3. WORKING ON THE 2CV

 Several elements came together to allow me to tear into the mechanical part of Lynn's 2CV a little bit. One was we decided this would be her FLORIDA car, and not be taken to live with us in the mountains of North Carolina. Too many steep hills and intersections there, for a slightly nervous stick-shift driver. So, it will live in my garage. Second was there's only one "John Garage" here for working on cars, meaning we had to get rid of the project car I'd kept the past 11 years, to make room for Charlotte. It was time for someone else to enjoy that car anyhow: a 1999 BMW M Coupe, commonly known as the "Clownshoe". I sold it soon after we got Charlotte, using an online auction service called "Cars and Bids". Interesting experience, resulting in the car being transported to its new home in Connecticut in January, 2026. Third: we were invited by the Citroen factory to appear as their guest at the Miami Formula E grand prix race on January 31. Citroen was sponsoring a Formula E race team, and wanted to display some of their classic cars to the American audience during the race event. So, I decided to make Charlotte look her best , and that involved some wrenching and parts installation, tout suite!  Great, I was ready to play mechanic.  

Most of my efforts involved aesthetic stuff. Small pockets of developing rust had to be addressed on the hood and cowl area. We removed the hood from the ingenious hood hinge system (sheet metal bent into an interlocking S-shape on the hood and cowl), stripped off the ugly and time-worn fabric hood liner (a major nasty scraping and cursing job), sanded the rust-prone areas, then painted them generously with rust-converter paint which closely matched Charlotte's light grey paint. We glued in a new hood liner, and installed a new chrome grill. Replacement "D-shape" weather strips were stuck on. Hood done! Similar small surface rust spots were treated on a couple of other sites around the car.

While the hood was removed, I went after the engine compartment. Thorough cleaning, replacement of the prominent beige heater hoses, removal and repainting of the heater box portions of the exhaust system, wire brushing & painting of alternator and starter systems, etc. Everything under the hood looks different than the V8 engines I've been playing with for the past 30 years, so there was a lot to figure out on this tiny 2 cylinder, air-cooled, 28 horsepower front-drive beauty. 

Before

After

Electrical issues have never been my favorite problems to solve. Replacing and rewiring both front turn signal lights was successful. I'm still chasing a solution for one of the taillights. The headlight bezels needed work and a replacement of an "eyebrow" on the passenger side. The turn signal switch attached to the steering column was also broken,  but the new replacement switch had to be rewired to match up to Charlotte's existing components, and then kind of massaged until we got it to work consistently...very French! 

Our biggest splurge was to have all the wheels powder-coated a subdued silver color, then install new Michelin X tires. She now rolls  beautifully and safely, looking almost new. In the future we plan to update the upholstery and interior panels, and I want to dig into the engine a little regarding a couple of small oil drips. All minor stuff with no hurry needed.