I have butterflies in my stomach listening to the 2CV. It brings back so many happy memories of when I had mine. I called him 'Stanley'. Unfortunately, someone smashed into the front of him and he was beyond repair. 😒
Ditto. I'm 71 yo, owned plenty of cars and the most fun I had driving was during college years , drove a VW 59 VW Bug. Just for fun I'd see how much of my errand I could drive without touching the clutch pedal. shift up, shift down, no clutch. FUN. BTW had not gas guage either. you drove til the engine starved and quit then flipped a lever on the firewall for about an extra 3 qt. of gas. All that while still rolling in traffic. You got pretty fast at that little trick. I've owned a couple sports cars too but the bug was still more fun.
As a frenchman I'm so proud of our national little duck car. It was my first car and I confirm it is really comfy and pleasant to drive, and the handling is very good due to the low gravity centre. It's very reliable too. Unfortunatelly subject to rust especially the floor.
Hahaha j’aurais réellement aimé être dans cette époque où l’on pouvais trouver des 2cv pour pas cher! Mais bon les temps changent et heureusement cette époque à de belles petites voitures pour se faire la main.
@@SkidMako Il ont vendus c'est paquet de merde au USA. Ce modèle qu'il conduit a était importe de l'usine en 1985~86. On les trouves ici a Los Angeles, de la même couleur.
My wife and I are Dutch and we had one in the 80's when we were students. Back then it was already quirky, but most people loved it for being super simple, out dated and unique... Very popular with students because they were dirt cheap to buy and run. The entire car could be taken apart and assembled again with three simple tools.
My mechanic has a 2cv, and I’ve borrowed it a couple of times while my own Citroën was in for service. So much fun to drive and the dashboard shifter is very intuitive after only a few minutes of driving 😃👍👍
renault clio 1,8 16s /williams 2.0 16s could be so much fun to test old lightweight coffin ! Citroën est tellement bon sur plein de sujet mais le confort !!!!!!!
It was my first car during 4 years exactly the same colors (rouge delage et noire) , this car was so simple and so fun.... Une autre époque et un vrai mythe in France... Merci pour cette vidéo !
My mother's car in the late 70's !!!. I remember driving it to the Pyrénées mountains, where even in the winter I could drive it on snow or ice, passing all the other cars miserably stranded on the side of the road. One of my friends even took his from the south of France to the Artic Circle in Finland without a single problem. Great little car with that unmistakable engine sound which brings me forty years back. I miss it a lot. Thanks for this great video, and for giving your 2CV (your version was called 2CV "Charleston") a second life.
When I was a kid these cars were already amazingly anachronistic but still all over the place and they definitely have a special place in my heart! The red and black is the most beautiful of the three Charleston paint schemes if you ask me, although yellow and black is nice too.
Maybe one of the cutest cars ever made. We used to drive one of these with my family in the early nineties, here in Argentina. It was from 1976. Every ride on that car was a unique experience. You brought me lots of memories!! Thanks man!!
Yo sabia que me iba a encontrar un argentino aca jajaj yo manejo un 3cv 1975 buenisimo auto re divertido de manejar y lo mejor? Que ahora con el calor le abro el techo y listo aire acondicionado gratiss
Just had a Burton Big Bore 652cc engine plus Power Tube installed in my 1990 Charleston in Australia. Engine, new clutch, new rear brakes, LED tail lights imported from Holland. No more slowing down on hills. I have owned mine for 33 years and 185,000 miles from new. Joyous motoring. Owned 2CV6s for 45 years.
Due to the totally different traffic situation in France there are some good reasons, why they made the dog leg shift: 1. if the 2CV sticks on a muddy road, you can change between 1st an reverse quickly and swing the car out of the mud. 2. they have lots of windy roads, narrow cities and villages and nearly no stoplight crossings but lots of roundabouts. So most of the time you need only second and third gear for driving. Because of this it makes sense and is much easier to drive having second and third gear in one line. All these roundabouts are the reason why the indicator does not shift off automatically. Because in a roundabout it always shifts in a wrong moment ;)
This unique sound, this feel, you can not be unhappy when driving this car. It is so unique and well loved. It was my first car, and my most beloved car.
Congrats on getting some sponsorship Ted! Definitely would love to see more strange ancient euro stuff, we really made some amazing stuff back in the day.
Thanks! This month I took on a couple sponsors which is really exciting, but I'm doing my best to not let it interfere with the content. The videos are king.
@@TedwardDrives You manage to fit the sponsored bits in clean and well so think you're doing a great job of it man! If you're ever in the UK and want to film a Rover 75 Touring cdti lmk would love to see you review it haha
Man, I’ve watched this video for at least 20 times! Always been very fond of the 2CV and even did a presentation about cars, standing in a 2cv, in school when I was like 9 years old. This video made me fulfill a wish of mine to own one myself, so I’ve bought the exact same car as this one last week. Many thanks again for this video!!!
Drove an 2CV 6 months ago for my 22nd birthday. It was such a cool experience. I can recommend it to everybody to drive some old car, it makes you appreciate the simple things in normal cars way more!
Caught a ride in one from Patras to Corinth in Greece in 1974 and fell in love with them. The seat was a very comfortable cloth sling and, if you wanted to, you could take it out for picnics.
My first car - absolutely loved it! So comfortable for even a long journey (London - Geneva 3 times) Kept up with motorway traffic fine - especially with a bit of slip-streaming!
Had one years ago and simply loved it. Never had any real issues with it apart from the heater. As standard it comes with two settings...... cold and ice cold.👍😎
You can get a tepid upgrade for the heater, and added with a blanket over the knees and a nice hat you can keep your body temperature above what could be considered dangerous.
So much more to them than you showed - side window operation, roof opening positions, headlamp height adjustment, ventilation slat, removable seats, bolt-on panels and bumoers... all made for a simple but fantastic car!
I love the excitement over every car. From EVs to track cars to this ... I don't know what to call this loveable thing, but the genuine appreciation for driving is a treat to watch.
As students we drove one of these in the late 60's from Belgium through France and Spain and back - three of us and eventually we picked up a fourth. On climbing some relatively steep hills in France two of us got out and at that a horse cart passed us on the way up. We all absolutely loved this car. No one who hasn't been in one can imagine how comfortable the ride was. You did a lot of bouncing up and down but it was never harsh. Maybe we were in the 12-13 hp range - don't know. But if we were fortunate we could go down hill up to 70-80 kph. I'd love to have one today.
And, never forget : it's impossible to get stuck with "overboiling" water, like it's happening in even the most expensive cars (which I see most often on the emergency sider of the motorway... lol ... hood open and steaming). An air cooled engine "just goes on forever". 🙂
litterally all the people i know trying to get out of the back of a 2cv for the first time. its even meaner when the little plastic ledge breaks off and you cant even see there there is a moving part there
Getting out of a Dyane (more modern-looking 2CV derivative) is even trickier. The door handles are hidden away out of sight under the top of the door trims. I used to have one and one of my favourite pastimes was sitting someone in it and seeing how long it took them to work out how to get out again. But I always used to show passengers where the door handles were in case I crashed and the car burst into flames. Not so funny then!
