d’Azur of 1982 are probably the best known, but there was also the Nazare of 1976 (a Portuguese model), and the Capra from Spain, built for the Italian market in 1979. Another Spanish special edition was the Edelweiss.

Spanish Dyanes are equipped with wind up front windows (same as the Acadiane van) and sliding windows in the rear doors.

The Acadiane was introduced in 1978. Basically a van variant of the Dyane, it sat on an extended chassis with a longer wheelbase and uprated suspension.

If you are ever offered a lift in a Dyane, you may find yourself searching for the door release when you want to get out. If you feel below the edge near the top centre of the door trim, you will find a hole. In this hole you will find a concealed handle that can be operated by pulling it rearwards with the forefinger.

The metal mesh grille was replaced in July 1974 by one in grey plastic, which was subsequently replaced by a similar one in black plastic in July 1977.

Before this, in September 1972, the door handles changed from cast alloy to grey plastic (you’d have thought these changes would coincide! At least the change to black plastic handles came at the same time as the grille).

Painted metal bumpers gave way to stainless bumpers in September 1974, the rear one increasing in width at the same time. These had black rubber inserts, which were replaced by black tape in June 1975.

The “T” handle for opening the tailgate was replaced by push button in July 1976. The chrome strip above the rear number plate also disappeared at the same time.

The Dyane was manufactured in a variety of countries; apart from France, they were also assembled in Spain, Portugal, Slovenia (when it was part of Yugoslavia) and even Iran.

UK sales ended in late 1982.

Total production of the Dyane totalled 1,443,583

Production ended in July 1983.

* A brochure produced after this date still states the compression ratio for the Dyane 6 as 8.5:1, although I suspect it to be incorrect.
** Actually, the Dyane gearbox is lower geared, but a higher final drive ratio effectively makes it higher overall in top.
*** The special edition Edelweiss mentioned might also have been painted a metallic colour.