The floorpan is a sore spot on the 2CV, but specialists will sell you a galvanised one. In fact, such is the popularity of them, you can buy pretty much everything for them, so if you had the money and inclination, you could, for all intents and purposes, build a new one.

As for your last comment, that is not strictly true!. No, the 2CV is not, by any stretch of the imagination, quick, but it is very light and does have truly exceptional roadholding. The extremely soft and supple suspension means that the tyres are always in contact with the road. This, combined with the lack of weight means that despite the skinny 125 section tyres, it is virtually impossible to lose grip and having 29bhp means that it actually is impossible to lose traction. This means you can drive the 2CV flat out pretty much anywhere (if you are brave enough to trust that it won't tip over despite the alarming lean on corners!), getting round the impossibility of going 'fast' by simply never going slow!. And the little air cooled motor, like the one in the beetle, is designed to be driven flat out for long periods without suffering any ill effects.

Vive la France!

My Dad had a new R4 1.1 Van in 1981 which had holes in the floor by 86. It was utterly reliable and quirky as hell but the 86 D reg Renault Extra 1.4 which replaced it lasted until 2000 with no major failures, shame the same couldn't be said about the Kangoo 1.9 that followed or the Kangoo 1.5 dci which came next. No further Renaults followed on as I switched to VW and a hassle free life.

Fantastic SLO!, the R4 van, or 'fourgonnette' was another brilliant piece of French design, total practicality, totally fit for purpose!. I remember having a die cast 'majorette' (French equivalent of matchbox) toy version as a kid. Happy days!.

In the late sixties I went to an event where, as I remember it, anyone could have a drive around on an off-road military test track. It was very up and down, plus very muddy. Two particular cars really stood out because they just kept going - a 2CV and a Ford Y.

Of course citroen themselves went and took that to the next stage by putting a 2nd engine in there. Wasn't a success though, much too tricky trying to mate up the 2 manual gearboxes with one gear lever!.

I would have thought they could have breezed a simple thing like that, they did make the DS and that was a very complicated car for the 1950's.

As I've got older I have grown to like the 2CV for what it is. I wouldn't mind the van version of one.