I'm dutch and bought an old Dyane (a very slightly fancier version of the 2cv) a few years ago when i was 17. I've driven this thing tens of thousands of kilometers, and it's never let me down. And the beauty of it is its simplicity. When i bought it, i had never worked on anything more complicated than a bicycle. But because the car was designed with home-repairs in mind, i could very intuitively learn to work on it with almost no former knowledge at all. Everything is so simple and so easy to work on. The most joyful car to drive in the world. like you said, It truly is a little friend.
That steering wheel design is amazing. The whole interior really. I'm more impressed with this than all the crappy plastic in new interiors (looking at your Mercedes).
They have something similar in the newer C series with the fixed centre wheel. But in terms of being a ring with no obstructions, that old design is nice
I believe it was designed by Panhard to be fitted to Dyane which was meant to replace 2CV but didn't really. Notice there's no Citroen logo or the double chevron. Not all 2CV6 models have that but a different two spoke design. I believe the original idea of the single spoke wheel was that in the event of head on crash the steering wheel would bend away from you. That's why the spoke pointed away from you when straight ahead. Maybe this was positioned like this from factory or not.
It is actually very nice to see an American who know how to use a manual gear. The almost invisible pause in neutral between gears show care and understanding of how a normal gearbox works. Thank You. Some think it is just a push-pull as-hard-as-you-can thing with little or no understanding of what is going on under that.
Ahh The Deux Chevaux!! When I was in school 35 years ago, a teacher had one of these cars. The 2CV is a simple car with so much character and soul. So much more than the sum of any parts. The 2CV just makes you smile. Doug DeMuro would be going on about quirks and features for days!!
Funny you should say that. I used to have one, and I was stopped by the police because I had a tail light out. The officer thought I was a teacher. They had an image as a car driven by people like teachers.
I've always admired the Citroën, both the 2CV-series and the cx2000-series. I saw many Citroën in Holland, very rarely in the US, but am always happy to see them when I do. Thank you for taking us for a cruise and for the great point of view from the inside.
I rode as a child in several 2CVs my parents owned in the 60s, and then drove a few I could get a hold of in the 70s. Still some can still be seen in my city (Santiago, Chile) but mostly in club rides or vintage shows. A fun and extraordinary vehicle, which opposed twin cylinder soundtrack captured nicely in this video brings so much sweet memories back. Thanks
I am French and I am 62 years old, when you started the engine of the 2ch that the French affectionately call "deudeuche", I immediately recognized the typical noise of this emblematic car of the Citroën brand, this noise is so particular that it smells of France, the France of the countryside, because this car was very common in the French countryside, even by the postal services with the commercial version or for the small craftsmen... The Charleston is the last version manufactured until 1990, it is also the most successful in terms of comfort, compared to the first versions much more rustic! This car was also the car of the cities and of the youth, a very economic car in gas consumption, very reliable, very easy to maintain and repair, very funny and amusing to drive, a simple car where one took the time to live, there would be so many things to tell about this mythical car, One thing is sure, this car like the DS or the SM of Citroën are models which engraved the mark in the Pantheon of the history of the world automobile and are the best ambassadors of the "French touch" for a very long time, because timeless, a true machine to go up the time! !!!😀
I drove these cars for years. You're right, they re a joy to drive. The trick is to keep the revs up and don't slow down for the bends. That suspension is brilliant. They'll do 70 MPH all day lomg. (75 down a hill.) My only complaint - the windscreen fogs up in wet weather. That aside, the most fun I ever had in motor cars.
One day Daddy Doug is going to say: “This…is a Citroen 2CV, and it is one of the longest running and iconic vehicles ever made, and today, I’m going to review it”
Ahah so nice, French dude tip on a 2cv, if the little retainers for the flap window are worn, watch your fingers when closing the door. It's the automatic closing window (on your fingers) feature. That engine noise is so unique, lots of memories from childhood
In highschool one of my mates had a newer but very similar one Diane.And we were driving around in summer ,roof down, weed,just pure fun. I will never forget that.Now 30 years later I realised that was true Freedom.
I remember school swimming parties in the 80's, having a friend's parent show up with a 2CV and already 6 kids in it (2 in the passenger seat, 4 in the back seat) with the inviting gesture and a "hop in!" call for a 30 mins drive to the swimming pool. Yeah... totally safe.... I remember all the sounds and quirks of these cars while watching this. Even back then they had their own appeal for already being different and obviously dated. But it was the character and their incredibly low prices that kept them popular in Europe. One of the running jokes was that you could take them apart with a single flat head screwdriver, which wasn't too far from the truth. The other was that if you took a typical European roundabout fast enough, you could touch the pavement with your hand outside the window, with the car just short from tipping over. That benefit of them being cheap fell apart when prices started to skyrocket with good ones becoming more and more rare and hand in hand with that the availability of spare parts, which was one of its strengths in earlier days. Combine that with an increased interest in classical character cars in general and you have an investment object. If only there were still more around, or I would be a proud owner of one myself. Just for the fun of driving it. Having moved to California a few years ago, I do get a real kick out of those rare sightings of these fun Frenchies. I could have been that runner giving the thumbs up...
don't go slow on speed bumpers, it's a Citroën ! 😃 I love 2cv, my dad had one, my wife's dad still has one (same model as the one in your video) ; iconic french car !
Its interesting how citroen is famous for reliability on europe but in Brazil they famous for being the most unreliable things, and peugeot too, vws and 90s-00s opels are loved here tho
Thank you ! Being a frenchman myself, this Charleston edition in burgundy is my favorite followed by the Grey/light grey Charleston edition. I've never owned one but I drive a '03 Chevy Tahoe. Go Figure. XD Thanks for this POV video I fell liek I was driving it. The engine purring nicely in the background is a joy to hear. Thanks again.
The doors, if you remove the door stop straps and open them fully can simply slide up and off, all four of them. The trunk lid and hood also slide off. The fenders unbolt with a single bolt using the wheel wrench. You can also use the wheel wrench to hand start the engine if you have a flat battery. The seats, all three, unclip and come out so you can sit on them out of the car, also the trunk lid can be propped open to be used as a table and with the seats you can all sit round for a meal.. the perfect picnic car.
I drove a 2CV6 Special for 2 years when I lived in CH in the early nineties. It was such an easy car to work on, having no mechanical experience, I was easily able to replace the entire exhaust system(we used a friends' tow motor to lift the car). I loved and hated that car, but it was a lot of fun to drive. I really enjoyed inconveniencing bmw drivers(they're r-souls in Europe too) as I could only ascend the mountains in 2nd gear.
Worked at a Citroen specialist for 10 years and I love these. They brake very well due to the inboard brakes but could be a pain to replace. Buying a 2cv now is big money but I would sell my kidney for one now
Ah, the 2CV or as we knew it in Chile, a "Citroneta". My parents had one back in the day and used it pretty much for everything... moving parcels, family trips, market runs, etc.
I remember seeing 2CV in my native France, and the Charleston was always my favorite model. One of my backburner dreams/projects would be to own one. Maybe someday. I was impressed with how quickly it reached speeds of 60 to 70 km/h (40 to 45 mph). I think that was the idea - keep the classic look while gradually increasing the power over the years, at least enough to enable people to drive on _routes_ _nationales_ (roughly analogous to what we'd call county or state highways here in the States), and to a lesser degree _autoroutes_ i.e. highways/expressways. And it definitely seems like loads of fun to drive. Thanks for posting!
