Mystery car collection thread..... It’s a 2CV!!

[Floatylight]

This is the winningest of winning Fred's for ages! Gr8 result M9!

Looks factory fresh..

[LoftyvRS]

That's a positive outcome right there!

[motorpunk]

Magnificent! Lovely car.

[greengartside]

Bloody hell Tim, what a find that is! Remarkably straight as well.
 

I can almost hear @dollywobblercursing under his breath.

[Sham]

That is just a fantastic result. It looks mintier than a Trebor

[Supernaut]

Woo! I was right.

 

That's a proper result!

[Lankytim]

59 minutes ago, greengartside said:

Bloody hell Tim, what a find that is! Remarkably straight as well.
 

I can almost hear @dollywobblercursing under his breath.

Well it does have some corrosion, both rear seat belt mounts are rotten but I can’t find rot anywhere else. 

The inside is an amazing place to be!  It’s about as basic as you could imagine. 

[Soundwave]

Still, even with those little bits of rot it's an absolute cracker and way more intact than one could reasonably expect it to be.

If someone told me there was a 2CV that had been in a garage for 25 years, I'd consider taking a dustpan and brush to collect it with.

[Lankytim]

12 minutes ago, Soundwave said:

Still, even with those little bits of rot it's an absolute cracker and way more intact than one could reasonably expect it to be.

If someone told me there was a 2CV that had been in a garage for 25 years, I'd consider taking a dustpan and brush to collect it with.

Gerard, the previous owner was a 2CV nut and had a couple before this one. He had them meticulously maintained and parked this one up after an operation apparently. The garage was nice and dry with wooden doors both ends which allowed air to circulate. I think it’s barely deteriorated while it was stored. I’m very lucky as it could’ve been in a right state when I opened the door. 
 

The spare wheel looks hardly used and that boot floor… no welding required here…

[Spiny Norman]

You jammy sod, 2CVs are ace! 😍

[MiniMinorMk3]

Tidy looking tin snail.

[big_al_granvia]

that is splendid, look forward to the resto

[Macscrooge]

😮 what a great find!  Well done sir!

[Sunny Jim]

What are lucky man you are! First you disconnected a gas cooker without blowing anything up and now this! Congratulations, hope it brings you much joy.

[Rightnider]

Fantastic! 

[Cavcraft]

Class!  

[WillCarter]

Fantastic, that looks an absolute peach all things considered too.

[sporty-shite]

Proper result.  Well played. 

With luck like this, put a ticket on the lottery. 

[Lankytim]

Dad wasn’t too sure about leaving this on his drive as it might get interfered with. It towed fine on the dolly so decided to drag it back up to Stoke. It was all pretty uneventful. I don’t miss Birmingham inner ring road in rush hour though. I’m glad to be back in Stoke where sanity prevails! 

[Spottedlaurel]

Enjoyed reading about this one today, well done! Heartwarming stuff, this could so easily have gone the other way and you've have heard about it just after it'd been given to the scrapman or some flipper.

An honest, interesting car in decent condition, with good parts availability and club support, what's not to like?.....

[stuboy]

well done.......

[eddyramrod]

I'm not even a 2CV fan and I'm impressed.  Well done Tim!

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Lankytim said:

Dad wasn’t too sure about leaving this on his drive as it might get interfered with. It towed fine on the dolly so decided to drag it back up to Stoke. It was all pretty uneventful. I don’t miss Birmingham inner ring road in rush hour though. I’m glad to be back in Stoke where sanity prevails! 

Probably a wise suggestion. Lucky Bastard!

[Back_For_More]

I held off commenting as it's difficult through gritted teeth over t'internet. 

That is a great result - glad you were tipped off before it disappeared into flipper territory. 

When's the first engine start? 😉

[Lankytim]

11 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Enjoyed reading about this one today, well done! Heartwarming stuff, this could so easily have gone the other way and you've have heard about it just after it'd been given to the scrapman or some flipper.

 

32 minutes ago, Back_For_More said:

 

That is a great result - glad you were tipped off before it disappeared into flipper territory. 

When's the first engine start? 😉

The family dealing with the house aren’t into old cars apparently and need the house clearing for sale ASAP and after some discussion on what to do with this 2CV it was mentioned that if I didn’t take it then it would’ve ended up scrapped, although I can’t imagine that would’ve really happened. Surely someone would’ve saved it at some point. 
 

If I get chance I’m washing the dust off and sticking a battery on it today. I could do with it running as I’ve been loaned a garage it can live in for a few months and the garage is up a sloped driveway. 

[WillCarter]

I find it incredible that their second option was to simply scrap it. Even if you're not a car person, 30 seconds on eBay would tell you it's worth the minimum of effort to sell it on. 

[Lankytim]

1 hour ago, WillCarter said:

I find it incredible that their second option was to simply scrap it. Even if you're not a car person, 30 seconds on eBay would tell you it's worth the minimum of effort to sell it on. 

The people named in the will live abroad and are pretty well off by all accounts. For them it just wasn't worth the effort, especially if it holds up the house sale. 

[Dave_Q]

When we say it would have ended up scrapped, it would have ended up on eBay for £3000 being sold by a breakers yard

[Lankytim]

3 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

When we say it would have ended up scrapped, it would have ended up on eBay for £3000 being sold by a breakers yard

You're probably correct there but it wouldn't be the first time a nice garage find has found itself going over the bridge.  

I spent some quality time tinkering with the tin snail today.

I haven't got it running yet, although the engine spins over quite nicely, there doesn't appear to be a spark. I didn't have time to investigate properly and instead gave it a quick wash to remove the dust from storage  and fixed a couple of locks that didn't work properly. The boot handle was just spinning around and so was the passenger front door handle. After watching one of HubNut's informative videos I took both the locks out, cleaned them up and got them working. The 2CV is now "secure" as in all the doors and the boot lid all lock/unlock and open correctly- I say "secure" as it looks like a very easy car to break in to. I bet it would take a matter of seconds to pull a window open or peel the bootlid up at the corner or something. 

After doing some research I've found that this 2CV6 was probably built at the Mangualde factory in Portugal.  There are a few subtle signs like the glass being stamped with Corvina instead of Saint-Gobain, body coloured  front door hinges instead of black and a Citroen badge on the bootlid without the famous chevrons.  The Portuguese cars are not meant to be as good as the French ones but I've no idea if there's any truth to that.

I was told that the cars name was "The Pickler", I did find a small bag with a couple of bulbs inside which mentioned it's nickname and raised a smile. The owner was a bit of a character by all accounts, I'll try and find out some more about him.

Also, can anyone tell me how a "2CV6" is differs from a "2CV?

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, Lankytim said:

Also, can anyone tell me how a "2CV6" is differs from a "2CV?

The 2CV6 used the bigger 602cc engine first seen in 1965 as a special option; it was then badged as such when it became a separate model from 1970 on with improved trim and lighting, to distinguish it from the cheaper 2CV4 which used the smaller 435cc unit.

I think only the 2CV6 was ever sold in the UK.