If I was going serious off-roading, think I'd need more than a different chassis design to make the car last/go well. Would probably end up with something radically different to a normal 2CV, mechanically.

I think it's great there are people who want to make a 2CV go at 100mph, over 3' high tree stumps, up 45 degree muddy slopes, run tyres as wide as a Porsche, etc etc - there's nothing like enthusiasm. And good business.

But, the car's in its element doing what it was designed to do, providing amazing day to day transport. As UK average speeds come lower all the time and speed limits are enforced ever more rigidly, what could be more perfect? As temperatures rise what's better than a car intended to stay cool in the South of France. As winters get less predictable, the ability to slice through standing water and remain surefooted in the odd snowy spell is brilliant. As electronics force otherwise practical people to have their cars serviced/repaired at £100/hour, a pair of plugs and a set of points is less than £30 even if you don't do it yourself. As life gets ever more stressful, to have the flat twin singing under the bonnet, consuming less fuel than many contemporary economy cars on short trips (ie most). Suspension which swallows speed humps whole, wheels which can be knocked out when the worst potholes dent them, wings replaced in 10 minutes, roadholding to knock spots off many modern cars, comfort second bar none, the ability to squeeze through council-width bollards if necessary, seeing people smile as you whizz past, smiling yourself every time you turn the key...

We all have in our possesion an icon of post-WW2 France, an icon of motoring, the perfect solution to modern conditions, a car which was so right that Citroën barely altered the car in over 40 years of production... Levallois could always have behaved like Ford and appealed to the lowest common denominator and made as options sports exhausts, alloy wheels, Recaro seats, rev counters, twin carb engines, but didn't. There was no need.

I have been involved in racing them, off-roading them, modifying them, perhaps it is only when you have gone round the houses you realise how utterly perfect and sublime the car is - as it is, if a genuinely good one. A set of Michelin M+S tyres which allows seriously rapid transport in the snow (Discoveries vanishing in the trailing powder storm) is the best investment, if you really like to show off how capable a 2CV is.

S'pose in today's world gizmos and new things are essential to maintain the MTV attention span, you've only got to see what Jaguar thinks are the most important sales features of the XF - mainly a computer control knob which rises from the dash! Somehow think there will be more XK120s and 140s in about 15-20 years time...

Given a car which has a good motor, a sweet and free 'box, Michelin wheels and tyres, correct suspension geometries, everything just so, my idea of mods go as far as having intermittent wipers and a heated rear window(!), about the only things missing which are truly useful in today's environment. Subtlety can be a virtue.

Oolong, I couldn't of put it better myself. Now where's the keys to the Fabia?.........Only joking, the Skoda is staying on the drive and I'm taking the 2cv to NW Scotland and the Isle of Harris & Lewis on Tuesday

I think the biggest change over the next 10-20yrs, will be that surviving cars would be valued higher, if they have an original chassis, or a replacement chassis, that is identical to the Citroen original. If an Austin 7 had a 21st Century galvanised chassis under it, I doubt a buyer would have the same 'feeling' for it. I know that the galvanised chassis under my car, barely resembles the Citroen original.

Slightly off topic, back in the 60s and 70s, in Holland, the Traction Avant was cheap and in plentiful supply and were mostly painted in garish colours and other 'horrors' , but now, the remaining cars a mostly restored to a very high 'as close to factory' condition and by the ones who created the 'horrors' in the 70s. This will happen to the 2cv, as sure as eggs are eggs

When I first got into the 2cv a little over ten years ago, I wanted a racing steering wheel, alloys and other suchlike accessories, but now, I liking originality. I will say though, I don't turn my nose up at non-originality.

Hope nobody feels offended by this post, it's just a truth and may generate a dialogue(which is good for the forum ) Just don't be nasty, as the name of the forum states...2cvfriends

Indeed, I don't see any point in 'originality' being the favoured direction for our cars, when we have fields of 2cvs that are all the same and all shiney, then 2cving will be dead.

Remember the old sticker, (in French) "Two identical 2cvs don't exist"

Long may that continue.

*Spoken in a friendly tone*

Russ, I completely agree with you and perhaps the majority of I2F members, but as the 2cv becomes more scarce and so more sort after, it will happen.

Heaven forbid the 2cv scene turning into a Morris Minor Owners Club event, it was a major reason for my defection from that camp to the 2cv scene(as well as the constant expenditure and constant mechanical failings ) In almost 107,000miles in my current 2cv, it's only let me down seven or eight times(most of those was due to a knackered battery)and it's now done 177,000miles on original, untouched engine(try and get an A-series from a Minor or Mini to do that).

2cv camps/meetings are unbeatable in the car world, long may it continue

...and as few cars coming out of the factories around the world were identical, it is highly unlikely that 20 years after production ended, there will be rows and rows of identical cars.

All a matter of degree - some people would struggle to see the difference between a 2CV and a Dyane... others can distinguish an original 1981 car from an '85s vintage by feel and smell alone

I agree

I am all for original 2CV's.. the French designed an absolutely gem of a car and that's why I have a completely original unmolested 79 2CV on original chassis sitting in the garage

But.. what really turned me on to 2CV's was the creativity that the owners unleashed onto their A series. I suppose that's why I got into the 4x4 and raiding scene. A scene that is growing - and that's not me being biased. Just take the Morvan events - that same creativity is in abundance and its building. Heath Robinson style machines attempting the impossible with only a 602cc engine; that wins it every time for me

...sitting in the garage..? ...I s'pose I see a 2CV at its best as an everyday tool, but I see how one as a (expensive?) hobby can be huge fun.

Here I suggest why I think one is at its most appreciated when as everyday transport. A hobby like yours is going to involve significant investment of time/money and a small % of 2CV drivers, no matter how popular it becomes. Since it is a business for you, it would be strange if you didn't sing its virtues!

Perhaps the most remarkable sight is a bog-standard car performing what few others could - a heavily modded machine is built-for-purpose, so is expected to do what it was designed to do. We drove off-road in the far NW of Scotland a few years ago, to the great consternation of some 4x4ers who told us they had got stuck just ahead - needless to say, we got through just fine.

As for "Heath Robinson style machines attempting the impossible with only a 602cc engine", there are many light aircraft flying with even less power than a standard 2CV, so driving up an obstacle course shouldn't be too impossible.


But, I do think it's great there are sufficient affordable parts and cars around to allow that sort of thing - long may it continue. It can only benefit the car's profile. Anyone ever taken part in any uk classic trialing? I see they mention 2CVs take part in the 'not for the faint heated' class 1.

some people confuse 2cvs for beetles