Had a couple of 2 CV’s and a Dyane 6 when I was young. Very cheap to run, comfortable and great fun to drive. Always liked the roll back roof which was great in the summer and didn’t leak. Great little cars !
@@martinmcdonald4207 Mine was a light beige, never saw a green one in U.K. that I can remember. Just found a pic on the Internet though and it looks great. One of my 2CVs was in this green, my wife called it Kermit.
Nice video. In 1988 this was my first car as a 19 year old boy. Exactly the same Charleston. When i hear the engine i go back in time 33 years immediately 😊
I love this car and the ride is exceptional! My very first car 40-odd years ago was a Renault 4 and my dad had a Citroen GS. I drove lots of Citroen’s including the 2CV, Ami and Dyane and I loved all Citroens when they were still an innovative car company. Sadly they no longer are.
I love slow manual cars. My grandma owns a 1983 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia with the 1.9L Water-cooled H4 making a muscular 80 HP paired to the 4 speed manual with just 62,000 miles. It's slow as hell, reaching 60 in over 25 seconds but it's just a blast to drive around the scenic Massachusetts roads.
Tons of european familys still go on vacation in their Volkswagen Golfs so it's actually not that crazy, especially when you consider that back then people didn't used to have as much stuff as we have nowadays...
Thanks for this brilliant video. I live in rural France (but only for the last few years), and there are still quite a number of 2cvs around, but they have become rarer, and much more expensive to buy. I owned 2 when I lived in the UK, and I absolutely loved them, however there were a few drawbacks. The design is awesome, and the engine was built from first class steel, and, as you said, it is very reliable. In the past they advertised in the UK that their cruising speed was 70mph - around 113 kph - and on a well surfaced highway that felt just fine. 30 years ago I used to run regularly on British on motorways at 70mph, which felt fine, but the noise was intense. I would not drive a 2cv on any motorway now because traffic speeds are so much faster these days. My top speed was 90mph, going on a long downhill with the wind behind me on my way from Glasgow to Edinburgh. But at that speed the suspension reacted powerfully to every tiny crack in the road surface, and the steering felt slightly unstable, so I slowed down. Wind resistance make a huge difference to speed, but my car would run in all weathers, if had I managed to start it (get electronic ignition, or change your spark plug leads every year - and make sure you have a spare coil on board). The design of the car is wonderful, but the build quality - especially of later models - was less good: rust was always a big problem. Having said all that, I'm hoping to buy another example sometime within the next 2 years when funds permit. It won't just be for fun, but also as an investment: good, well restored examples don't lose their value. Nothing beats this car for sheer joy, and you captured that so well in this video. (A special thanks for getting the Haynes manual in the video frame :) ) Thanks for being such an enthusiast!
I had two of those consecutively in my youth, much older ones than the "charleston" type you feature here, and I really loved them. One thing you should know: When you drive that thing hard, turning the steering wheel in haste with all your might, you may accidentally slice open your fingers on the ledge of the vent below your windscreen...
You brought me so much memories with this car, I grew up surrounded by these type of cars, including the Renault 4l, 4s, Citroen AMI 8, etc., my first car on my teens was 1956 Citroen 2CV square, made in Chile, probably had 12 HP and a centrifugal clutch, amazing thing. Thank you
The 2cv is a gem. Safety may be an afterthought but they are great fun to drive, super comfortable and dead reliable. If it wasn't for rust it'd be the perfect car :D.
I owned two types of 2CV from the early 80s up to the late 90s. The second one was the same as in the video (2CV-Charleston), but instead of red/black the dark/light grey version. I used it for many long time journeys to Greece, Corsica, Italy, Sicily and so on. Also here in Austria very popular among students and young people as an affordable vehicle for fun, living freedom and the easy moments of life.
The 2CV Charleston was painted to deliberately evoke the Art Deco paint schemes on 1930s Bugattis. Same colours as well - maroon/black, yellow/black, grey/black.
My wifes first car was a 2CV, she was gutted when she saw it. Didn't take long before she began to love it, we've owned many cars in the two decades since but none as fun as that 2CV. It was economic, the roll back convertible roof was fantastic, the suspension was amazing, it was a wonderful machine.
We drove a mountain pass in Switzerland with a 2cv. Got an applause when we arrived at the top of the pass. People heard the engine sound from miles for every hairpin bend we had to take. Shift back to one, make max rotations and off we went.
I can confirm that a 2cv in the mountains is not easy ;) Go skying several times in the Pyrenees when i was student, easy in the snow (even with regular tires) but noisy in the passes. i miss her today.
Ah, memory lane! Back in my student days in 1987 this Irishman drove his 400cc 2CV from West Berlin (before the wall came down) to Carlow in Ireland. It behaved impeccably except when the accelerator pedal jammed on full as I approached the West German border, and I nearly got shot by East German border guards. On a separate note, the top hemisphere of the gear lever knob unscrews, and this where I used to keep a spare IR£10 note for petrol, as the fuel gauge was stuck on full, so I always had enough money for fuel when I inevitably ran out. Ah, the bright days of my youth, as we say in Ireland. Keep up the great reviews.
I remember on a trip to Europe with my grandmother I was just as excited to take a photo one of these (same paint job even) as I was to take a picture of a Ferrari 348 GTB. And sure, it only has 29 HP but it was as much as a aluminum trash can, has a fun responsive suspension so doing 30 must feel like you are doing 80. I remember reading that the design of the car was so farmers could use it in the field in the morning and take a basket of eggs and possibly a goat to the market in the afternoon. The original interior was designed to be disassembled if you took it on a picnic with your family to give you seating.
While living in Orleans, France, in 1955, I fell in love with these cars! I don't know why. I never drove one (I was 10 years old), but I've always been fascinated with them. Some think of them as ugly, but I think they are just plain cute! Thank you for this video. It brings back some great memories, especially of driving around Paris in all that traffic!
Thanks, I enjoyed your video. Memories came back. By the way, the transmission pattern is just like old manual 3 speed American cars. The 2 CV had an overdrive added, often called 4. In the manual, you will see that the ratio of "4" is clearly an overdrive.Wait till you drive the 2CV in winter. Driving is probably much better and easier than with other cars, but even with the heater hoses attached properly, heating is hardly noticeable and rev dependent. I quickly traded mine in for a Renault 4, with a tiny water-cooled engine and a heater fan. Also the world's first hatchback. Try to find one for a future video.
we've owned 4 2CV6 years ago. they would cruise at 70mph (on the flat) flat out. When we moved to Spain with all our belongings and a 350 YPVS Yamaha we ran it for another two years but eventually sold it as having no cooling we moved on to a more conventional Citroen AX. NEVER slow for speed bumps or corners. Ted captures the basic delight of driving them. We miss our Kermit,Dolly and Charleston...4 2CVs and only replaced one clutch,one alternator apart from brakes and batteries...sadly missed!
I remember this car from James Bond movie: "For your eyes only" and it was very bizzare when Bond runs away with girl and the Mercedes was chasing him and he did it. But this chase was very fun and shows abilities of this car while Bond drives around fields and mountain roads.
