Start with what the Citroën Type C is: a Torpedo & Cabriolet with 800 , built from 1922, the vintage years, when coachbuilders still shaped most of what was sold. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Edmond Moyet.
The story
The Citroën Type C was a light car made by the French Citroën car company between 1922 and 1926 with almost 81,000 units being made. Known as Citroën 5HP or 5CV in France and 7.5HP in Britain, it was the second model of automobile designed and marketed by André Citroën, between 1922 and 1926.
It followed the 10HP "Type A " (1919), then 10HP "B2" (1921); they were the first European mass-produced cars. The first colour in which it was made was a pale "grapefruit" yellow which earned it the first nickname "petite citron" (little lemon). It was also nicknamed "Cul de poule" (hen's bottom) or "boat tail" due to the rear of the little car's body and also "Trefle" (clover leaf) referring to the shape of the three-seat version.
What is underneath
The engine is 800 . On the scales it comes to 543 kg. Drive goes through a 3-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2.25 m (C2) 2.35 m (C3). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Fiat 519, the Opel 10/30 PS, the Alfa Romeo RL. Nearby in the Citroën catalogue sit the Citroën K and the Citroën 2CV.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Citroën Type C has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.