2200 miles in a 2CV
Discussion
I've just got back from a 12-day trip through France and Italy in my Tin Snail - a 1988 2CV6 Dolly, which I have owned for 16 years. It was my daily driver for the first 5 years of ownership, and since then has enjoyed a more sedate existence as a summer hobby car.
Yellow headlamps - gotta be done, really.
Headlamp bulbs set to right-hand traffic.
Kingpins and driveshaft sliding joints freshly greased (this will need doing again halfway through the trip).
Legal necessities.
Laden and ready for the off.
Lovely DS ahead of us in the Shuttle queue.
The 2CV's tyres touch native tarmac and the adventure begins.
Parked up across from an Ami in St. Omer.
First night's camping.
Dawn of Day 2.
Mrs. Chevrons 'pied au plancher' on the autoroute, heading for Reims.
"When this sucker hits 120kph, you're going to see some serious merde!"
Surprising, but gratifying, to see 2CV headlamp bulbs and glass fuses for sale in a Total Energies service station.
Enough of the autoroutes - time to get on some more 2CV-appropriate backroads.
That's more like it!
A 2CV, a tree-lined road and some Orangina. Bliss!
Passing Renault 4.
Made camp in Dijon.
Morning crush at a petrol station with cheap fuel. No 98-octane, so the 2CV will have to slum it with E5 95.
More gallic charm.
Postcard-perfect.
Whirring south on the backroads.
Starting to see hills.
Getting into the Jura Massif.
Starting to look and feel very Alpine now.
Reached Annecy - a long day by hours, but at 151 miles only half the distance we did yesterday. But much more scenic and enjoyable.
Celebratory fondue.
Heading for the Little St. Bernard Pass.
Hotted-up Simca 1000 spotted.
Stopping for breakfast.
The climb has begun.
2nd and 3rd gear all the way, foot to the floor, fling it round the hairpins, keep every scrap of momentum.
Up onto the 'col' - really starting to notice the altitude here. Even though the climb has eased, third gear is now basically unusable, and performance is second gear is distinctly flat.
Made it - 2188m/7178ft.
Over the border.
Italy awaits.
Now the fun really begins.
Getting a good lean on.
(Shortly after this I was passed by a Suzuki Ignis, clipping along at a good 40mph and taking perfect racing lines all the way down.)
The tunnels of the Aosta Valley.
More autostrada work.
Leaving the Alps behind.
Scenery now looking very Italian.
A distinctive silhouette...
The Italians do like their Land Rovers.
Rolling into Parma, 313 miles after we started this morning. The 2CV has averaged 42.3mpg today, on a journey that included an Alpine pass and several hours of continual 110-130kph autostrada running.
I'll leave it there for now - will upload more pics and do another post later.
I hope this is of interest!
Yellow headlamps - gotta be done, really.
Headlamp bulbs set to right-hand traffic.
Kingpins and driveshaft sliding joints freshly greased (this will need doing again halfway through the trip).
Legal necessities.
Laden and ready for the off.
Lovely DS ahead of us in the Shuttle queue.
The 2CV's tyres touch native tarmac and the adventure begins.
Parked up across from an Ami in St. Omer.
First night's camping.
Dawn of Day 2.
Mrs. Chevrons 'pied au plancher' on the autoroute, heading for Reims.
"When this sucker hits 120kph, you're going to see some serious merde!"
Surprising, but gratifying, to see 2CV headlamp bulbs and glass fuses for sale in a Total Energies service station.
Enough of the autoroutes - time to get on some more 2CV-appropriate backroads.
That's more like it!
A 2CV, a tree-lined road and some Orangina. Bliss!
Passing Renault 4.
Made camp in Dijon.
Morning crush at a petrol station with cheap fuel. No 98-octane, so the 2CV will have to slum it with E5 95.
More gallic charm.
Postcard-perfect.
Whirring south on the backroads.
Starting to see hills.
Getting into the Jura Massif.
Starting to look and feel very Alpine now.