I've put the thumb up before you've reached 60kmh! And even though screen one can note how smooth is the 2CV's ride! It's so smooth that it's resembling a flight over the road
I love this! When you said, 'Annnnd this is top gear', I had to stop myself from saying No wonder French people are always late. But in all seriousness, this is a lovely car with a beautiful presentation.
These sell for very, very serious money nowadays. A fully sripped and rebuilt one can set you back towards 30K Euro. A reasonably fine one with no structural rust and low mileage will do 20 to 25K. I didn't see that coming, they sold for 10K Guilders (11K for the Charleston) in tha last few years of production. That's about 4,5/5K Euros now, non-inflation corrected. Several tens of thousands of these roamed the roads in The Netherlands in the '70's, when I grew up. Almost oddly, none of the adults in my family owned one so I have little experience with them myself - but they really were abundant here. That unmistakeable engine noise is etched into my soul. Glad you liked it that much! They always bring a smile on my face whenever I see and hear one.
I drove an ex Belgian Post office version with the 421cc engine. It wasn't too fast. Basically the speed was determined by what gear you were in. The accelerator was either foot to the floor (to maintain speed) or off (stopping)
The most amazing thing is that they just keep going and you could load them with so much stuff to the point it was on the suspension stops, and it just did the job in its' own time of course.
back in the days, my friend owned a 2CV. It was fun, but my first car had to be faster, so I bought a Renault 4 with overwhelming 34HP. It also got the walking stick gear shifter. good old days....( as long you don't hit anything ) Greetings from Germany ;-)
@@jochem1986 its a modifyed bmw mororcyle engine, and they sound amazing. i get woken up by one every morning when my dad takes our 2cv to work. sounds way more powerful then it acutally is
@@XBBBBBXx no, the 2cv engine is not a modified BMW engine (and very different), but some prototypes was tested by Citroën with a BMW motorcycle engine...But on race 2cv's it's common to use BMW motorcycle engines up to 120hp...with the original gearbox!
...in the 70's I had one 2CV, 400 cc with a centrifugal clutch. When you stopped you were not compelled to use the clutch. And so easy to repair, The 4 wings were held with a simple nut and to remove the engine cover-bonnet you simply open it then slide it sideways. and also very cool to drive if there was snow without chains ! good souvenir.
my grandma always drove a red 2cv, when i was 1 years old she unfortunately passed away. My family kept the car and we still have it in perfect condition! it’s also a cabriolet! my grandparents had a little second house in the middle of france, and they’re main house was in the netherlands. we recently got a photo shoot done with the whole family in the 2cv, with my grandpa too!
This is so fun to drive. This guy is driving very carefully. One of the fantastic features with the 2CV is the cornering ability. You can corner so fast, as long as you focus on the front wheels pointing in the right direction, and do not care about the inclination of the carbody (which especially in the van version is spectacular). It will follow the front wheels. To improve acceleration, you keep the pedal to the metal, and do not let go when changing gears. Just keep the throttle down, and press the clutch for the gear change. Really so much fun.
My husband used to have one of these, at the supermarket one day it caught fire under the bonnet, he got out and extinguished the flames with his jacket, left it for 30 minutes to cool down, jumped in started it up and drove home. He loved his 2cv.
What strange vehicles would you like to see on the channel?
Any fiat abarth or maybe a Citroen ds honestly anything French is strange
Subaru Brat with the rear facing seats.
More Kei cars, I love seeing those things on our big American roads.
x1/9 perhaps, or a smart roadster
One of those German Messerschmitt microcars from the 1950s would be an unforgettable experience, guaranteed!
Honestly prefer watching tedward drive these types of cars rather than super cars/classic sports cars
I agree with u but i like all his content though
why
@@AzmiMaulanaHamdani it's quirky and attainable
I have a 2cv it's the funiest thing to drive daily
Same here
That engine sound completely bypasses my brain and goes straight to my heart.
Diana is legendary
True, it just sounds nice.
I have butterflies in my stomach listening to the 2CV. It brings back so many happy memories of when I had mine. I called him 'Stanley'. Unfortunately, someone smashed into the front of him and he was beyond repair. 😒
❤ my Peugeot 306 16v did the same music when 2 cylenders shut down because of ignition coil breakdown😂
Cheers from France ❤
@@moussochocolat779 ce tueur ptdr
Proof that you don’t need eleventy-bajillion horsepower to have huge amounts of fun behind the wheel!
Exactly. Cars like this are a different sort of fun.
Tell me about it. Twelvety bajillion is where the real fun is at.
If you think you need 1000 horsepower to have fun, go drive a go kart. Way more fun than a corvette lol
cringe
Ditto. I'm 71 yo, owned plenty of cars and the most fun I had driving was during college years , drove a VW 59 VW Bug. Just for fun I'd see how much of my errand I could drive without touching the clutch pedal. shift up, shift down, no clutch. FUN. BTW had not gas guage either. you drove til the engine starved and quit then flipped a lever on the firewall for about an extra 3 qt. of gas. All that while still rolling in traffic. You got pretty fast at that little trick. I've owned a couple sports cars too but the bug was still more fun.
You are a hundred times happier than anyone I have ever seen driving any sort of high-performance exotic on the public roads.
As a frenchman I'm so proud of our national little duck car. It was my first car and I confirm it is really comfy and pleasant to drive, and the handling is very good due to the low gravity centre. It's very reliable too. Unfortunatelly subject to rust especially the floor.
Hahaha j’aurais réellement aimé être dans cette époque où l’on pouvais trouver des 2cv pour pas cher! Mais bon les temps changent et heureusement cette époque à de belles petites voitures pour se faire la main.
Quel dommage que nos chères bagnoles ne se vendent pas aux USA... Je suis sûr que leur aspect exotique donnerait envie...
@@SkidMako Il ont vendus c'est paquet de merde au USA. Ce modèle qu'il conduit a était importe de l'usine en 1985~86. On les trouves ici a Los Angeles, de la même couleur.
Paquet de merde ?! J ai mal lu ?
@@fredpinczuk7352 Paquet de merde ?
My wife and I are Dutch and we had one in the 80's when we were students. Back then it was already quirky, but most people loved it for being super simple, out dated and unique... Very popular with students because they were dirt cheap to buy and run. The entire car could be taken apart and assembled again with three simple tools.
My mechanic has a 2cv, and I’ve borrowed it a couple of times while my own Citroën was in for service. So much fun to drive and the dashboard shifter is very intuitive after only a few minutes of driving 😃👍👍
I was intimidated by it for months before driving it... Then it was easy and fun. I felt so dumb lol
I wear the shifting scheme as a tattoo. :-)
@@marcel_2cv - I can’t match that, but I do have a t-shirt with the shift pattern printed on the front 😃
Which Citroën do you have?
@@HerrSchmitti a Citroën Xantia, so not quite a new one either 😃👍
Citroen specialized in completely revolutionary cars: the 2cv, the Traction-avant, the DS. All of them became legends.
N'oublies pas la Citroën SM !!!
@@2487Greg También el CX y el GS. (primer comentario en inglés, segundo en francés, el tercero debía ser en español, jajaja)
Not to forget the H (just H..) , the legendary hyper-light van with the bigger inside then outside properties :-)
see how many times Citroën won the WRC world championship.
renault clio 1,8 16s /williams 2.0 16s could be so much fun to test old lightweight coffin !
Citroën est tellement bon sur plein de sujet mais le confort !!!!!!!
