Interesting, I'm not on there owing to the fact that I believe in the Groucho Marx adage that I'd never join a club who would have me as a member......

Any chance of putting me in contact?

You've got PM.

Hi twofiftyAZU.

This was my fathers car! He sold it some years ago to a 2CVGB member who was going to restore it. I bitterly resented the sale of this car and rightly so by the look of it! It was running and useable when he sold it. I wish to God I had found this thread before. I must learn to drop in more regularly.

Dad bought the car from a colourful character called Rabbi Moishe Ffrench. It was one of a batch of just 12 Belgian built, right hand drive cars destined for Sweden. My understanding is that this batch of cars were on the boat when Sweden made the swap to driving on the right. The shipment was re-directed to the UK.

My heart sank when I first laid eyes on the photos. I held hopes that the car had been renovated and was being enjoyed just as my dad enjoyed it. He called it 'Dorcas' after a Greek goddess. She was 'full of good works' and that was why he chose the name. I am so saddened to see her in such a bad way.

If there is any way I can persuade you to restore her to original condition, just name it. I have a genuine factory workshop manual, in English, in mint condition for this car. I don't know if she has sold yet through eBay. If not, please, please restore her and you can have the manual.

This car holds so many happy memories for me.

Yours, deeply saddened, Brooky.

By the way,

The hoops in the rear wings are mountings for rear mudflaps, which were there when the car was sold by my dad. I may also have the original, stainless steel sill finishers.

Brooky.

Hi,

This theory looks very strange. The "Dagen H" in Sweden was forcasted. There is no reason that such a decision could have been made when the cars were on the boad nor even when the cars were made. Moreover when Forest did produce the cars for Sweden in the fifties, the cars were provided with a driving wheel on the left side of the car (even if it was the wrong side for Sweden at that moment).
Anyway, even if that looks very strange, everything is possible and that story could also be possible but I have some doubts.

Vincent.

I also don't believe it. Just look at the cars Volvo produced at the time. The PV 444 and 544 were never made in RHD at all; the Swedes drove on the left in LHD cars. The PV was phased out in 1965; they only started importing car officially to the UK once the 120 series started to be made in RHD form. The pre '67 120's you see surviving in Sweden are LHD, despite the fact that it was possible to buy a RHD version. That is why it was fairly easy for them to switch to driving on the right. It is fairly inconceivable that they were happy with a LHD Volvo but wanted a RHD 2CV!

Besides they didn't switch until the 3rd of september 1967, this car was registered in '66

After a bit of hunting round on t'internet, I've discovered that Rabbi Moishe Blenkinsop-Ffrench was an imaginary character used in car adverts by The Portobello Motor Company. He was the creation of the late Eric Lister. The adverts apparently took the form of a page of amusing narrative with the occasional one-line car advert suddenly appearing in the middle of the text; "and then we decided to stop mucking about with cars and go to the pub 1966 MGB, blue, 36,000 miles, wire wheels, £695". The company used to import 2CVs at a time when they were unavailable in the UK, i.e. the late sixties which is when my dad bought the car. As to where they sourced it, I have no idea.

The Swedish for starter, also begins with the letter S but their word for choke begins with a K!

Presumably Forest would have had knobs to hand with S and C as those are applicable to the Durch speaking market they were serving. "S" was used for the Choke in French cars, so all they required was one labelled "C".

In the John Reynold's book "Citroen 2cv", it's quoted that those RHD cars were meant for Nigeria, but it changed to driving on the wrong side of the road, so the cars came to Blighty instead.

I thought Nigeria didn't switch until 197(2)??