James,

Sorry didnt get to call you but was busy all weekend....dont give up yet !

The only thing wich came up in my mind watching this vid is this......
The less parts you have at your'e 2cv the less parts can break or rust.
So J.W. Do you realy need a ventflap, doors hood etc... chassis????,
(I think you need a chassis to drive)

... and some duck tape over vent flap... or some DIY vent flap... get inspired...

To be honest, I went through exactly the same. I've had 2 crap cars off the trot, both were advertised as being restored but both had used rubbish leftover parts instead of new panels and copious amounts of filler and fibreglass and good resprays to hide all the bodge.
It left me with a bitter taste in my mouth about 2cv's as I had always thought there was a camaraderie amongst 2cv'ers about being honest about their cars. If they had of both said that the cars were going to need serious structural work within 12 months and had been priced accordingly then I wouldn't have lost my faith.
I'm well aware that we are talking about 20 and 30 year old cars and problems and repairs are inherent but I specifically bought cars that I thought would last a couple if years as I'm no mechanic, I just want to enjoy driving them and doing the odd routine maintenance.
After 19 years of 2cv ownership I have found the last 2 months without one thoroughly depressing and I've been using my partners modern and very nice car but there's no joy just practicality.
I have been looking for a replacement 2cv but I have to justify the cost to my partner who really can't see the point, joy or fun in our funny little French rustbuckets. Unfortunately nothing has been forthcoming and nothing has really ticked all the boxes. I might defect to the Germans....lol.

There's another problem at the horizon. 15 years ago, people knocked at my door if I wanted their 2cv for free, they didn,t like it anymore and the windscreenwipers where worn anyway so, they bought another car and gave the 2cv to me.
10 years ago I could buy decent 2cv's for 200 gulden (about 80 pound) because the 2cv would become a rare car.......
5 years ago a worn 2cv would make 500 pounds a fully restored one 2000 ore more. So then it started to go wrong. People who want to make quick money
filled up the gaps with filler give it a nice spraypaint and sell you the car for 5000 euro. The same with parts, people gave me lots of quality parts because they sold their 2cv and they thought that I could need some parts for restoring my car. This weekend I gave 130 euro's for a visa engine and I even don't know if it runs................. but hey it's a bargain isn't it.........
Times have changed for the 2cv and they never will come back.....

Shit I'm getting old (turning 45 next month)

That's what makes me lose faith the most. I can't sell either of my 2cvs really because I'll never be able to buy another, not because they're rare, but because nobheads have ruined it for the true enthusiast. It'd be easy to be put off by this. But then again it'd give the money hungry types who don't know/don't care what it's all about more cars to sell and more money to make.

You could flog your car for a fair price nowadays, even with its broken chassis. It doesn't need pistons and barrels or all the other shit, that's just you looking for trouble. It'd probably fetch a decent price, why not? You could buy something warm/reliable/comfortable/nice/good value for what you'd get for it.

Why didn't I flog my red car when it ran out of MOT and wasn't worth doing? Why haven't I got shot of the yellow one when it failed its MOT last week? One reason was mentioned above, I can't afford to replace them. Why should that matter?

To me, it mattered because although the cars are useless and on paper, not worth repairing or even buying in the first place, I've bought into something rather unique. I've been a bit of a car-slag over the last decade, I've been in or around about a dozen different cars and their various social societies and they're almost universally populated by total bell ends. In fact, it's not just car people, it's most people you meet nowadays. 2CVing has, admittedly, been watered down by people who again do not understand it but there's still a massive amount of people out there across the world who are worth sticking with the car and its self destructing ways to meet.

You think you have problems with your car but they're not exactly difficult to solve. A chassis change is a days work if you plan it right and you can do it in the street with a fairly basic toolkit FFS, it's not like you need NASA's space laboratory and Stephen Hawking to manage it. I paid £30 for the chassis under my red car, if you can't afford that then you can't afford to be driving a car at all. So you don't know anybody selling a chassis that cheap? There's a reason for that. You haven't 'got involved' yet. You haven't been to anything worth going to and you seem to shy away from it. There's people on this forum who were in exactly the same boat as you a year or so ago and now have friends who will be with them for life and there's nothing they can't source by asking around. It goes far, far deeper than just placing an advert on here.

I have just spent a rather fine weekend involved in *actual* serious motorsport being fed and watered all for free simply by going out and meeting people and getting involved. So did Max, Harry, Jack, Emily and plenty more. All of those in this picture actually. just by going out and getting involved.



And that's not all. Here's a selection of things I've done by being involved and by getting out there. Doing that has undoubtedly made owning a 2cv and constantly repairing/rebuilding and paying for new bits worthwhile. There's nothing else out there that can help you achieve that.















I can post a thousand more photo's and videos of reasons why I still have a 2cv.

very well put indeed.

That's a double edged sword though. For me it's one of the reasons I'm selling the modern 2CV stuff. I love the cars, I love the engineering, I love the intelligence of the design.

Rejoining 2CV GB made me realise just how much I hate "the scene". I've even asked them to stop sending me their poxy magazine and keep the money; but that fell on deaf ears.

Put me in a field with a bunch of pissed up nobheads and I'd rather be down a deep mine shaft with a concrete cap on top of it.

That doesn't make you wrong of course.

The simple truth is this. Whatever you do it can't be made fun by other people. You have to first enjoy it for what it is and you'll find like minded people. It's a broad church.

Very well put indeed!!!

Your right,
But i never seem to have any time
Wish I came to snett though!!
I know Right now it doesn't need a new set of barrel and piston
However I'd like to do it one day, and while I've got the loan to do it I might as well!

And I'm STRICTLY condemned from doing it at home under any circumstances. I can do the engine at home just not the chassis change!

250 is right
I'm quite quiet and like to keep myself to myself in person,
Probably why I've missed a few key meetings

Anyone thought to mention that the Citroen 2CV is one of the finest engineered cars ever to make the production line??

I agree about the 'nobhead' comment, especially with reference to a very opportunistic specialist, but people will always be gullible - just a shame such a keen 'businessman' chanced on the 2CV.

£30 for a good chassis? Possibly, but you don't mention a front to rear copper brake pipe alone will cost a fair proportion of that, let alone the body repairs at the same time. Or the rest.

The rivet-counters have taken over part of the 2CV world when once upon a time they would have been jeered off. The saddest result of this is the recent ridiculously high price of spare parts. I can deal with the rivet-counters, not the three and four figure bills for a set of wings and a couple of kingpins.



"although the cars are useless" Maybe in roundabout-ridden, ring-roaded suburbia, but not in the rest of the world.

"nothing has really ticked all the boxes. I might defect to the Germans" Not quite sure what to say about this. Just make sure it's not an old German machine, fit only for driving in a straight line. I don't think a check-sheet with tick-boxes should be how you purchase an old Citroen. It's in the heart. If you haven't the sixth sense to suss a 'mantlepiece job', then perhaps you would be better with a modern car? A good 2CV should be for life, or a decent part of it. Lack of depreciation should fund the structural repairs, as for the brakes, tyres, exhausts and other routine stuff, all cars need them.

twofifty AZU - I agree with everything you say.