Reached Annecy - a long day by hours, but at 151 miles only half the distance we did yesterday. But much more scenic and enjoyable.
Celebratory fondue.
Heading for the Little St. Bernard Pass.
Hotted-up Simca 1000 spotted.
Stopping for breakfast.
The climb has begun.
2nd and 3rd gear all the way, foot to the floor, fling it round the hairpins, keep every scrap of momentum.
Up onto the 'col' - really starting to notice the altitude here. Even though the climb has eased, third gear is now basically unusable, and performance is second gear is distinctly flat.
Made it - 2188m/7178ft.
Over the border.
Italy awaits.
Now the fun really begins.
Getting a good lean on.
(Shortly after this I was passed by a Suzuki Ignis, clipping along at a good 40mph and taking perfect racing lines all the way down.)
The tunnels of the Aosta Valley.
More autostrada work.
Leaving the Alps behind.
Scenery now looking very Italian.
A distinctive silhouette...
The Italians do like their Land Rovers.
Rolling into Parma, 313 miles after we started this morning. The 2CV has averaged 42.3mpg today, on a journey that included an Alpine pass and several hours of continual 110-130kph autostrada running.
I'll leave it there for now - will upload more pics and do another post later.
I hope this is of interest!
Brilliant 2xChevrons! Love it.
Bizarrely, I've been looking at 2CVs on Car & Classic etc recently. I shouldn't be, but I have. They feel like a natural antidote to the power struggle going on, where shopping cars need to have 200bhp+ just to compete. I've driven a few, and may well replace the Fulvia with one at some point.
Bizarrely, I've been looking at 2CVs on Car & Classic etc recently. I shouldn't be, but I have. They feel like a natural antidote to the power struggle going on, where shopping cars need to have 200bhp+ just to compete. I've driven a few, and may well replace the Fulvia with one at some point.
TR4man said:
Fantastic!
It just shows that you can have a great time at relatively sedate speeds on these road trips giving you more opportunity to take in your surroundings.
Definitely. We planned this trip on the basis that we'd never have to spend more than half a day on an autoroute/autostrada - the primary plan was always to take backroads. It's more suitable for the 2CV, less wearing on your ears and there's no real point in taking a 2CV to Europe if you're just going to go on motorways. It comes into its own loping along rural secondaries in top gear at 50mph, with the roof rolled back and the windows flapping. You get a succession of little glimpses into the towns and villages you pass through - always something interesting to see - and you can stop to have lunch or buy a snack. Very much 'the journey, not the destination'. It helps that this is the 2CV's spiritual home, of course. It just shows that you can have a great time at relatively sedate speeds on these road trips giving you more opportunity to take in your surroundings.
127Sport said:
Wonderful! Very envious. I never got to take my 2CV to France when I had one.
One question - I used to experience brake fade in mine even on some relatively benign hills in Wales. Long way short of the Alps! Are your brakes uprated in some way from standard?
Very much a 'trip of a lifetime'. I have taken the 2CV to France before, but only for a weekend and that was a long time ago. Anyone with an extremely French classic like an old Citroen really should take it 'home' at least once. One question - I used to experience brake fade in mine even on some relatively benign hills in Wales. Long way short of the Alps! Are your brakes uprated in some way from standard?
Was yours on front drums or discs? The disc-fitted 2CVs have extremely over-speced brakes, they're force-cooled by ducts from the engine fan and the LHM fluid is boil-resistant. They were designed for Alpine work and fading is virtually unheard of. Usually the problem is the rear drums rust up because they never really do any work - it's all done by the discs. Certainly there was never so much as a whiff (literally!) of the brakes getting hot on this trip and the Little St. Bernard wasn't the only mountain pass we tackled.
The drum ones can be more fade-prone from what I hear, but I've never owned one.
tommobot said:
I've done the petit' St. Bernard Pass a few times, its lovely! And down it to Aosta and through the valleys towards coming out towards Turin is literally one of the best journeys on a beautiful day!