It was my first car during 4 years exactly the same colors (rouge delage et noire) , this car was so simple and so fun.... Une autre époque et un vrai mythe in France...
Merci pour cette vidéo !
esa máquina es 3CV .
My mother's car in the late 70's !!!. I remember driving it to the Pyrénées mountains, where even in the winter I could drive it on snow or ice, passing all the other cars miserably stranded on the side of the road. One of my friends even took his from the south of France to the Artic Circle in Finland without a single problem. Great little car with that unmistakable engine sound which brings me forty years back. I miss it a lot. Thanks for this great video, and for giving your 2CV (your version was called 2CV "Charleston") a second life.
When I was a kid these cars were already amazingly anachronistic but still all over the place and they definitely have a special place in my heart! The red and black is the most beautiful of the three Charleston paint schemes if you ask me, although yellow and black is nice too.
The 2CV is to cars what BREAD is food -- it is the baseline.
Let's get it back into production and make it one of the world's transportation options.
Maybe one of the cutest cars ever made. We used to drive one of these with my family in the early nineties, here in Argentina. It was from 1976. Every ride on that car was a unique experience. You brought me lots of memories!! Thanks man!!
Don't forget the Fiat 600
Yo sabia que me iba a encontrar un argentino aca jajaj yo manejo un 3cv 1975 buenisimo auto re divertido de manejar y lo mejor? Que ahora con el calor le abro el techo y listo aire acondicionado gratiss
Yo soy uruguayo, y mi primer auto fué un 3 CV de 1978, en 1984. En 2015 volví a tener uno nuevamente, jaja!!!
@@agusc8243 De chico lo odiaba, pero éstos últimos años estuve queriendo uno, lástima que no paran de subir de precio! Autazo!
@@herejust4cars723 pasa que ya son considerados clasicos y en buen estado quedan pocos
Just had a Burton Big Bore 652cc engine plus Power Tube installed in my 1990 Charleston in Australia. Engine, new clutch, new rear brakes, LED tail lights imported from Holland.
No more slowing down on hills.
I have owned mine for 33 years and 185,000 miles from new.
Joyous motoring.
Owned 2CV6s for 45 years.
Due to the totally different traffic situation in France there are some good reasons, why they made the dog leg shift: 1. if the 2CV sticks on a muddy road, you can change between 1st an reverse quickly and swing the car out of the mud. 2. they have lots of windy roads, narrow cities and villages and nearly no stoplight crossings but lots of roundabouts. So most of the time you need only second and third gear for driving. Because of this it makes sense and is much easier to drive having second and third gear in one line.
All these roundabouts are the reason why the indicator does not shift off automatically. Because in a roundabout it always shifts in a wrong moment ;)
This unique sound, this feel, you can not be unhappy when driving this car. It is so unique and well loved. It was my first car, and my most beloved car.
Congrats on getting some sponsorship Ted! Definitely would love to see more strange ancient euro stuff, we really made some amazing stuff back in the day.
Thanks! This month I took on a couple sponsors which is really exciting, but I'm doing my best to not let it interfere with the content. The videos are king.
@@TedwardDrives You manage to fit the sponsored bits in clean and well so think you're doing a great job of it man! If you're ever in the UK and want to film a Rover 75 Touring cdti lmk would love to see you review it haha
Man, I’ve watched this video for at least 20 times! Always been very fond of the 2CV and even did a presentation about cars, standing in a 2cv, in school when I was like 9 years old.
This video made me fulfill a wish of mine to own one myself, so I’ve bought the exact same car as this one last week.
Many thanks again for this video!!!
Drove an 2CV 6 months ago for my 22nd birthday. It was such a cool experience. I can recommend it to everybody to drive some old car, it makes you appreciate the simple things in normal cars way more!
Caught a ride in one from Patras to Corinth in Greece in 1974 and fell in love with them. The seat was a very comfortable cloth sling and, if you wanted to, you could take it out for picnics.
My first car - absolutely loved it! So comfortable for even a long journey (London - Geneva 3 times) Kept up with motorway traffic fine - especially with a bit of slip-streaming!
Watching you drive the 2CV I can’t really help but smile.
Had one years ago and simply loved it. Never had any real issues with it apart from the heater. As standard it comes with two settings...... cold and ice cold.👍😎
You can get a tepid upgrade for the heater, and added with a blanket over the knees and a nice hat you can keep your body temperature above what could be considered dangerous.
So much more to them than you showed - side window operation, roof opening positions, headlamp height adjustment, ventilation slat, removable seats, bolt-on panels and bumoers... all made for a simple but fantastic car!
I love the excitement over every car.
From EVs to track cars to this ... I don't know what to call this loveable thing, but the genuine appreciation for driving is a treat to watch.
My gramps had one of these, it was amazing. The Renault 4 is amazing as well.
As students we drove one of these in the late 60's from Belgium through France and Spain and back - three of us and eventually we picked up a fourth. On climbing some relatively steep hills in France two of us got out and at that a horse cart passed us on the way up. We all absolutely loved this car. No one who hasn't been in one can imagine how comfortable the ride was. You did a lot of bouncing up and down but it was never harsh. Maybe we were in the 12-13 hp range - don't know. But if we were fortunate we could go down hill up to 70-80 kph. I'd love to have one today.
And, never forget : it's impossible to get stuck with "overboiling" water, like it's happening in even the most expensive cars (which I see most often on the emergency sider of the motorway... lol ... hood open and steaming). An air cooled engine "just goes on forever". 🙂
engine still can overheat though
@@andreyavramov9326 You will need to be an "expert-rough driver" to ever get at that point.... lol
Ok I om
@@Wig4 omega
The offroad qualities of the 2CV are astonishing. It's unbelievable how it goes through mud and sand without getting stuck.
“Let’s see if i can get out of it.. sh*t” - Tedward 2021 okt 22.
litterally all the people i know trying to get out of the back of a 2cv for the first time. its even meaner when the little plastic ledge breaks off and you cant even see there there is a moving part there
@@XBBBBBXx several French old cars had door latches hidden or placed at odd locations. They figured it out in the mid 80's.
Getting out of a Dyane (more modern-looking 2CV derivative) is even trickier. The door handles are hidden away out of sight under the top of the door trims. I used to have one and one of my favourite pastimes was sitting someone in it and seeing how long it took them to work out how to get out again. But I always used to show passengers where the door handles were in case I crashed and the car burst into flames. Not so funny then!
I'm dutch and bought an old Dyane (a very slightly fancier version of the 2cv) a few years ago when i was 17. I've driven this thing tens of thousands of kilometers, and it's never let me down. And the beauty of it is its simplicity. When i bought it, i had never worked on anything more complicated than a bicycle. But because the car was designed with home-repairs in mind, i could very intuitively learn to work on it with almost no former knowledge at all. Everything is so simple and so easy to work on. The most joyful car to drive in the world. like you said, It truly is a little friend.
That steering wheel design is amazing. The whole interior really. I'm more impressed with this than all the crappy plastic in new interiors (looking at your Mercedes).
