Widely remembered as one of the most popular versions of the Citroën 2CV, the Charleston started life as merely the latest in a long line of special editions designed to keep sales from embarking on a free fall. It was based on the 2CV6 Club and introduced in France in September of 1980.

Outside, the the 2CV Charleston featured an eye-catching burgundy and black paint job with white highlights that harked back to the late 1920s and early 1930s. The headlight housings were black, the 15-inch steel wheels were painted in the same shade of burgundy as the body, and chromed hubcaps borrowed from the Dyane parts bin came standard.
Inside, the only Charleston-specific modification was a cloth upholstery borrowed from the Peugeot-based LN. All Charlestons came with separate front seats (as opposed to the single bench that other models models could be ordered with at the time), but the rest of the cockpit was standard 2CV fare.
Citroën made no changes under the hood and the Charleston used the same 602cc flat-twin engine that powered the 6 Spéciale. Linked to a four-speed manual transmission, the mill made 29 horsepower. It propelled the car from zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) in about 33 seconds and on to a top speed of roughly 71 mph (115 km/h).