I've done it once before on a banger rally, in an early Mk1 Mondeo 2.0 automatic. The 2CV was slower but much more fun! And yes, the Italian side on a summer (or balmy early autumn...) day is a fantastic bit of road. 127Sport said:
Yeah I think mine must have had front drums then. Long time ago and I wasn't really technically minded at the time. It was a B-reg, one of the last French built before they went to Portugal IIRC. B499 GAN.
Yeah, B-reg was right on the cusp of drums and discs. They were still made in France for a while after that - mine's an early 1988 car and was made a few weeks before the Levallois plant was shut and 2CV production concentrated in Portugal. When I got it it had all its original glass, including a 'CITROEN - Fabrique en France' windscreen sticker. Unfortunately an overtaking Jag S-type kicked a load of stones into the screen and I had to have it replaced. Turbobanana said:
Brilliant 2xChevrons! Love it.
Bizarrely, I've been looking at 2CVs on Car & Classic etc recently. I shouldn't be, but I have. They feel like a natural antidote to the power struggle going on, where shopping cars need to have 200bhp+ just to compete. I've driven a few, and may well replace the Fulvia with one at some point.
Thank you. Bizarrely, I've been looking at 2CVs on Car & Classic etc recently. I shouldn't be, but I have. They feel like a natural antidote to the power struggle going on, where shopping cars need to have 200bhp+ just to compete. I've driven a few, and may well replace the Fulvia with one at some point.
2CVs are antidotes to many ills in the world - the automotive world and in general. It really is quite affirming of how great cars can be, and what a thing they are as a fundamental idea, that something with 28bhp and an engine smaller than a B&Q lawnmower can still crack along at 70mph and take you around Europe, while being an absolute joy to drive in a straight line at 50mph and a giggle on a curvy road at 25mph. For all the clown car styling, 2CVs embody an incredibly high degree of engineering integrity and, in their own way, they are just as focussed on driving dynamics, handling and 'performance' as a Caterham.
Mrs. Chevrons is a biker (whereas I am not) and her usual steed is a Royal Enfield Super Meteor. It has a bigger engine than the 2CV. But she loves the Citroen because apparently it feels like a four-wheeled bike in the way that you feel so plugged in to the car as a whole, can feel its weight shifts, where the grip and work is on each wheel, how it so directly responds to all your inputs and how 'present' you are in the environment, feeling the wind and sensing the temperature and having local smells turbocharged up your nostrils. I don't have the biking experience to make the direct comparison, but it all makes sense to me.
Being a biker has made her utterly fearless as a 2CV pilot too, and she proved to have the heart and soul of an Italian driver on this trip! It was a joy to see her jousting her way through Florentine traffic in the Citroen, being proactive but defensive, almost filtering between lanes of traffic and popping into traffic gaps with seeming inches to spare. Not to mention treating the "max speed in gear" marks on the speedometer as "minimum recommendations".
OK, second batch.
Day 5 - Parma to Florence
Pausing in the swirl of Vespas and Fiats to get an early morning coffee.
Out into the countryside.
Vineyards, rolling hills, blue skies, cypress trees. Couldn't be better.
Pulled up behind this van at a petrol station to check the map, and when he went to set off he reversed gently but firmly into the front of the 2CV. Fortunately I took my foot off the brake and beeped the horn, so he just rolled it backwards, and the bumper and over-riders did their job. No damage to either vehicle, and he was awfully apologetic. We managed to clear the air with a mix of Italian, English and mime.
Just glorious.
Getting into the Apennines now.
Left the 'main' road and took another zig-zag mountain climb up to the town of Montese, right across the 'spine' of Italy.
Another case of leaving it in second gear and letting the 602 sing its heart out at max rpm.
A stunning view at the top. We found a great pizzeria here!
A group of bikers arrived while we were having lunch. One on another air-cooled flat-twin powered machine. The 2CV attracted a lot of interest here - a couple of old chaps had a long conversation with each other, looking through the windows and pointing to various features. I think they were reminiscing about the odd gear lever.