They have something similar in the newer C series with the fixed centre wheel. But in terms of being a ring with no obstructions, that old design is nice
Apuesto a que prohibieron que Solo tuviera un sostén en el volante y que ahora por norma tenga 3 😅
there is literally 0 interior in the car what are you talking about 😂
I believe it was designed by Panhard to be fitted to Dyane which was meant to replace 2CV but didn't really. Notice there's no Citroen logo or the double chevron. Not all 2CV6 models have that but a different two spoke design. I believe the original idea of the single spoke wheel was that in the event of head on crash the steering wheel would bend away from you. That's why the spoke pointed away from you when straight ahead. Maybe this was positioned like this from factory or not.
It is actually very nice to see an American who know how to use a manual gear. The almost invisible pause in neutral between gears show care and understanding of how a normal gearbox works. Thank You.
Some think it is just a push-pull as-hard-as-you-can thing with little or no understanding of what is going on under that.
Ahh The Deux Chevaux!! When I was in school 35 years ago, a teacher had one of these cars. The 2CV is a simple car with so much character and soul. So much more than the sum of any parts. The 2CV just makes you smile.
Doug DeMuro would be going on about quirks and features for days!!
Funny you should say that. I used to have one, and I was stopped by the police because I had a tail light out. The officer thought I was a teacher. They had an image as a car driven by people like teachers.
Sttange Doug didn't review that little odd french car yet.
Those quirky French....Says Doug DeMuro!
I've always admired the Citroën, both the 2CV-series and the cx2000-series. I saw many Citroën in Holland, very rarely in the US, but am always happy to see them when I do. Thank you for taking us for a cruise and for the great point of view from the inside.
That Citroen car book on the passenger floorboard is a perfect touch.
I rode as a child in several 2CVs my parents owned in the 60s, and then drove a few I could get a hold of in the 70s. Still some can still be seen in my city (Santiago, Chile) but mostly in club rides or vintage shows. A fun and extraordinary vehicle, which opposed twin cylinder soundtrack captured nicely in this video brings so much sweet memories back. Thanks
Is it just me who gets a real kick by seeing you Ted driving these sweet old things, AND enjoying it, even more so than when on a 400hp beast?!
I am French and I am 62 years old, when you started the engine of the 2ch that the French affectionately call "deudeuche", I immediately recognized the typical noise of this emblematic car of the Citroën brand, this noise is so particular that it smells of France, the France of the countryside, because this car was very common in the French countryside, even by the postal services with the commercial version or for the small craftsmen...
The Charleston is the last version manufactured until 1990, it is also the most successful in terms of comfort, compared to the first versions much more rustic!
This car was also the car of the cities and of the youth, a very economic car in gas consumption, very reliable, very easy to maintain and repair, very funny and amusing to drive, a simple car where one took the time to live, there would be so many things to tell about this mythical car, One thing is sure, this car like the DS or the SM of Citroën are models which engraved the mark in the Pantheon of the history of the world automobile and are the best ambassadors of the "French touch" for a very long time, because timeless, a true machine to go up the time! !!!😀
@@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 Cool, I am E.T from Earth !!!🤣
@@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 Under your feet!😉😊
@@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 yes and I am sister Teresa of the earth!!!🤭🤭🤭🤔😊
@@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 The earth is 220 million km from Mars😊
@@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536 yes, the solar system is small compared to the Universe, we will see you soon, have a good trip dear Marsian !
Bye😊
I drove these cars for years. You're right, they re a joy to drive. The trick is to keep the revs up and don't slow down for the bends. That suspension is brilliant. They'll do 70 MPH all day lomg. (75 down a hill.) My only complaint - the windscreen fogs up in wet weather. That aside, the most fun I ever had in motor cars.
This was fun to see. Thanks for taking us along.
One day Daddy Doug is going to say: “This…is a Citroen 2CV, and it is one of the longest running and iconic vehicles ever made, and today, I’m going to review it”
"daddy doug?" come on man
My dad used to drive one, when he lived in France. I enjoyed seeing this video! :-)
Ahah so nice, French dude tip on a 2cv, if the little retainers for the flap window are worn, watch your fingers when closing the door. It's the automatic closing window (on your fingers) feature. That engine noise is so unique, lots of memories from childhood
you dont even need the little flaps on top. if you are going fast enougth the window will stay open all by itself
The windows fall down only on older 2cv's with rubber locks, the last years was a fitted with a efficient and very simple lock
@@leneanderthalien even the plastic ones with the little wire wear out after 20 years
In highschool one of my mates had a newer but very similar one Diane.And we were driving around in summer ,roof down, weed,just pure fun. I will never forget that.Now 30 years later I realised that was true Freedom.
I remember school swimming parties in the 80's, having a friend's parent show up with a 2CV and already 6 kids in it (2 in the passenger seat, 4 in the back seat) with the inviting gesture and a "hop in!" call for a 30 mins drive to the swimming pool. Yeah... totally safe....
I remember all the sounds and quirks of these cars while watching this. Even back then they had their own appeal for already being different and obviously dated. But it was the character and their incredibly low prices that kept them popular in Europe. One of the running jokes was that you could take them apart with a single flat head screwdriver, which wasn't too far from the truth. The other was that if you took a typical European roundabout fast enough, you could touch the pavement with your hand outside the window, with the car just short from tipping over.
That benefit of them being cheap fell apart when prices started to skyrocket with good ones becoming more and more rare and hand in hand with that the availability of spare parts, which was one of its strengths in earlier days. Combine that with an increased interest in classical character cars in general and you have an investment object.
If only there were still more around, or I would be a proud owner of one myself. Just for the fun of driving it. Having moved to California a few years ago, I do get a real kick out of those rare sightings of these fun Frenchies. I could have been that runner giving the thumbs up...
2cv-drivers would say: It was safe. A 2cv is so slow, it has not even arrived when an accident happens. :-D I prefer to not crash it anyway. ;-)
@@marcel_2cv oye! i know that one! also dont forget about people cant stop talking about the fact that you cant tip over the 2cv on flat ground.
don't go slow on speed bumpers, it's a Citroën ! 😃
I love 2cv, my dad had one, my wife's dad still has one (same model as the one in your video) ; iconic french car !
Its interesting how citroen is famous for reliability on europe but in Brazil they famous for being the most unreliable things, and peugeot too, vws and 90s-00s opels are loved here tho
@@Joel_Junior_cantor Citroen is not famous for reliability in Europe, it's just not that hard to fix and it has very comfortable suspension.
My uncle used to have one of these, and he'd take speedbumps at full speed, no problem.
I love the fact that you share not only the driving experience but also the history of the car in these videos
1977....my first car 2CV and Adidas "Universal"...best period of my life...legends...
I loved the enthusiasm of this driver. His excitement made me smile.
Thank you ! Being a frenchman myself, this Charleston edition in burgundy is my favorite followed by the Grey/light grey Charleston edition. I've never owned one but I drive a '03 Chevy Tahoe. Go Figure. XD
Thanks for this POV video I fell liek I was driving it. The engine purring nicely in the background is a joy to hear.
Thanks again.
Thanks for watching Tom!
i just love how simple yet brilliant the engineering behind this is
Flat two air cooled... the sound is near the classic 911 🙂
The doors, if you remove the door stop straps and open them fully can simply slide up and off, all four of them. The trunk lid and hood also slide off.
The fenders unbolt with a single bolt using the wheel wrench.
You can also use the wheel wrench to hand start the engine if you have a flat battery.
