2cv and other classic citroens

2cv

Hi,

This is a message to all 2cv owners out there!!!

I was wondering how many 2cv's are actually out there. I know of about 6 here in the Cork-Kerry region, but there must be a lot more than that.

Please make yourselves known.

Dave

2cv

And by 2cv i also mean 2cv derived cars like Dyanes, 2cv vans, ami, mehari,... hell even the Visa :-)

Stevo11

just sold mine during the summer to a guy in Bundoran... kinda wish I hadn't... if you hear of any up for sale please PM
Steve

2cv

I'd say the 2CVGB magazine is yer best bet!! Decent 2CVs are about as common as politician with a concience in this country!! There are still a few decent ones around in the UK. Or even better: France. Mine's LHD!!! It really doesn't matter if a 2cv is LHD or RHD. It's only a bit annoying when you're trying to overtake someone and we all know that doesn't happen very often in a 2CV.

3ps

Whats the 0-100kph time on a 2CV? or can it do 100kph?

2cv

I'd say it's about 5 minutes faster than your 220D :-)

2CVs can do 115 kph (on a good day). 0-100 in 3.5 weeks

ladgie353

I have a 1988 (sort of) red 2cv6.

I have seen at least 3 others in Dublin (one Red, one Black and Burgundy Charleston and one Green and White Dolly).

2cv, are you a member of the 2cvgb club?

3ps

haha

seriously though... is it 60secs or is it "it depends on the headwind!"

or has nobody been patient enough to bother!!!

2cv

ladgie353 wrote:

2cv, are you a member of the 2cvgb club?

I am... Only recently joined up.

I'm trying to see would there be any interest out there to get a few 2CVs together from time to time and meet up. We used to do this before and it was great fun!

2cv

3ps wrote:

haha

seriously though... is it 60secs or is it "it depends on the headwind!"

or has nobody been patient enough to bother!!!

to be honest i wouldn't know what the factory claims it can do. It's not important anyway because the last 2CVs are 16 years old now and every engine behaves in a different way. My 2CV is quite sluggish to be honest, but that's what you get when you buy a one lady owner car with less than 30k on the clock. I have a friend and his 2CV tops at around 150 kph without any modifications. i know, i don't get it either :-)

BrianD3

I see a yellow and black 2CV regularly in the Liffey Valley area. Don't know if it's a special edition or a DIY paintjob. IIRC it has some very non standard (illegal) numberplates too!

2cv

Yellow and black? A charleston? As far as i knew there was only one of them in the country and that was somewhere in wicklow.

ds20prefecture

Hi - I don't have an A-series Cit, but I have a GS and a DS. There are TONS of 2cvs up north. Did you go to the rally in Carlingford? There was about 15 2cvs, derivatives and customs at it.

Official figure for 0-60 in the last generation 2cv was 26 seconds. CAR magazine fitted a turbo to one and turned it into a real GTI frightener.

My ideal A-Series would be an Ami 6 break.

or maybe a Super

2cv

I'd love an Ami as well, 6 or 8, estate or saloon, doesn't matter :-) They're a great looking little car...

Anan1

Keep an eye out for "The Green Linnet" on RTE2, Tuesdays, it follows two trad musicians driving around Europe in a green 2CV van.

Eric318

As a student in France in 85/87, I used to have a 1955 2cv... With the suicide doors, ribbed bonnet, bicycle speedo, pull-out fuel gauge, hard roof, extra capacity boot lid... and no heating system and no rear brakes. The latter characterisitc proved to never be a problem...

with 193,000 kms on the clock, I used to check gasoline level every time I topped up engine oil... Hardly ever started without the crank. Could not be bump-started as it had the centrifugal clutch. It was great fun... to go buy my baguette. Any trip above 10 miles involving A roads was a frightening experience. I drove it on the motorway once for 100 km and did the whole trip on the shoulder....

I say acceleration and top speed are a direct function of how much steak frites you had for lunch. A good Beaujolais helps improve the driving experience (perceived top speed in particular) quite dramatically.

I snaped a UJ once while doing doughnuts on the car park (serious). Luckily I had a spare one in the boot. 15 minutes later I was back on the road... amazing!

I had bought it FF1,000 and sold it FF1,500 2 years later with no regrets, it was time to get a car and 50% ROI in 2 years is not bad. I am glad MOTs ensure (or do they?) that cars like this one are not on the roads

The thing I loved most: the kind look in people's eyes when it was parked.
The thing I hated most: the angry look in people's eyes when they were overtaking me...

2cv

That is a nice story... i used to drive up and down europe in my two tone grey charleston... but at least mine had the 602 cc engine so that meant that i could at least overtake pushbikes in a safe manner :-)

Lyre61

Saw a charleston the other day parked, out towards kilcoole on the coast road.

G Luxel

i remember an AMI hatchback in the 80s, on Irish plates, in the cork area. I also remember an AMI estate in Waterford in the mid 80s as well. There were loads of them in France when I was there around I993. I wonder if they were on sale here in the 60s? It appears there were very few citroens sold here new back then.

Lyre61

There was a couple of brothers in that neck of the woods had a field full of Ami including a couple of rare versions.
My Brother had a crash in one on Leinster Road, got hit from the side and ended up facing the way he came. car was written off but he walked away!. Mind you he rolled a BX as well, walked away from that too!

Lyre61

On the buy and sell web site.
Citroen 2CV Cars (2).
With lrg collection of parts, all must go,

2cv

Lyre61 wrote:

My Brother had a crash in one on Leinster Road, got hit from the side and ended up facing the way he came. car was written off but he walked away!. Mind you he rolled a BX as well, walked away from that too!

