Looking for a new boat? This may suit you.

[Boaty Jo]

18 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

They were a crap car. Why would anyone think they would make anything other then a crap boat 

Hesitate to say it but yours has very similar design characteristics

[Naughty Cal]

9 hours ago, rasputin said:

How much could you rent your garage for?, is the car appreciating that much?

Given that the garage is at the end of the driveway blocked in by my car probably nothing. So yes it is appreciating that much!

55 minutes ago, Boaty Jo said:

Hesitate to say it but yours has very similar design characteristics

Such as?

[Murflynn]

2CV was the French equivalent of the British Seagull and Marmite - love it or hate it.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Murflynn

[Athy]

17 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

2CV was the French equivalent of the British Seagull and Marmite - love it or hate it.

Marmite I understand, but I find it hard to summon up strong emotions about gulls. Do other people?

[BilgePump]

and like a Seagull, a 2CV is meccano style fixable. Neither are speed demons but in their own way they are 30s design icons (TPV in 36-9 and Marston Seagull launched 31), simple, affordable and extremely effective at fulfilling their design brief. It's difficult to take yourself too seriously if you are driving a 2CV but they are damned practical cars and great fun too. Run on a thimble of fuel, spares available and cheap, easy to work on with basic tools, they will take a load of stuff in the back with the seats out, the ride is comfortable albeit slow, the rag roof is great for four days of summer (you can get aftermarket hardtops for winter), and as with a lot of modern classics, they are holding or increasing in value. An old Land Rover is similarly simple, effective and cheap to maintain, but they are dirty and expensive on fuel. Like the 2CV they wouldn't be top of the list for wedding cars or a motorway commute to work.

If I wanted a something to enjoy track days I would hanker after a Caterham, something for pottering around the town - a 2CV or old Mini, for towing - a good Landy, for the fun and sake of it - a grey Fergie tractor. Horses for courses and it's good to see enthusiasts' passion for their own favourite vehicles. I was lost in backroads near Yarm a few years ago and my path kept crossing with an outing of about 20 Model T owners trundling around the same rural fields. They were brilliant to see but what was an absolute watershed in automotive engineering a century ago fares atrociously in modern traffic. Owning one must be a fantastic indulgence when they have no practical day to day use.

Edited January 20, 2018 by BilgePump

[Laurie Booth]

2 hours ago, Mike Tee said:

Don’t forget central locking - you can reach all four doors from the drivers seat.

What locks ?

[BilgePump]

1 minute ago, Laurie.Booth said:

What locks ?

Not much point having locks when the roof can be cut open, as some swines did to one my sister had at uni a few decades ago. The fact that they stole a shop mannequin she had in the back seat for some design work made it all a bit surreal. On the one I had the doors could be opened with a few unrelated padlock keys. Back then though, even if you just left a Greggs pasty in a 2CV you doubled its value so if there was nothing to nick they tended to be left alone by thieves.

[Athy]

2 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

 Back then though, even if you just left a Greggs pasty in a 2CV you doubled its value.

Surely "chausson a la viande"?

[BilgePump]

2 minutes ago, Athy said:

Surely "chausson a la viande"?

I had to cheat and Google translate that but it's a great description - meat in a slipper. I'm sure the French farmers could have fitted a few in with their tray of eggs, grandma, pig, top hat and tin bath across a rutted field (okay slightly hopeful but entirely possible).

[Athy]

Just now, BilgePump said:

I had to cheat and Google translate that but it's a great description - meat in a slipper. I'm sure the French farmers could have fitted a few in with their tray of eggs, grandma, pig, top hat and tin bath across a rutted field (okay slightly hopeful but entirely possible).

Many a true word etc: I have actually seen a Citroen arrive at Rodez market and disgorge a farmer and his wife from the front seats and two pigs from the back. It was, admittedly, a long-wheelbase Light Fifteen saloon and not a deuche. This was about 1972.

[BilgePump]

On the continent it seemed common to see glorified Allan scythes with trailers as daily transport in the villages, loads of scooters around town. Top end 4x4s aren't necessary if it's just a run to the shop or the cafe. Some of the old and small, sub 1litre cars were great designs that because of their initial entry level price have been overlooked for years. The old Fiat Panda is a recentish car but was really practical and fun in the sun. If you drop the seats in one you can fit a 500l water tank in and shut the boot. No idea what they are like to work on but fine to drive and some have the full sunroof like a 2CV. Great for continental summers, not so much fun on a rainy Friday in Slough.

[Athy]

Fine, but why would you wish to fit a 120-gallon (approx.) water tank in your car?

[X Alan W]

13 hours ago, nbfiresprite said:

How many French farmers have you seen wearing a top hat?

Around 35 when the head guy in the farming community got wed & at least 3/4 of them turned up in 2CV''s or Merahi's as an aside their is a company that carry's every spare part for every model of 2cv ever made OFF  THE   SHELF Good or Crap there can't be many other Brand/model that that can be said about. Beauty in the eye of the beholder

[X Alan W]

16 hours ago, Ray T said:

You can race them. Got a dedicated race following.

I have raced a few different cars /bikes in my time in the Car line F3 Mk 10 Cooper /Norton. F1 Lotus 18/21 2.5L 4 pot Climax but the one that gave the most Pleasure was a Fiat /Arbarth 600 odd cc's in one of the original Mk/Phase 1 Fiat 500's the one with the engine lid propped open to exit the hot air similar in the ability to the 2CV go around corners with one or more wheels clear of the track & could hold it's own against cars in much larger engine capacities except circuits with long straights Also rallied a Renault Alpine which was a fun car Be very boring if everyone liked/or considered crap the same things

[Laurie Booth]

2 hours ago, Athy said:

Fine, but why would you wish to fit a 120-gallon (approx.) water tank in your car?

