Citroën 2CV

Alan Sykes used to say that he wouldn't be seen dead in a 2CV. Spending time with him in his Citroën today, it is quite clear that he has been completely converted to the quirky cause.

This owner once said he’d never be seen dead in a 2CV. He is still with us!

This story really starts with the October 2017 issue of Classic Car Mart. That contained a feature detailing a number of potential project cars which were up for sale. These included a Ford Zephyr Mk3, a Wolseley 1500 and what was described as 'an easy 2CV project.' The Citroën was an all-white car that had been in storage for a long time and not taxed since 1997. As a 1986 car, that meant it had only been used on the road for 11 years before being laid up, which suggested that the low mileage of 32,000 was most likely genuine. ' There is some rust in the boot area,' explained the writer of the feature, ' but otherwise the body seems to be impressively rot free and the chassis is said to be solid, with just one small plate likely to be needed for its next MoT.' They went on to report that it had been serviced, but advised that the interior was said to need work. Their conclusion: it was 'a relatively straightforward project for £3500.'

Reading through the feature today, I must admit that if I were a prospective buyer, it would have rung a few alarm bells in my mind. The phrase 'the chassis is said to be solid' suggests the writer had not inspected the car for one thing, and words such as 'seems to be...' when describing condition make it all rather too vague for my liking. Surely it either is impressively rot free, or it isn't?

I am guessing that Alan Sykes had similar reservations, because although it was a spur- of-the-moment decision, he did go to inspect the car rather than buying it blind on the strength of the magazine write-up. 'I crawled underneath it and saw the hole in the chassis,' he told me. 'I asked the seller if he would get it welded up, knowing all the while that he wouldn't, but you have to ask. Fortunately he had a long driveway, so I was able to test the car out a little bit even though it was off the road.'

Clearly Alan was happy with what he saw, because he bought the 2CV. But given his previous dislike of the model, what had caused the change of heart? 'I'm not sure really why I'd been so set against them in the past,' he mused. 'I do remember Jasper Carrott joking about a 2CV hitting a rabbit on the road and the car coming off worse, and that probably

stuck with me. Plus at the time I'd have been in my 20s, and sports cars from the likes of Triumph would have been more appealing than a 2CV.

'The classic car I had until two years ago was a Daimler XJC coupé, which was so sporty and luxurious that it couldn't have been much more different from the 2CV,' he continued. 'In fact, the Citroën was nothing that I had previously been looking for in a classic, but I saw this feature in the magazine and it just so happened that at the time I was looking for a project. I wanted a relatively easy restoration, and this Citroën just seemed to fit the bill. Yet while the ease of working on them and the great spares back-up were most definitely strong attractions, I had also no doubt mellowed and changed over the years and moved away from the sports cars. While at that point I had certainly not been converted to the 2CV, all these factors added up to mean that I was willing to give it a go.' Alan's wife Chantal is French, and so you might be forgiven for thinking that a little gentle persuasion came from that direction – but you'd be wrong! Apparently, Chantal's father always used to have Citroëns so she grew up with them, but she too was far from keen on the lowly 2CV. However, Alan and Chantal used to do a lot of motorcycling and had been touring all over

Europe on a selection of largecapacity bikes from the likes of Norton, Triumph and BMW. As Alan pointed out, a 2CV might not be as fast as the two-wheeled transport, but it would certainly be warmer, more comfortable and have more space for luggage, all very persuasive points I'm sure.

First though, there was the little matter of putting it back on the road. One option would have been to patch over the initial problems and get driving right away, but that could have left Alan chasing faults around the car as they emerged once it had been pressed back into service. That is bad enough on any classic, but would have been especially risky in this case because Alan had yet to fall in love with the 2CV, and nothing turns a relationship sour more quickly than being stranded at the roadside or having to deal with a succession of problems that spoil the

driving pleasure.

Fortunately, Alan took a far more sensible approach and decided that he wanted to sort out the 2CV only once, and he wanted to do it properly. So first of all he enrolled in evening classes to learn how to weld, then he went out and bought himself the biggest welder he could find that ran off a regular three-pin plug and 13 amp supply. This was not for the small hole detailed in the magazine feature because Alan always intended to fit a new chassis, but the body also needed a new kickboard and other repairs. (See what I mean about the dangers of phrases such as '... seems to be'...?)

As part of his policy of doing the work once and doing it properly, Alan completely dismantled the Citroën. The mechanical components were in such good condition that the low mileage was obviously genuine, but he wanted to ensure that the engine was totally reliable and running as well as possible, so he took that to Tower Citroën Specialists in nearby Retford. 'I had learnt a bit about restoring cars over the years,' he explained, 'from bodging things as a teenager to doing a more professional job now. However, I have also learnt that if there is an expert available, then it often makes sense to use them.'

Tower dismantled the engine and found no wear, but rebuilt it with a lightened flywheel and a slightly increased compression ratio – they build a lot of racing 2CV engines, and Alan wanted to add just a little extra pep to his car. The guys at Tower also very kindly allowed him to watch the work, which was a great way to learn his way about a model that was not only new to him, but also utterly unlike any other car he had owned before. And he will put that new-found knowledge to good use, because he somehow ended up getting two more 2CVs, which found him through word of mouth. He has since sold one of those for a profit, ('The first time I've ever sold a classic car for a profit!') but the second one was saved for parts and he plans to strip and rebuild that second engine himself.

