An expert’s view

ALAN BRADFORD, SILLY CVS

“I call the 2CV ‘the big boy’s Meccano’. It’s that simple to work on. The first thing I ask when buying one is: ‘Does it have a galvanised chassis?’ A fresh MOT is no guarantee of condition. The chassis may just have been patched up with a bit of welding. I’ve known sound-looking cars break in half going over speed humps because the chassis was rotten. To be on the safe side, buy one with a galvanised chassis but, even then, you need to check the condition of areas like the lower bulkhead.” Other rust zones are the rear seatbelt mounts on rear inner wings, boot floor, bonnet hinge, rear panel, windscreen surround, sills and door bottoms.

Also worth knowing

Will Waldron at Cambridge 2CV Ltd says a galvanised chassis is nice to see but there are good and bad. He says the best are made by SLC, available from Ecas 2CV Parts (ecas2cvparts.co.uk). The 2CV Mehari Club Cassis (mehari2cv-spare.co.uk) supplies originalpattern chassis in steel.