More curves on the way down.
Suspension doing its thing on this stretch.
Winding through the valleys.
Traffic building up on the approach to Firenze. Behind a Grande Panda.
And safely parked up in our Florentine AirBnB, next to a Panda 4x4.
We had a day in Florence, but I got up early to give the 2CV a checkover at this most southerly point of our trip. It hasn't used a drop of oil.
But the nearside driveshaft gaiter has split open. Nothing to do but monitor and add some more grease. Speaking of which...
I had been organised enough to bring the grease gun to do the king pins and driveshafts at the halfway stage, but had I been organised enough to see how much grease was in it? Nope! It managed two strokes before it ran out. Fortunately there was an 'Autoricambi' a couple of blocks away, so I was able to go and get a tub of grasso multifunzione.
Pumped some fresh grease into the kingpins (they had worked very hard on those mountain passes the past couple of days) and decided that the driveshaft with the split gaiter would get some extra shots every other day to keep it lubed and any nasties out.
Of course, we had to go and see David. Well worth the wait, imo, and it was slightly sad how many people filed round the statue and then immediately headed for the exit, ignoring all the other galleries.
I also sent some postcards from must be the world's grandest post office.
Anyway, Day 7 - destination Genoa, 156 miles away. Via a planned lunch stop in Lucca.
Blue skies...for now.
Zipping along the autostrada.
Rather crazy junction layout in Lucca. Drop a plate of spaghetti and trace it?
A business/liaison jet I didn't recognise, pedestaled on a roundabout. Any experts know what it is?It's a Piaggio PD.808 'Vespajet'
We had to leave the 2CV on the outskirts of Lucca, but it's very pretty and we got an amazing sandwich for lunch. As we left, the forecast rain began.
Wet and greasy surface on the autostrada. We also got our first sight of the Mediterranean, albeit looking very grey and murky.
Arriving in Genoa, via a suburban overpass and junction system that seemed to have been inspired by a Hot Wheels playset.
At the campsite, ready for the world's least enjoyable activity - putting up a tent in the rain. However careful you are, everything gets wet and muddy and something about the singing rustle of nylon and gortex just makes everything far more annoying.
The campsite has been going since 1953, and the bar had some historic photos on the wall, including this one of a 4CV and a very early 2CV.
Day 8 - a slow day on the Riviera, 88 miles to Sanremo.
Out of Genoa, bins on one side, Moorish architecture on the other.
The weather has certainly improved!
This is more like it - that's the colour the Med should be.
Picking up the Via Aurelia. Starting to get twisty.
Bouncing along at 30-40mph. Much more 2CV-friendly.
Lunch stop in a town that took our fancy.
Mixing it with shoals teenagers on Vespas at school letting-out time.
Mrs. Chevrons at the wheel again, not feeling the need to slow for corners.
Narrow streets.
End. Can't think of a better car to do that trip in on a day like that. With a speed limit of 50kph virtually all the way, doing it in a slinky convertible with hundreds of horsepower under the bonnet, or some Italian thoroughbred sports car would have been more stylish but just a waste.
Fiat 500 spotted on the streets of Sanremo.
Day 5 - Parma to Florence
Pausing in the swirl of Vespas and Fiats to get an early morning coffee.
Out into the countryside.
Vineyards, rolling hills, blue skies, cypress trees. Couldn't be better.
Pulled up behind this van at a petrol station to check the map, and when he went to set off he reversed gently but firmly into the front of the 2CV. Fortunately I took my foot off the brake and beeped the horn, so he just rolled it backwards, and the bumper and over-riders did their job. No damage to either vehicle, and he was awfully apologetic. We managed to clear the air with a mix of Italian, English and mime.
Just glorious.
Getting into the Apennines now.
Left the 'main' road and took another zig-zag mountain climb up to the town of Montese, right across the 'spine' of Italy.
Another case of leaving it in second gear and letting the 602 sing its heart out at max rpm.