The seats, all three, unclip and come out so you can sit on them out of the car, also the trunk lid can be propped open to be used as a table and with the seats you can all sit round for a meal.. the perfect picnic car.
I drove a 2CV6 Special for 2 years when I lived in CH in the early nineties. It was such an easy car to work on, having no mechanical experience, I was easily able to replace the entire exhaust system(we used a friends' tow motor to lift the car). I loved and hated that car, but it was a lot of fun to drive. I really enjoyed inconveniencing bmw drivers(they're r-souls in Europe too) as I could only ascend the mountains in 2nd gear.
I love the raw driving experience old cars give and noises they make.
Worked at a Citroen specialist for 10 years and I love these.
They brake very well due to the inboard brakes but could be a pain to replace.
Buying a 2cv now is big money but I would sell my kidney for one now
Ah, the 2CV or as we knew it in Chile, a "Citroneta". My parents had one back in the day and used it pretty much for everything... moving parcels, family trips, market runs, etc.
en españa es el "dos caballos", y el Citroen 4L es el "cuatro latas", todavía se pueden ver bastantes, sobretodo dos caballos
I remember seeing 2CV in my native France, and the Charleston was always my favorite model. One of my backburner dreams/projects would be to own one. Maybe someday. I was impressed with how quickly it reached speeds of 60 to 70 km/h (40 to 45 mph). I think that was the idea - keep the classic look while gradually increasing the power over the years, at least enough to enable people to drive on _routes_ _nationales_ (roughly analogous to what we'd call county or state highways here in the States), and to a lesser degree _autoroutes_ i.e. highways/expressways. And it definitely seems like loads of fun to drive. Thanks for posting!
Had a couple of 2 CV’s and a Dyane 6 when I was young. Very cheap to run, comfortable and great fun to drive. Always liked the roll back roof which was great in the summer and didn’t leak. Great little cars !
The Dyane usually came in green.
@@martinmcdonald4207 Mine was a light beige, never saw a green one in U.K. that I can remember. Just found a pic on the Internet though and it looks great. One of my 2CVs was in this green, my wife called it Kermit.
I’ve started to drive on a orange Dyane 😄
Nice video. In 1988 this was my first car as a 19 year old boy. Exactly the same Charleston. When i hear the engine i go back in time 33 years immediately 😊
I love this car and the ride is exceptional! My very first car 40-odd years ago was a Renault 4 and my dad had a Citroen GS. I drove lots of Citroen’s including the 2CV, Ami and Dyane and I loved all Citroens when they were still an innovative car company. Sadly they no longer are.
I love slow manual cars. My grandma owns a 1983 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia with the 1.9L Water-cooled H4 making a muscular 80 HP paired to the 4 speed manual with just 62,000 miles. It's slow as hell, reaching 60 in over 25 seconds but it's just a blast to drive around the scenic Massachusetts roads.
It's crazy that whole familys took these on summer vacations
Tons of european familys still go on vacation in their Volkswagen Golfs so it's actually not that crazy, especially when you consider that back then people didn't used to have as much stuff as we have nowadays...
It's crazier that people drop their one child off at the school across from my house in their bloated Escalades etc
@@Roger_Ramjet yeah
@@Roger_Ramjet if you assume that's there's only child
i did that, quite alot in my childhood. cozyest rear seats in any car
My old teacher also owns a 2CV in the same color as yours,
And the mortor sound give me goosebumps
Thanks for this brilliant video. I live in rural France (but only for the last few years), and there are still quite a number of 2cvs around, but they have become rarer, and much more expensive to buy. I owned 2 when I lived in the UK, and I absolutely loved them, however there were a few drawbacks. The design is awesome, and the engine was built from first class steel, and, as you said, it is very reliable. In the past they advertised in the UK that their cruising speed was 70mph - around 113 kph - and on a well surfaced highway that felt just fine. 30 years ago I used to run regularly on British on motorways at 70mph, which felt fine, but the noise was intense. I would not drive a 2cv on any motorway now because traffic speeds are so much faster these days. My top speed was 90mph, going on a long downhill with the wind behind me on my way from Glasgow to Edinburgh. But at that speed the suspension reacted powerfully to every tiny crack in the road surface, and the steering felt slightly unstable, so I slowed down. Wind resistance make a huge difference to speed, but my car would run in all weathers, if had I managed to start it (get electronic ignition, or change your spark plug leads every year - and make sure you have a spare coil on board). The design of the car is wonderful, but the build quality - especially of later models - was less good: rust was always a big problem. Having said all that, I'm hoping to buy another example sometime within the next 2 years when funds permit. It won't just be for fun, but also as an investment: good, well restored examples don't lose their value. Nothing beats this car for sheer joy, and you captured that so well in this video. (A special thanks for getting the Haynes manual in the video frame :) ) Thanks for being such an enthusiast!
I should add that I just love that "sewing machine" sound of a 2cv moving off...
I have driven this exact one and its super fun. Only we added a conical air filter and the thing keeps on going. Such a fun little car to own
I had two of those consecutively in my youth, much older ones than the "charleston" type you feature here, and I really loved them. One thing you should know: When you drive that thing hard, turning the steering wheel in haste with all your might, you may accidentally slice open your fingers on the ledge of the vent below your windscreen...
Damn! You brought those cuts to my mind...!
😬😬😬 Happened to me a couple of times...nasty cuts!
You brought me so much memories with this car, I grew up surrounded by these type of cars, including the Renault 4l, 4s, Citroen AMI 8, etc., my first car on my teens was 1956 Citroen 2CV square, made in Chile, probably had 12 HP and a centrifugal clutch, amazing thing.
Thank you
Great video, great car! But never ever slow down for speed bumps! These cars are fantastic to drive over speed bumps.
I had one of those in my collge years. Loved it. Downhill, it´went up to 80mph!
The 2cv is a gem. Safety may be an afterthought but they are great fun to drive, super comfortable and dead reliable. If it wasn't for rust it'd be the perfect car :D.
I owned two types of 2CV from the early 80s up to the late 90s. The second one was the same as in the video (2CV-Charleston), but instead of red/black the dark/light grey version. I used it for many long time journeys to Greece, Corsica, Italy, Sicily and so on. Also here in Austria very popular among students and young people as an affordable vehicle for fun, living freedom and the easy moments of life.
Looks like Bugatti took some styling cues from this car. That “C” shape on the doors is just like the Chiron.
You've got it wrong, Bugatti had that paint scheme since the early 30's (Type55, Royale, Type46...etc).
The 2CV Charleston was painted to deliberately evoke the Art Deco paint schemes on 1930s Bugattis. Same colours as well - maroon/black, yellow/black, grey/black.
It's something so special when driving an old car or motorbike people wave and smile or give a thumb's up 😊
My wifes first car was a 2CV, she was gutted when she saw it. Didn't take long before she began to love it, we've owned many cars in the two decades since but none as fun as that 2CV. It was economic, the roll back convertible roof was fantastic, the suspension was amazing, it was a wonderful machine.
We drove a mountain pass in Switzerland with a 2cv. Got an applause when we arrived at the top of the pass. People heard the engine sound from miles for every hairpin bend we had to take. Shift back to one, make max rotations and off we went.
I can confirm that a 2cv in the mountains is not easy ;) Go skying several times in the Pyrenees when i was student, easy in the snow (even with regular tires) but noisy in the passes. i miss her today.