To put wine in it.

Tiz French You Know

[OldGoat]

18 hours ago, dmr said:

Most cars are much better than the 2CV, it was barely a proper car, but of all the cars that I have driven the only ones that have really put a smile on my face are:

mini

2CV

VW Camper

All the rest are just cars.

.................Dave

It's easy looking backwards to rubbish cars of a previous generation. In my youth, I had a GF with a limited sum to spend on a car - so I persuaded her to buy a Deux-Chevaux. It was idiosyncratic, now power, you had to keep the revs: up to make any progress, the gear change was a nightmare until to realised how it worked itself. But it went up hills in the snow with no  problem, could carry all amounts of junk (bales of hay, beds) and was economical.

It was of its time. I wouldn't have one today... 

[Ratkatcher]

18 hours ago, dmr said:

Most cars are much better than the 2CV, it was barely a proper car, but of all the cars that I have driven the only ones that have really put a smile on my face are:

mini

2CV

VW Camper

All the rest are just cars.

.................Dave

This one brings a smile to mine - I have had 3 of them so far - this is number 2....

 

 

[Athy]

15 minutes ago, Ratkatcher said:

This one brings a smile to mine - I have had 3 of them so far - this is number 2....

 

 

Is it a Smart Car? Scarcely recognisable wearing its sexy black little number.

39 minutes ago, Laurie.Booth said:

To put wine in it.

Tiz French You Know

Well, Italian actually (Fiat Panda) but similar remarks could apply.

[dmr]

17 hours ago, Graham Davis said:

You can build fun kits cars from them:

Now that a nifty way to get the cooling air to an air cooled engine.

A friend had a Mehari ???? a sort of plastic military jeep based on a 2cv. He also had a "dynamite" which is the 4 cylinder citroen air cooled engine shoe-horned into a 2CV, we raced it against my go faster 1300 minivan and the mini won.

..........Dave

[Ratkatcher]

1 minute ago, Athy said:

Is it a Smart Car? Scarcely recognisable wearing its sexy black little number.

Yes it is

Smart Roadster - they stopped making them in 2007 - current one is yellow and just crossed 53k miles.

80-101 HP from a 3 cylinder 698cc engine and 800 kilos weight...

Great fun!

[Athy]

18 minutes ago, dmr said:

Now that a nifty way to get the cooling air to an air cooled engine.

 

Not a new idea. Some of the three-wheeler Morgan Aeros with a JAP (as opposed to Jap) V twin engine had the whole engine totally exposed in front of what would normally have been the bonnet. 

Yes, the Méhari (named, rather oddly, after a type of camel) was the jeepy variant, comparable to the Mini-Moke I guess. It was quite extensively used by the French Army as well as being sold for civilian use.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Athy

[BilgePump]

42 minutes ago, Athy said:

Not a new idea. Some of the three-wheeler Morgan Aeros with a JAP (as opposed to Jap) V twin engine had the whole engine totally exposed in front of what would normally have been the bonnet. 

Yes, the Méhari (named, rather oddly, after a type of camel) was the jeepy variant, comparable to the Mini-Moke I guess. It was quite extensively used by the French Army as well as being sold for civilian use.

I think the blue kit car is a Lomax and they also did a three wheel version with the same front end styled after the old Morgans. How to turn a 2CV into a 3 wheeler? Relatively easy. Each wheel is on an independent arm. On the back end, if you throw one away and turn the other one inwards you are nearly there.

[nbfiresprite]

2 hours ago, X Alan W said:

Around 35 when the head guy in the farming community got wed & at least 3/4 of them turned up in 2CV''s or Merahi's as an aside their is a company that carry's every spare part for every model of 2cv ever made OFF  THE   SHELF Good or Crap there can't be many other Brand/model that that can be said about. Beauty in the eye of the beholder

But then a tophat is not the everyday headgear for a farmer, But it was for the dustman of Lyme Regis in the 1950's and 1960's.

48 minutes ago, Athy said:

Not a new idea. Some of the three-wheeler Morgan Aeros with a JAP (as opposed to Jap) V twin engine had the whole engine totally exposed in front of what would normally have been the bonnet. 

Yes, the Méhari (named, rather oddly, after a type of camel) was the jeepy variant, comparable to the Mini-Moke I guess. It was quite extensively used by the French Army as well as being sold for civilian use.

The three-wheeler Morgan Aero is back in production, If you want one the waiting list is four years.

[Athy]

7 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

 

The three-wheeler Morgan Aero is back in production, If you want one the waiting list is four years.

I did see that a year or so ago when looking at their web site. I wonder how many they actually sell.

The modern Aero is, confusingly, a four-wheel car; their 3-wheeler is called, yes you've guessed, the Morgan Three-Wheeler.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Athy

[nbfiresprite]

10 minutes ago, Athy said:

I did see that a year or so ago when looking at their web site. I wonder how many they actually sell.

The modern Aero is, confusingly, a four-wheel car; their 3-wheeler is called, yes you've guessed, the Morgan Three-Wheeler.

Bulit over 1000 in the first two years with 600 orders in the first month. Not been in the new one, but been in my old physics masters pre-war morgon aero.