Rumor has it that a Citroën 2CV might be headed my way for some rust remediation and or collision repair. While I welcome the adventure of new automotive territory, I do like to be a step ahead and know what I am getting into.
All I know is that the car has a new galvanized frame and the body looked like a self-assemble garden shed before the self assembly part was executed.
Advice from experience or links to sites where the initiated might reside is most welcome.
Pete
I've ridden in many. They are like Legos, just get the parts you need.
Unless its a very old one and you can't get the correct parts, there is no point in doing any rust repair.
what year ?
I had a 1964 with the smaller 425cc motor , good for 7-11 runs but pretty much more , a death trap as it was so slow !
later ones had 600cc motors and were almost driveable ,
simple car , most things unbolt , doors pull off the pins ,
seats are interesting , no springs , just some bungree cord things.
if it took 10 parts to make something on a Ford , then Citroen figured out how to do it in 3 parts !
its a Cute car and you get lots of smiles and waves , but people will be on your ass all the time trying to pass you !
No experience with them, except I think they're super cool. I remember reading a car magazine article waaaay back in the day, wish I could find it. The author made reference to seeing two of them collide head on (I think) and it looking like a deck of cards being blasted by a shotgun. I laughed my butt off at that comment.
2cv's are so much flimsier than you can imagine. the body is mostly 22ga . Luckily they are well served with aftermarket panels
2CV's are a car I always loved and wanted until I finally had one in my hands. Nope, Nope, nope.
Most vile thing I have ever driven.
Jumper K Balls (Trent) said:2cv's are so much flimsier than you can imagine. the body is mostly 22ga . Luckily they are well served with aftermarket panels
2CV's are a car I always loved and wanted until I finally had one in my hands. Nope, Nope, nope.
Most vile thing I have ever driven.
This is good to know. Thank you.
One must remember the OP is probably feeding the car hobby the best way - using other people's money.
That much I understand. I was just relaying an anecdote. Disappointment like that lingers
The only advice I have to offer is that they are so shoddily constructed that it would be easy to fall victim to scope creep just trying to make it not so flimsy.
In reply to Jumper K Balls (Trent) :
Why is it that every time you describe how absolutely garbage a specific oddball vintage car is, I just end up wanting one more?
This was the one that really disappointed me. We bought it as a non runner and wanted to use it as an around town runabout/parts chaser. It was a Dyane so it has the later more powerful engine. After a month of pouring money into it, getting it running and dialing it in we each put less than two miles on it and immediately put it up for sale. you could put one finger pressure on the drivers side fender and push it enough that the passenger side would move an inch and the hood wouldn't close.
I have since worked on 3 2CV's which were exactly the same after various levels of restoration. We really didn't know what to expect and I guess we thought it would be more like a traction avant, which we did have experience with.
I love the shifter. I mean the actual mechanics of it feels like a bunch of dookie zip tied together, but once you got past the lever dropping down from above it worked like every other shifter. So cool looking.
I bought mine because I told the original owner to call me when he wanted to sell it ,
real nice WW2 vet who just got to old to drive it......
If you want one , borrow one , rent one , steal one but at least drive it for a day or 2 before buying ,
it may work for you if everyone is not in a big hurry , driving 50mph in a 35 zone while texting ,
it might do 55mph downhill , but really 25 to 30mph and it takes a minute to get to 25mph ,
Yes you can make it faster , lots of youtube videos on that ,
And yes I would love to have a 600cc 2CV to drive in the French countryside , just not on SoCal streets !
I can only say that I was SUPER impressed to see a 2CV driving on the DC Beltway the other year. After reading this thread I am even MORE impressed!
In reply to Rons :
Yeah, its not really profitable per se, but kinda like getting people to pay for your heroin habit.
I have ridden in the things during trips to France in the 80's and recall that they were a hoot. People always drove them like they stole them from their x mother in law.
The guy who owns the MGB in the shop mentioned that he was restoring one and did I know anyone who could do the body? Funny question considering his MGB was in my shop getting bodywork done. "I thought you only did British cars" was is response.
Pete
I only know that they made a dual-engine 4x4 version, and that it's quite different from the regular ones. But this leads me to my next bad idea:
4x4 tubeframe 2CV widebody race car using your running gear of choice. 
The hot setup uses a BMW R flat twin engine to get over 100 hp in it.
slowbird said:I only know that they made a dual-engine 4x4 version, and that it's quite different from the regular ones. But this leads me to my next bad idea:
4x4 tubeframe 2CV widebody race car using your running gear of choice.
I saw one of those in a museum, it was awesome.
I am completely baffled about why people would spend money on a 2CV when you can get a DS for roughly the same price.
2CV - small simple cute
DS large complex , not cute
californiamilleghia said:2CV - small simple cute
DS large complex , beautiful
FTFY
I love the DS but am way too smart to own actually own one. Blame Satch Carlson and his Citroen MS for that.
Pete
Reading this thread makes me want one even more. Once my wife and I move, if we move to the right neighborhood then I've basically gotten her to agree to me getting something cheap and small, just to run into town and pick up groceries and stuff. A 2CV would be perfect. The history of the car is pretty neat as well. In WW2, the nazis really wanted the 2CV, but Citroen's design chief kept hiding them and shipping the tooling to different parts of europe so they couldn't get their hands on it. He annoyed the nazis so much he was declared an enemy of the reich.
Duke said:I am completely baffled about why people would spend money on a 2CV when you can get a DS for roughly the same price.
A Citroen DS is a gorgeous car, but I always remember what Jeff Lane of the Lane Motor Museum said of their CItroen DS: "It's gorgeous and it drives brilliant, but you have to keep a forklift mechanic on hand to fix anything." If I recall, even the wiper motor was hydraulically driven. I still want one though.
In reply to infinitenexus :
Thats pretty much what my AH Sprite is going to be used for.
EvanB said:slowbird said:I only know that they made a dual-engine 4x4 version, and that it's quite different from the regular ones. But this leads me to my next bad idea:
4x4 tubeframe 2CV widebody race car using your running gear of choice.
I saw one of those in a museum, it was awesome.
Where is this museum ?!?
That was in Florida around st Petersburg. Recommended to me by hobieracer.
Definitely recommended if you are in the area with time to kill.
They also had a few Tatras that were fantastic, I didn't take any pictures though.
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