I have to admit that my Citroëns have gotten me out of a few sticky situations as well, like that time that I parked my BX 19 TRS in the *rse of a Renault Nevada (Savanna) in the middle of a busy juntion in Belgium :-)

Eric318

I seem to remember that the 2cv was found to be the most dangerous car in the world, a short neck in front of... the Mini

2cv

Eric318 wrote:

I seem to remember that the 2cv was found to be the most dangerous car in the world, a short neck in front of... the Mini

Well, i've had 2CVs for about 12 years now and that's the first time i ever hear that :-) You sure you're not confusing the 2CV with the likes of the Morris Minor, Nissan Micra, Ford Fiesta,.... ????

:-)

Eric318

I got that about 6 years ago and no longer have the stats. Was a statistical result of old crash tests. Crash tests of course do not account for driver behavior and driving style.

I think that the car that killed the most drivers per unit of car produced is the Mustang: mostly improper driving.

Anyway, you know what they say about statistics...

Drive safely and look out for weirdos

BrianD3

The 2CV didn't do badly compared to other small cars of the time when crash tested in the 70s.
http://www.cats-citroen.net/citroen_2cv/2cv_crashtest.html
http://crash.citroen1.info/2CV/

Two Dyanes collide head on, notice how the front of both cars seem to "spring" back after the inital deformation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqF2M6BQHNY

2CV at the back of a line of cars squashed by a truck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB9HZ_w0ShA

Moving awawy from the safety aspect I have a late 1988 issue of Auto Express which features a 2CV in a group test. It is interesting as it's probably one of the last magazine tests of the 2CV as a new car. In the test it is pitted against other cheap cars - A Skoda Estelle, Fiat Panda and Yugo something. I think the Skoda and Panda came came out on top in the test.

junkyard

What a waste of a lovely mark1 Granada in the fourth video.:(

Lyre61

did anyone see the episode of skys Vroom Vroom where they tried to roll a 2 CV, after several attemps...without any success...they resorted to driving it backwards to roll it.

2cv

junkyard wrote:

What a waste of a lovely mark1 Granada in the fourth video.:(

They should do a line up with Mk2 Escorts and crash a train in it Now there's fun :-)

ladgie353

Lyre61 wrote:

did anyone see the episode of skys Vroom Vroom where they tried to roll a 2 CV, after several attemps...without any success...they resorted to driving it backwards to roll it.

I did, and I think it is one of the points people seem to forget about the 2cv, it holds the road like very few cars and is made "safer" by it.
You're less likely to loose control of a 2cv than of a Beetle, therefore less likely to hit the concrete wall in the first place.
That said, there is still the crushed-between-2-trucks problem (see video above, I'm still shaking...:eek: ).

2cv

ladgie353 wrote:

That said, there is still the crushed-between-2-trucks problem (see video above, I'm still shaking...:eek: ).

I agree, but think of it this way: what would your chances of survival be if you were in a similar situation in any german saloon? Zero, i can tell you that much!!! I don't think this test is representative of the safety of a 2CV. In a similar situation, you're going to get killed no matter what you drive, unless it's a Sherman tank.

BrianD3

2cv wrote:

I agree, but think of it this way: what would your chances of survival be if you were in a similar situation in any german saloon? Zero, i can tell you that much!!! I don't think this test is representative of the safety of a 2CV. In a similar situation, you're going to get killed no matter what you drive, unless it's a Sherman tank.

I agree, even if you were in a modern 5 star EuroNCAP large saloon instead of the 2CV you'd still be in serious trouble in a crash like that. It's bad enough being rearended by a truck - but if you're at the back of a line of cars when it happens it's made much worse due to the sandwich effect :eek:

2cv

Any more 2cvs out there???

AsphaltRisin'

I dont own one myself (probably a good thing because at 6ft 2 and 20 stone i would probably be as well off going everywhere by tractor for all the speed i'd get out of one of those, nice little yokes mind.) but this talk of them reminds me that last year i used to always meet a french registered one coming around bends almost completely on the wrong side of the road and leaning over at a ridiculous angle at which i'm sure the laws of physics dictate that most cars would have rolled over at.
I was always amazed at how far over it was leaning compared to how calm it's driver seemed. It's a shame there's not more of them because they're so entertaining to watch.
Saw that little one parked up one day and noticed it had been hand painted grey and army green and had what appeared to be shotgun pellet holes in the front of it.

How much do those things go for anyway?

Just remember that my sister was going on about them the other day, and would they be easy to drive? she's going to start driving and wants something different

2cv

Being 6ft2 and 20st is not an issue if you want to drive a 2cv... i'm 6ft5 and 18 st myself and i have more room in the 2cv than i do in any other car. Go on, give it a go, you know you want to :-))))

They're pretty easy to drive, once you get the hang of the gears, they're a bit different to your standard average Punto or Fiesta or Cuntogetinto... They're great fun in the summer because of the roof, which turns it into the cheapest convertible around in about 4.5 seconds :-)

Price wise, very difficult to say... they go from anything between €200 for a banger to €7000 for a concours one... I've noticed that recently prices have gone through the roof. Expect to pay around €1500-€2000 for a decent one that needs very little work.

AsphaltRisin'

Ah fair play, i've never been in one you see and was thinkin that being fairly big it might be a bit awkward and slow.

My sister's decided to get a car and start driving and she wants something different but nothing i'd have lying around would suit her, all too big as the only two running things i have at moment are Granadas, she saw one of those 2cvs the other day and was asking me what they were like but i'm not really familiar with them.
Seems like ther's quite a following for them.
Thanks a lot for the information, must look into them further for her.