Meanwhile, Tower Citroën Specialists were also entrusted with fitting a new chassis. 'Nearly everybody these days wants a galvanised chassis,' said Alan, 'but those don't have the louvred panel, or the two little winglets by the front driveshafts. I wanted my car to have the original Citroën design, and eventually got one from ECAS in Stafford, hiring a van to collect it. In fact I got a lot of my parts from there, and some other bits from the 2CV Shop down near Winchester.'

People think that swapping

Alan had never driven a 2CV before, so its first outing after the restoration was clearly going to be an important moment.

a chassis is easy because you simply put the new chassis alongside the old one and transfer the parts across. It doesn't usually work like that in practice because the order of dismantling and reassembly can be so different that you end up with a pile of parts before you can put the first item on the new chassis. In this case, Alan had the pile of parts after his dismantling, but took everything to Tower. They soon built it back up into a car, with Alan lending a hand and continuing to learn.

As far as the body goes, you can take all the panels off a 2CV and that enabled Alan to fix, prepare and spray them one at a time in his garage. Incidentally, I have always heard of 2CVs described as 'upturned prams,' but never really appreciated how the term came about. However, after seeing a picture of the main bodyshell upside down in Alan's garden, the connection immediately became clear.

The interior needed redoing, but all the parts were easily available from a choice of suppliers – which, of course, had been one of the aspects that had made Alan consider a 2CV in the first place. He also bought a new roof, a blue one because he fancied finishing the car like a Beachcomber, the special edition produced in 1983 to celebrate Citroën's sponsoring of the French yacht in that year's America’s Cup race. However, when the new roof arrived Alan felt that the blue was much lighter than he had expected and not suitable for the Beachcomber plan, so instead he adapted the Dolly livery to create the blue-andwhite scheme you see here, buying suitably blue seat covers to match.

You may remember that aside from testing this one up and down the seller's drive, Alan had never driven a 2CV before, so its first outing after the restoration was clearly going to be an important moment for all concerned. How did it go?

'I took it back to Tower for setting up, and my first drive down the A1 was frightening,' said Alan with a smile, 'partly because it was not set up correctly and partly because I was new to the model. It is a lot better now that Tower have set up the suspension properly, but the speed, the body lean, the odd gear pattern – all of that takes time to master. You soon get used to the gear pattern though because you have to use

the gears a lot, changing down for hills and headwinds. In fact you soon get your head around all of the car's little quirks and idiosyncrasies.

'The brakes are plenty good enough in such a light car though, being discs on the front. It is supremely comfortable too, especially now I have made a little tweak – the only seat adjustment is back and forth, but because of my height (I'm 6ft 2in) it dawned on me that my eye line was up by the screen header rail. So I took an inch out of the seat frame, cutting, welding and reinforcing it to lower my seating position. With the roof rolled back and the windows clipped up it has been lovely during this hot summer, but when you have people in the back, then it does get a bit draughty for them. That's why I bought a mesh screen from Matt's Soft Tops, which makes a big difference.'

The 2CV was MoT'd in 2020, and has now just passed its third MoT in Alan's ownership. Clearly he has fallen for the Citroën's charms in a big way, and buying it on a whim despite previously dismissing the model was a gamble that has worked out brilliantly. His decision to do the job properly was another masterstroke. It has not been totally trouble-free, (the starter motor recently packed up for example,) but whenever something has gone wrong, Alan has found that he can get the bits he needs, he can get them quickly and he can fix the car on his driveway. 'Everything is so DIY friendly,' he enthused, 'so small and light compared to my old Jag. But the other thing that strikes me is that I used to have a Hillman Imp. That had an 875cc engine of course, and the driveshafts were puny little things. On the 602cc 2CV, the driveshafts are great big things – talk about over- engineered! Well, mechanically at least, because the body is admittedly fairly minimal.

'It is fascinating to have gone from a Jaguar XJC to a 2CV,' he concluded. ' We went to France a couple of times in the XJ and I was lucky to get 18mpg out of it. The Citroën should be a little more frugal, though I have fitted a long-range tank that goes from 25 litres to 38 litres which will make quite a difference when touring. The most testing journey we have done so far was about an hour down the A1, but we want to take it to Brittany next year for a big 2CV meeting and then head further south to visit Chantal's family. I am looking forward to driving it on French roads, and it will be interesting to see what sort of response it gets; I've been told that any 2CV gets a good reception in France.'

We have no doubt that Alan's car will indeed be admired and rightly fêted in its homeland. Perhaps more importantly though, we fully expect Alan and Chantal to have a fantastic time behind the wheel. Maybe it was fate or maybe it was just a case of fortunate timing, but seeing how much Alan enjoys his 2CV today, it does make me wonder if maybe we shouldn't all give something a go that we've previously dismissed out of hand. Or maybe you've already had a similar revelation? If so, please do get in touch as it doesn't seem fair for Alan to have all the fun!

I am looking forward to driving it on French roads, and it will be interesting to see what sort of response it gets.