Citroën 2CV Special
1988 Citroën 2CV Special
Owned by Quentin Willson
(c/o classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk)
Time owned Four months
Latest/total mileage 0/75,000
Latest/total costs £350/£1284
Previously Got busy stripping down the 2CV in anticipation of a quick bodywork refresh
Such a rash promise. To expect fate, delivery drivers and welders to all act in magical congress was an act of wild, dreamy optimism. My promise to have the 2CV welded, painted and running well in a month hasn’t happened. But then you knew it wouldn’t, didn’t you? Because that’s Restoration Life. Things rarely, if ever, go to plan and timescales always slip. I can only apologise.
The 2CV Shop dispatched a new boot floor but the courier mangled one of the corners in transit, so there was lots faffing and inevitable delays. The 2CV Shop sorted things out quickly but my slot in the welder’s queue was pushed back three weeks. Knights MOT Centre (knightsmotcentre.co.uk) is a local do-most-things small garage in Stratford-upon-avon and I can’t recommend it highly enough. As well as being helpful and capable, there’s a steady throughput of classics – always a promising sign of great garage attitude.
Knights collected and delivered the Citroën on a trailer, and did a cracking job welding in the new boot floor and neatly patching the bottom of inner rear wheel arches that had got a bit thin. I really should have replaced both arches, but I’d already had new seatbelt mounting repair sections welded in so it seemed a shame to cut them out and start again. Had a previous (expensive) repair done in 1997 been up to scratch and properly rustproofed I wouldn’t now be putting in the car’s third boot floor.
Knights also sorted out a starting problem which, despite new plugs, leads, coil and fuel pump, I hadn’t been able to fix. They put it down to simple verdigris on some of the smaller wire bullet connectors. She now starts on the second turn of the key without choke – pretty good for a 2CV.
Now I have to paint the boot floor, fit and paint the new outer wings and paint and fit a new boot lid, again supplied by The 2CV Shop. The current white one is a used replacement that’s peppered with little dents and from a Eighties 2CV Club, so I didn’t think it worth repairing. Once all that’s done the rear end will be finished and I can move on to the front. But this time though I’m not making any promises. E206 BNB’S progress won’t be hurried.