RE: Chris Harris video: Citroen 2CV

[Ocellia]

Thanks again for making us smile!
Memories of my 425cc 2CV van.
And....whoever it was.....stop telling folk about the Mehari!
It'll only inflate the (already inflated!!) prices and I still hanker after one - to troll about Andalucia in one!

[Simes205]

We're restoring one of these, ours is a 1958 model, essentially the same except for a metal boot lid.

The video has spurred us on to finish it.

[Simes205]

Ocellia said:

It'll only inflate the (already inflated!!) prices

So true - we want one but the price of them is ridiculous now.

[J4CKO]

Fantuzzi said:

J4CKO said:

Fantuzzi said:

J4CKO said:

Fantuzzi said:

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

YES! I Need to read the evo hatch hatch thing with the AX in. 722KG and 85hp = fun.

Chris has a truly varied automotive diet!

I think Id still be a hooligan with underpowered cars and get an original Abarth 500, 19hp! In the end they had 38bhp from the 695 SS - Monster! Serious want for one of those. Scary levels of it.

Rear engine, Rwd 500kg car with 19 bhp and little tiny tires, PHs perfect car?

Awesome video Chris.

Have had two, you have moments of enjoyment, but most of the time, its a blend of trepidation and terror, oh and a lot of spannering, welding and buying bits off the Internet.

Will be interested to see what happens if this breaks, can Chris weird a Spanner or is his socket set intact, and very shiny....

Was that an Abarth or an ax?

I'm guessing Abarth!

No, just one Fiat 500F and one 500L, the normal ones, you mentioned 19 bhp, which is what the F had, beleive the Abarths all had a bit more power (relatively).

Wife has mentioned getting another, buying old Fiats is a bit like drinking large ammounts of alcohol, at the time when reality kicks in, you say "never again", then a little while after you fancy that glass of wine or can of lager as you have forgotten the hangover, same with Fiat 500's, you forget the cash sent to Weenie Fiats or Ricambi, you forget the welding burns, you forget being stranded and fancy another, or rather the wife does, I am done with classics for now after two 500's and a 944 all trying to bankrupt, embarass, kill, gas, strand etc

I see, I was getting my figures from French Wikipedia, the standard 500 1957 with Abarth mods was said to be 19, the 595 27, the ss 32, then the full bd spec 695 SS, 38hp.

RM auctions have a 695 ss for sale, no reserve estimated 40-60000euros, with 49hp, whats the exchange rate again...

I can imagine there is a lot of pain involved, but then I look at them, normally with assessto corsa wheel arches from hell, and think, 'Im sure I could google how to rebuild a gearbox from 1969...'



In the words of Wayne from Waynes World, it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine.

Yeah, no reason why anythign isnt DIYable on old cars like these, I managed to rebuild the engine with a bit of advice/assistance from my dad when it did this,

[Boobonman]

Good vid, but what the hell is going on with the OSF wheel during that slo-mo cornering bit? Looks like it is about to wobble off...

[Hoygo 2]

One of the worst cars ever made,what a horrid pos,could have chosen many cars to do e feature like this,greats like the Morris Minor the Ren 4 you mentioned original Mini and some more,not cool Chris.

[GTEYE]

Hoygo 2 said:

One of the worst cars ever made,what a horrid pos,could have chosen many cars to do e feature like this,greats like the Morris Minor the Ren 4 you mentioned original Mini and some more,not cool Chris.

Think you might be out on your own with those comments...

[grosserbaby]

My first car was a 2cv, got it from my mother when I was 12, it was shot and worth nothing as a part ex, fettled it up when I was 16 and ran it for a year when I was 18, blew the bob weights off it and then snapped the crank on a high (sic) speed run, ended up with an AMI engine with a twin choke Weber and I was told a heady 35ishBHP, she pulled a good but very scary 80 mph on the motorway and would actually go up a hill in 3rd and top after the swap. I wish I hadn't sold her but when one is young, poor and easily led. JJX802S where are you now? Probably been bean tins a few times around.

