Old Duckling
The Citroën 2CV is still a very common classic for its age, only the majority of the remaining ‘Ducks’ look slightly different than this one. We are dealing here with a pretty old and therefore extra charming specimen!
We have already discussed Citroëns 2CV several times in the ‘In the Wild’ section, but these were all so-called Vans or conversion cars from Lomax and Burton. Never before have we focused the spotlight on a regular 2CV parked along the road, because you still see them so often that in that sense (however nice they are) they are not really that spot-worthy. However, we immediately make an exception for this copy. The Citroën 2CV that AutoWeek forum member Johan82 captured is one of a very ‘early’ class.
You don’t have to look twice to see that this is really an oldie. That starts at the front, with the large grille with the large logo on it and the ‘ridges’ over the sheet metal. The bonnet is also different from later 2CVs, because the part behind the front wings (with the cooling slots in it) is part of it and therefore also goes up. Another important difference is that this Duck still has suicide doors . At the back, the differences with later and more common Ducks are even more striking. The roll-up fabric roof goes much deeper down, the rear window is a bit narrower and at the bottom of the butt are much smaller taillights. Another important difference: it has no third side windows.
So it is a very old 2CV, but the question is how old exactly. According to the license plate data and the plate on the back, the car dates from 1957, only there are a few things that we do not fully understand in that light. The recess for the license plate on the back seems to belong to an even older 2CV and we are almost certain that these specific rear lights and the reflector on the rear left were no longer on the 2CV in 1957. The biggest question mark is what happens on the C-pillar. There we expect flashing lights that are like a kind of ball on it, or no flashing lights at all. However, there seem to be pop-out indicators and the 2CV has never had that ex-factory as far as we know. All in all, we get the impression that, even when we see the colors on the car, a few things have been nailed to this 2CV. If anyone can shed more light on these matters, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.
What is certain is that the current owner already received the papers of this nice Duck 14 years ago. We can well imagine that since then the 2CV has almost exclusively gone outside in good weather, or it is very closely maintained. It is certainly not in concours condition, but there are a lot of newer 2CVs on the road that are less attractive. We did spot something on the right fender that looks like rust. Fortunately, it is very easy to work on Ducks and it is also not difficult to find replacement parts. Such a special oldie will be preserved in any case. Good thing, because this is really fun, isn’t it?