Thread: Citroen 2CV

I am not at all surprised at how comfortable and capable the 2CV is across rough ground. Light weight and a good bit of suspension travel can do wonders for offroad travel.

I have twice had access to spotlighting vehicles made by stripping the body off an Austin A40. With just a chassis, engine, transmission, suspension and wheels, it sat up on the suspension so that a lot of travel was available. It was certainly a lot more comfortable than a LR Series I LWB driving over rabbit warrens at speed.

In certain conditions, it seemed as capable as the Land Rover. However unlike the 2CV, the weight of the engine was not over the driving wheels, so traction could be a problem. Over a period of time, two solutions were tried on one of the A40s. The first was to replace the 520 x 16 tyres with tyres from the Land Rover, probably 700 x 16. An even more effective solution was two rims welded together so that it had dual wheels on the back.

I had a Town and Country with duals on the back,,
and no doors,,

was my introduction to oil bath filters,,
and mud,
and opposite lock,
and handbrake turns,

Originally Posted by JDNSW

The major advantage of the 2CV over a Landrover is the very light weight, and I would not be surprised if the minimum ground clearance was a bit better. How much of an advantage these are would depend on conditions, but as suggested, in some conditions the Landrover's low range and four wheel drive will make it better, although it should be noted that the unloaded 2CV has very little weight on the rear (non-driving) wheels, and is pretty low geared anyway.

All very well except that the maximum gradeability given for even the Sahara was a lowly 30 percent (around 15 degrees).Compare that with over 100% fully loaded for a series two 2 1/4 litre SWB Landy for some perspective.
Wagoo.

Originally Posted by wagoo

All very well except that the maximum gradeability given for even the Sahara was a lowly 30 percent (around 15 degrees).Compare that with over 100% fully loaded for a series two 2 1/4 litre SWB Landy for some perspective.
Wagoo.

Yes - I suspect the 2CV just runs out of power! The low gears are because there is not much power available. But most offroad work does not involve steep climbs, although I suspect this depends on where you are.

John

Whilst backing out of my drive today I gave way to one of these and exactly this colour:




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Left hand drive with temporary plates attached. Would love to have pinned the driver down but I was on a mission.

I had a Moke flash back

Last September, whilst having a beer out the front of the Innamincka Pub, a 2CV rattled in - the bloke got out, took a photo and off he went. It was a funny sight in amongst the pretty-Prados and camper-trailers.

My first car was a red and white 2cv dolly, absolutely loved it! Would have another if I could get my hands onone. Took th back seats out an the roof rolled down an got 12 people in it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some good ones here

The fantastic Citroen 2cv pages

You could buy a kit in the uk to make a 2cv roadster