I have an excellent 2cv book somewhere http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Times-2CV-Bob-MacQuee... I may just look it out for a re-read.

[ES335]

I owned one in the eighties - the larger engine. It was one of the best cars I've ever owned for all the reasons Chris cites in the video.

Unfortunately, it rusted its two front chassis longerons. I started to wonder why the steering was getting so heavy - which was the effect of the rack being pulled from the steering column.

Finally it broke in two. Replacement chassis weren't easily available in Ireland at the time so I had to go carless for the next six months while I paid off the outstanding loan.

Sob sob.

Would love another if I had the space to keep it.

[graeme4130]

Earlier this year at Spa, I was having a beer with a few other petrol heads and the subject of Chris Harris's videos, for whatever reason, came up
Everyone seems to love Chris's videos, and for good reason, as they're generally fantastic
However, it did evolve into him having a massive 'Harris fanboy' following and one of the guys I was with joked and suggested that even if he made a video and declared his love for a car that was generally considered to be absolutely crap and a danger on modern roads, that suddenly the Chris Harris fanboy masses would join in and rejoice with him how this normally hated car must be proclaimed as the next big thing and that 'everyone should own on'
The example of the hateful bag of nails we used in the joke was the 2CV, and low and behold the video arrives and we now have circa 130 posts proclaiming an otherwise unloved car as the next big thing and how everyone's already known this

Chris Harris videos have engaged the masses and I love them, but a 2CV, in my eyes is a step to far

[Fartgalen]

graeme4130 said:

Earlier this year at Spa, I was having a beer with a few other petrol heads and the subject of Chris Harris's videos, for whatever reason, came up
Everyone seems to love Chris's videos, and for good reason, as they're generally fantastic
However, it did evolve into him having a massive 'Harris fanboy' following and one of the guys I was with joked and suggested that even if he made a video and declared his love for a car that was generally considered to be absolutely crap and a danger on modern roads, that suddenly the Chris Harris fanboy masses would join in and rejoice with him how this normally hated car must be proclaimed as the next big thing and that 'everyone should own on'
The example of the hateful bag of nails we used in the joke was the 2CV, and low and behold the video arrives and we now have circa 130 posts proclaiming an otherwise unloved car as the next big thing and how everyone's already known this

Chris Harris videos have engaged the masses and I love them, but a 2CV, in my eyes is a step to far

Agreed. I wasn't going to comment. I watched about 50 secs into the vid and got totally disinterested. But spurred on by your response - I'm following the newly growing 'against' crowd

[edbock]

Having owned four 2cvs, this brings tears to my eyes. Thaks a lot Chris!!

moskvich427 said:

One of the best vids yet... which is high praise coming from a Renault 4 man

[Disastrous]

graeme4130 said:

Earlier this year at Spa, I was having a beer with a few other petrol heads and the subject of Chris Harris's videos, for whatever reason, came up
Everyone seems to love Chris's videos, and for good reason, as they're generally fantastic
However, it did evolve into him having a massive 'Harris fanboy' following and one of the guys I was with joked and suggested that even if he made a video and declared his love for a car that was generally considered to be absolutely crap and a danger on modern roads, that suddenly the Chris Harris fanboy masses would join in and rejoice with him how this normally hated car must be proclaimed as the next big thing and that 'everyone should own on'
The example of the hateful bag of nails we used in the joke was the 2CV, and low and behold the video arrives and we now have circa 130 posts proclaiming an otherwise unloved car as the next big thing and how everyone's already known this

Chris Harris videos have engaged the masses and I love them, but a 2CV, in my eyes is a step to far

How do you mean? That he shouldn't like them? Or we shouldn't?

Like or hate, surely it's not impossible to understand the appeal of any particular classic? Or even to find someone's enthusiasm for something infectious?