A stunning view at the top. We found a great pizzeria here!
A group of bikers arrived while we were having lunch. One on another air-cooled flat-twin powered machine. The 2CV attracted a lot of interest here - a couple of old chaps had a long conversation with each other, looking through the windows and pointing to various features. I think they were reminiscing about the odd gear lever.
More curves on the way down.
Suspension doing its thing on this stretch.
Winding through the valleys.
Traffic building up on the approach to Firenze. Behind a Grande Panda.
And safely parked up in our Florentine AirBnB, next to a Panda 4x4.
We had a day in Florence, but I got up early to give the 2CV a checkover at this most southerly point of our trip. It hasn't used a drop of oil.
But the nearside driveshaft gaiter has split open. Nothing to do but monitor and add some more grease. Speaking of which...
I had been organised enough to bring the grease gun to do the king pins and driveshafts at the halfway stage, but had I been organised enough to see how much grease was in it? Nope! It managed two strokes before it ran out. Fortunately there was an 'Autoricambi' a couple of blocks away, so I was able to go and get a tub of grasso multifunzione.
Pumped some fresh grease into the kingpins (they had worked very hard on those mountain passes the past couple of days) and decided that the driveshaft with the split gaiter would get some extra shots every other day to keep it lubed and any nasties out.
Of course, we had to go and see David. Well worth the wait, imo, and it was slightly sad how many people filed round the statue and then immediately headed for the exit, ignoring all the other galleries.
I also sent some postcards from must be the world's grandest post office.
Anyway, Day 7 - destination Genoa, 156 miles away. Via a planned lunch stop in Lucca.
Blue skies...for now.
Zipping along the autostrada.
Rather crazy junction layout in Lucca. Drop a plate of spaghetti and trace it?
A business/liaison jet I didn't recognise, pedestaled on a roundabout. Any experts know what it is?It's a Piaggio PD.808 'Vespajet'
We had to leave the 2CV on the outskirts of Lucca, but it's very pretty and we got an amazing sandwich for lunch. As we left, the forecast rain began.
Wet and greasy surface on the autostrada. We also got our first sight of the Mediterranean, albeit looking very grey and murky.
Arriving in Genoa, via a suburban overpass and junction system that seemed to have been inspired by a Hot Wheels playset.
At the campsite, ready for the world's least enjoyable activity - putting up a tent in the rain. However careful you are, everything gets wet and muddy and something about the singing rustle of nylon and gortex just makes everything far more annoying.
The campsite has been going since 1953, and the bar had some historic photos on the wall, including this one of a 4CV and a very early 2CV.
Day 8 - a slow day on the Riviera, 88 miles to Sanremo.
Out of Genoa, bins on one side, Moorish architecture on the other.
The weather has certainly improved!
This is more like it - that's the colour the Med should be.
Picking up the Via Aurelia. Starting to get twisty.
Bouncing along at 30-40mph. Much more 2CV-friendly.
Lunch stop in a town that took our fancy.
Mixing it with shoals teenagers on Vespas at school letting-out time.
Mrs. Chevrons at the wheel again, not feeling the need to slow for corners.
Narrow streets.
End. Can't think of a better car to do that trip in on a day like that. With a speed limit of 50kph virtually all the way, doing it in a slinky convertible with hundreds of horsepower under the bonnet, or some Italian thoroughbred sports car would have been more stylish but just a waste.
Fiat 500 spotted on the streets of Sanremo.
Great pics and reportage, thank you.
We did Lucca last year and absolutely loved it. Would definitely love to tour Tuscany in a 2CV - I'd also love to do it in the early 911 which some lucky sod had brought along while we were there but, somehow, I doubt he was having any more fun than you.
Vive l'escargot!
We did Lucca last year and absolutely loved it. Would definitely love to tour Tuscany in a 2CV - I'd also love to do it in the early 911 which some lucky sod had brought along while we were there but, somehow, I doubt he was having any more fun than you.
Vive l'escargot!
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