Ah, memory lane! Back in my student days in 1987 this Irishman drove his 400cc 2CV from West Berlin (before the wall came down) to Carlow in Ireland. It behaved impeccably except when the accelerator pedal jammed on full as I approached the West German border, and I nearly got shot by East German border guards. On a separate note, the top hemisphere of the gear lever knob unscrews, and this where I used to keep a spare IR£10 note for petrol, as the fuel gauge was stuck on full, so I always had enough money for fuel when I inevitably ran out. Ah, the bright days of my youth, as we say in Ireland. Keep up the great reviews.
I remember on a trip to Europe with my grandmother I was just as excited to take a photo one of these (same paint job even) as I was to take a picture of a Ferrari 348 GTB. And sure, it only has 29 HP but it was as much as a aluminum trash can, has a fun responsive suspension so doing 30 must feel like you are doing 80. I remember reading that the design of the car was so farmers could use it in the field in the morning and take a basket of eggs and possibly a goat to the market in the afternoon. The original interior was designed to be disassembled if you took it on a picnic with your family to give you seating.
While living in Orleans, France, in 1955, I fell in love with these cars! I don't know why. I never drove one (I was 10 years old), but I've always been fascinated with them. Some think of them as ugly, but I think they are just plain cute! Thank you for this video. It brings back some great memories, especially of driving around Paris in all that traffic!
*WOW I love to see a 2CV in USA!!! That car is really fun!!* 😇👍
My mother had one in the 80s, it was
It ran on 1 cylinder for a whole winter and yet it started every morning. Unbeatable
Thanks, I enjoyed your video. Memories came back. By the way, the transmission pattern is just like old manual 3 speed American cars. The 2 CV had an overdrive added, often called 4. In the manual, you will see that the ratio of "4" is clearly an overdrive.Wait till you drive the 2CV in winter. Driving is probably much better and easier than with other cars, but even with the heater hoses attached properly, heating is hardly noticeable and rev dependent. I quickly traded mine in for a Renault 4, with a tiny water-cooled engine and a heater fan. Also the world's first hatchback. Try to find one for a future video.
we've owned 4 2CV6 years ago. they would cruise at 70mph (on the flat) flat out. When we moved to Spain with all our belongings and a 350 YPVS Yamaha we ran it for another two years but eventually sold it as having no cooling we moved on to a more conventional Citroen AX. NEVER slow for speed bumps or corners. Ted captures the basic delight of driving them. We miss our Kermit,Dolly and Charleston...4 2CVs and only replaced one clutch,one alternator apart from brakes and batteries...sadly missed!
I remember this car from James Bond movie: "For your eyes only" and it was very bizzare when Bond runs away with girl and the Mercedes was chasing him and he did it. But this chase was very fun and shows abilities of this car while Bond drives around fields and mountain roads.
The 2CV in the movie had a 1220cc engine from the Citroen GS.
The chasing cars were Peugeot 504.
I've put the thumb up before you've reached 60kmh! And even though screen one can note how smooth is the 2CV's ride! It's so smooth that it's resembling a flight over the road
I love this! When you said, 'Annnnd this is top gear', I had to stop myself from saying No wonder French people are always late. But in all seriousness, this is a lovely car with a beautiful presentation.
These sell for very, very serious money nowadays. A fully sripped and rebuilt one can set you back towards 30K Euro. A reasonably fine one with no structural rust and low mileage will do 20 to 25K. I didn't see that coming, they sold for 10K Guilders (11K for the Charleston) in tha last few years of production. That's about 4,5/5K Euros now, non-inflation corrected.
Several tens of thousands of these roamed the roads in The Netherlands in the '70's, when I grew up. Almost oddly, none of the adults in my family owned one so I have little experience with them myself - but they really were abundant here. That unmistakeable engine noise is etched into my soul.
Glad you liked it that much! They always bring a smile on my face whenever I see and hear one.
I drove an ex Belgian Post office version with the 421cc engine. It wasn't too fast. Basically the speed was determined by what gear you were in. The accelerator was either foot to the floor (to maintain speed) or off (stopping)
The most amazing thing is that they just keep going and you could load them with so much stuff to the point it was on the suspension stops, and it just did the job in its' own time of course.
I had 3 of them, (71' 74' and Charlston from 87' ) the most loved car in my life.
back in the days, my friend owned a 2CV. It was fun, but my first car had to be faster, so I bought a Renault 4 with overwhelming 34HP. It also got the walking stick gear shifter. good old days....( as long you don't hit anything )
Greetings from Germany ;-)
My dad had a couple of 2CVs in the 80's. In fact, I learnt to drive in one of them. Lovely memories.
Sounds surprisingly good for an old 2 cylinder!
Carbs will do that!
@@jochem1986 its a modifyed bmw mororcyle engine, and they sound amazing. i get woken up by one every morning when my dad takes our 2cv to work. sounds way more powerful then it acutally is
@@XBBBBBXx no, the 2cv engine is not a modified BMW engine (and very different), but some prototypes was tested by Citroën with a BMW motorcycle engine...But on race 2cv's it's common to use BMW motorcycle engines up to 120hp...with the original gearbox!
Too many memories , 2cv , 3cv, Diane 6 , and Amy 8 club .. best car ever !!
Omg is there any other french viewers? Or i'm the only one happy to see that piece of my country's legacy in America😂
T'inquiète, on à tous kiffé
You're not the only one 😀 it was so much fun to watch actually 😄
Pendant ce temps là on a Hidalgo...
Tkt, c'est pas la dernière voiture française qu'il essaiera !
The 2CV is to cars what BREAD is food -- it is the baseline.
Let's get it back into production and make it one of the world's transportation options.
...in the 70's I had one 2CV, 400 cc with a centrifugal clutch. When you stopped you were not compelled to use the clutch. And so easy to repair, The 4 wings were held with a simple nut and to remove the engine cover-bonnet you simply open it then slide it sideways. and also very cool to drive if there was snow without chains ! good souvenir.
Im new to driving, so watching u drive cars is just so satisfying for me :) keep up the good work love ur vids
Thank you!!
my grandma always drove a red 2cv, when i was 1 years old she unfortunately passed away. My family kept the car and we still have it in perfect condition! it’s also a cabriolet! my grandparents had a little second house in the middle of france, and they’re main house was in the netherlands. we recently got a photo shoot done with the whole family in the 2cv, with my grandpa too!
Last thing I thought I would see today. You nailed the review! Great observations. We should have driven down some steps or something?
This is so fun to drive. This guy is driving very carefully. One of the fantastic features with the 2CV is the cornering ability. You can corner so fast, as long as you focus on the front wheels pointing in the right direction, and do not care about the inclination of the carbody (which especially in the van version is spectacular). It will follow the front wheels. To improve acceleration, you keep the pedal to the metal, and do not let go when changing gears. Just keep the throttle down, and press the clutch for the gear change. Really so much fun.
OMG that thing is so cool!! I would totally drive it on a daily basis!
We still see lot of them in France... the price is huge... 10K euro
My husband used to have one of these, at the supermarket one day it caught fire under the bonnet, he got out and extinguished the flames with his jacket, left it for 30 minutes to cool down, jumped in started it up and drove home. He loved his 2cv.