I wouldn't describe myself as a Harris 'fanboy' by any stretch but have always had a soft spot for the 2CV (since Roger Moore rolled one down an olive grove in fact) and enjoyed the video.

Or do you mean that everyone who likes the video is just pretending to try and curry some sort of favour?

I hadn't ever realised they were considered absolute crap! Is that common knowledge?

[g4ry13]

So it's basically a really terrible car, but as it's old it has 'character' thus making it amazing.

Whilst I can see the novelty value of owning one and turning up to places in it, it's an utter death trap and those seats looked terrible (does it even have seatbelts?) With a more powerful engine it'd be very interesting, but then I guess it would lose its 'charm'

[M3CS]

I feel like the only sane man at the asylum. Just don't understand the 2CV appeal and probably never will.

Chris, my fave vid BY FAR was the geek-out with the chap at Singer... more videos like that please! Peasant farmer cars are not desirable or interesting.

[entropy]

Crap car but a whole lot of charm.

Used to take the piss out of mate in school for being in a 'deckchair car' and would go red in embarrassment being seen in it.

Great vid. Proper PH stylee review of appreciating roadcraft of driving an underpowered car.

[Fantuzzi]

g4ry13 said:

So it's basically a really terrible car, but as it's old it has 'character' thus making it amazing.

Whilst I can see the novelty value of owning one and turning up to places in it, it's an utter death trap and those seats looked terrible (does it even have seatbelts?) With a more powerful engine it'd be very interesting, but then I guess it would lose its 'charm'

If you look at the original 2cv harris thread, there was lots of talk of how mags really liked them, I was surprised myself, but there seemed to be a lot of love for them as a fun steer.

To be honest any car from that era is going to seem ludicrously slow (bar a few exceptions), but cars are more than their engine output, good drivers cars/fun cars are often the cars that can be exploited - MX5 is the obvious example as are many older low-grip hot hatches.

The bit that stuck out for me in the video was when Harris spoke about taking corners, flat, properly flat. That seems like massive fun.

Edited by Fantuzzi on Thursday 17th April 20:30

[g4ry13]

Fantuzzi said:

g4ry13 said:

So it's basically a really terrible car, but as it's old it has 'character' thus making it amazing.

Whilst I can see the novelty value of owning one and turning up to places in it, it's an utter death trap and those seats looked terrible (does it even have seatbelts?) With a more powerful engine it'd be very interesting, but then I guess it would lose its 'charm'

If you look at the original 2cv harris thread, there was lots of talk of how mags really liked them, I was surprised myself, but there seemed to be a lot of love for as a fun steer.

To be honest any car from that era is going to seem ludicrously slow (bar a few exceptions), but cars are more than their engine output, good drivers cars/fun cars are often the cars that can be exploited - MX5 is the obvious example as are many older low grip hot hatches.

The bit that stuck out for me in the video was when Harris spoke about taking corners, flat, properly flat. That seems like massive fun.

I get it, but that is hazardously slow to the extent that it's actually dangerous to use in the real world. Not to mention that there did not appear to be any seat belts, proper seats, any redeeming safety feature. It might be a great laugh, but it's pretty much useless these days.

Now that ferrari engined 2CV is interesting

[Hoygo 2]

GTEYE said:

Think you might be out on your own with those comments...

Look a bit more,but at least i am one of them who may know what a 12hp motorised rust carriage is in real life,the other part asslicking as always someone who owns/drives Ferraris,Porsches,Mclarens and all type of exotica and finds a bit of novelty relaxing himself (rightly so) in the total opposite of what these cars are (or any other cars that exist).

He enjoys his latest 8.6K £ purchase and thats great,but i highly doubt anyone commenting on here who hasn't got C.Hs life they would enjoy the same 2CV for more than 30 seconds...

[anonymous-user]

I love these videos. CH's enthusiasm for all things automotive is terribly infectious, but then so is influenza which is ironic because thats probably what the peasant who first bought this car died of.