RE: Chris Harris video: Citroen 2CV

[benters]

Top review of a cool car which nicely highlights the joy that driving can bring 10/10 Monkey man

[jamespink]

Used to drive a '36 Austin 10, gave similar joy. :-)

[DeltaEvo2]

Best car? No.

[madsef]

Loved the vid chris my mum used to have a dyanne and i learned to drive in it (AT 12 YEARS OLD)on private roads ahuum.I loved the push pull gears and remember going down the road and the roof flying open(not been clamped closed properley)much ammusment had all round.Did you see your old buddy buying one from mike brewer on wheeler dealers?

[Ved]

Very good work I particularly enjoyed the super slow-mo with the inside wheel flapping around

[ManFromDelmonte]

I'd be tempted to put the larger motor in, keep the original somewhere safe obviously, but the larger motor makes the car more usable and you would then get to spend more time using it. Struggling up hills at 10MPH will lose it's appeal.

I am very jealous though.

TMFD

[will261058]

Ah, a breath of fresh air. How very enjoyable!

[Madkat]

The more you talk about the 2CV the more you remind me i was an ignorant tt when i learnt to drive after being offered one to learn in. With bitter hindsight i wish i still had another chance.

In the present day however i'm not sure i could live with the constant vulnerability to other road users with most of them now being ignorant/arogant(delete as appropriate) fools as i was then. I'd be very nervous actually controlling a car in its entirety while being surrounded by huge vehicles (in comparison) with switches and relays and fly and steer by wire driver interfaces and drivers who haven't a clue how much mass their asking the on board computer to move at.

Edit: The more you watch this vid the more it reminds you just how far cars have come and arguably just how boring they now are. Could you argue Dacia is the modern equivalent, if so James may was on to something....

Edited by Madkat on Thursday 17th April 13:22

[treetops]

Nice car do like them.

Wheeler Dealers recently fixed one up.

Do worry that you were driving the roads, that looked a little greasy in places, in a car that's less safe than a card board box with no seat belt though...it'll hurt just as much as it would have done in the 50's.

[TooMany2cvs]

Back in the late '80s/early '90s, Bulgin's column in CAR one month was in praise of driving slow cars hard. Take any given model range, and the most real-world fun will be with the entry-level engine on the narrowest tyres.

Anybody else remember it? Anybody got a scan of it? I'd love to read it again.

[Konrod]

I can see why Chris enjoys the 2CV so much.

I have just added "Luigi" to my garage.


Which is a contrast to what I have on the other side of the garage.


And I built this, which brings us back neatly to the 2CV theme.


I love them all for different reasons - automotive schizophrenia rules!

[Bradgate]

Chris,

You should give Andrew Frankel a ring. He recently bought a 2CV from Wheeler dealers. For £12k!

sounds like you should challenge him to a race..

[Contigo]

Yep agreed, much better video and what a car, proper classic and you got one which looks used but certainly functional. Enjoy!

[0000]

Like the sentiment, enjoyed the video. Still don't want a 2CV though.

Or that hat.

[A Scotsman]

My brother had a Dyane which is a 2CV with a touch of class. Friend of mine and I took the engine out one morning. Took us about 20 minutes. Took my brother another 30 minutes to realise it had gone

[Fantuzzi]

J4CKO said:

Fantuzzi said:

J4CKO said:

Fantuzzi said:

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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.

[Ari]

It's a whole old thing.

[NotNormal]

Don't really get the 2CV thing myself but we all love different things, however great vid and explains the same pleasures and challenges I encounter with the 35bhp available in my Mk1 Mini

[oldtimer2]

The flat cap was far too smart for the 2CV. A battered old straw hat would have more in keeping. Otherwise the vid captured the essence of the 2CV and the communion with the mechanical bits and the road that is essential in such a vehicle.

[alexpa]

I once saw a 2cv at the site of a road accident. It looked like an accordion, and was about 2 foot nose to tail. Not nice.