A car crazy motor fanatic has converted his crusty old Citroen 2CV into a stretch Limousine - to make room for his seven-strong family.
tinyurl.com/2z57ty (shortened link to www.dailymail.co.uk)
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Bizarre, but not without charm, and looks like a decent engineering job. Performance must be a bit stately but then it is with a standard 2CV as well.
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Isn't "The Citroen 2CV was my first car when I was 17 so I have had them ever since" something of a non sequitur?
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Well he says it is 'souped up' but 602cc(?) pulling the car with 7 people in it is not going to be anywhere near fun to drive.
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It might easily be terrific fun AS. Name of the game with 2CVs is maintaining momentum at all costs, including dramatic roll angles. Every mph exiting a bend saves several seconds off your journey.
One must hope that the brakes on this elongated device are up to the mark. You need them sometimes driving a 2CV.
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Each to their own Lud! Grooving the road with my door handles is not my idea of fun, well not any more! Goes downstairs to check bus pass is still in wallet!
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With 7 people and the extra weight of the extension, progress must be positively pedestrian! He will surely need to drop a 1015 or 1220cc flat four engine from a GS in (and extend the front a little), like they did in the yellow one in James Bond 'The Spy Who Loved Me'.
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needs an sva that thing,according to the dvla it hasnt had one
wonder what the engineers report said prior to insuring it
bah humbug
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from the artical
"We then added parts from a scrapped 2CV to fit in the middle and put a new engine in and generally strengthened up all the suspension. The limo also has a new chassis, chrome bumpers and alloy wheels. '
Maybe the new engine is something more than the usall 2CV unit - I hope so!
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Torque means nothing without RPM
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registered as a whole 602cc at swansea mk124
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did i mention i once took one of those things for a test and it only passed on the horn
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Can't see it being to great in a crash, surely?
I saw a stretched 740 estate - ex funeral director. Totally standard, but with about 30" let in for the extra row of seats. Think it only had the one pair of rear doors. Great for large families, but a bit unwieldy in a car-park.
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Can't see it being to great in a crash surely? Unlike an ordinary short 2CV you mean ly? :o)
It must be clear to everyone that no aftermarket stretch job is going to improve a car from the driver's point of view. Stretched cars are horrible in principle and one would assume nearly always in practice.
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Unlike an ordinary short 2CV you mean ly? :o)
Indeed - my point - 2CV bad enough, but add weight (bear in mind that KE=MV squared over 2) and it gets pretty horrid.
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While on the subject of special 2CVs, how about a 2CV 4x4?
One of my colleagues is building one from published plans. It involves modifying the back of the gearbox for a power take-off, a shaft running through the car above the floor and a second gearbox/diff in place of the rear seat. I don't know about the rear hubs.
Even more bizarre, there was a Citroën-built 2CV 4x4 in the early 60s intended for oil and mineral exploration in North Africa. This didn't just have a second gearbox in place of the rear seat, but a complete engine/gearbox unit giving 2x 425cc=850cc total. It had 2 starter buttons and chokes, but the throttle and gear linkages were connected. They are very rare now, given that production was limited to 694 vehicles over 6 years.
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Thread drift, but I'd quite fancy a Mehari, the 2CV Mini Moke. Zero crash protection of course, but fun to pop out to the pub on a warm summer's night. Can't see I'd use it much, then.
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Much nicer than a Moke, and made of plastic too. Meharis look as if they wouldn't need much work to turn them into part-time swimmers.
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You do still see the odd nice Mehari, but their biggest problem is, surprisingly for a plastic-bodied car, rust. Not the chassis - that can be easily changed. The problem is with the steel reinforcement within the ABS body. This can rust, concealed from view, and is not exactly easy to fix!
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How interesting. An artist friend put two extra years on the life of his much-loved Ami 6, whose floor had rusted away from the side rails, leaving it hanging from the front scuttle and rear body like a hammock, by inserting two oak rails down the sides and encasing the entire metal floor in grp. Worked perfectly, but wouldn't probably be allowed now.
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I remember travelling in a 2CV and the very thin foam on rear seats. Okay in the rear if either side but in the middle the centre seat had about 1cm foam (felt less) and a metal bar/tube. So a standard 2CV didn't seat 5 comfortably! This limo can be no better.
And in an accident an original 2CV is a death trap so this will be worse. If DVLA are not aware then that is shocking.
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"Even more bizarre" still was the double ended version, that did not have to be turned round. The driver simply moved to the other seats and operated the other engine. It was developed for use on narrow tracks, such as in the Landes pinewoods in SW France. I had a 425cc example, with a motorcycle-type speedo, then an Ami6, then another 2cv with the 602cc engine. The very first ones only had one headlight, on the offside.
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