I’ll admit, I do sometimes worry that I focus too much or too often on my own idiosyncratic fetishes for Cold Starts. I do try to branch out – I’ve written about a vast panoply of cars and trucks and engines and details for Cold Start, but it’s true that lately it’s been a bit Citroën 2CV heavy and it’s always been a bit Volkswagen Beetle heavy.
So I guess I want to thank you for your patience and indulgence, and then reward thos admirable traits by abusing them further, as today I’ve found a very strange thing that seems to combine both 2CV and Beetle fixations. I wish I could just ignore it! Just move on and live a rational, healthy life! But I think we all know that’s not possible.
I saw this strange beast on an Instagram post from Cotière Vintage, a French classic car seller, and my attention was immediately seized, as though this ad had a digital hand that could ensnare my attention’s genitals in a firm, unrelenting grasp:
What exactly is going on here? That looks like a Volkswagen Beetle modified to look something like a combination Citroën 2CV/Mehari sort of thing. It’s like a Beetle re-written in Citroën, French-accented vocabulary. The post notes that the car is rear-engined, which reinforced my assumption that this is some manner of customized Beetle, sitting on the expected Beetle chassis, with an expected VW flat-four in back.
But then the post showed this:
A look into the engine bay. And it is so not what I expected. That’s not a VW flat-four back there, it’s a Citroën flat-twin, reversed. You can see the inboard drum brakes there, too. It’s oriented 180° differently from its usual location, so some gears must be flipped around inside that transmission, unless it has one forward speed and four in reverse.
I say this because I’m pretty sure whomever built this didn’t source the rear drivetrain from a 2CV Sahara.
The heat exchangers have been replaced with simple J-tubes, but more interesting is the fact that the suspension seems to be completely from the 2CV. While this looks like a VW-based custom of some kind, that’s clearly not a VW pan under there, or, if it is, it’s been pretty heavily modified.
What does the actual ad for this car say about it on the site? I’m very curious. Here’s the description:
Not road-legal; cannot be driven on public roads
Prototype built by a school
In running condition
Rear-mounted engine
That doesn’t help too much, really, except maybe that it was built by a school? And I think it’s more of a project than a prototype, but that’s splitting hairs, I suppose. And maybe it’s not road-legal in France, but I bet there’d be a way to register it here in North Carolina, were I so inclined to spend €4500 in the weirdest way possible.
So what the hell is this thing? Let’s look at it a bit more closely:
So, I really think most of the body – at least up to the A-pillar– is from a VW Beetle. The way the windshield is cut really looks like those late-Beetle, non-factory convertible conversions that were done to Mexican Beetles in the 1980s to the early 2000s.
Most of the rest of that front end has been replaced with what I think are fiberglass body panels, ones that include headlights and surrounds and indicators from a Citroën Dyane, and I think that hood is a fiberglass reproduction of an early 2CV “ripple bonnet” that can be bought ready-made. I guess that grille is just keeping whatever is in the trunk nice and cool?
The sides seem to be designed to resemble a Citroën Mehari, the 2CV’s off-road-ish sibling, and seeing that fuel filler peeking up behind the door suggests the fuel tank is mounted behind the seats, which is weird for both 2CV and VW.
Those taillights seem to come from a Peugeot 205, too. As far as the look of the (presumably) fiberglass rear end goes, I have no idea if there was a visual template for that, because I can’t recognize one.
Inside, it’s still pretty confusing: the basic dash structure looks VW-like, heavily modified to seem more 2CV-like, with the big open storage bins. The parking brake is in the 2CV-style under-dash umbrella handle style, but the oddly tall shifter is where it’d be on a VW, roughly. The instruments are Citroën and some aftermarket stuff, but no sign of VW controls, I don’t think.
The floor kicks up in the front in a non-VW way, but it could be a panel hiding the VW origins of the chassis? There’s so many confusing decisions here!
I have no idea where these seats are from, other than they don’t look either VW or Citroën. Does this thing have Beetle front torsion bar suspension still? I’d be very curious to see under there, but none of the pictures show that. Also, that roll bar looks like it’s made from TJ Maxx-grade clothes racks, so I’m not sure how much I’d trust it.
Still, the workmanship on this odd beast is very good – whatever school put this together did a great job. I just wish I knew more about what it started as – half a Beetle and half a 2CV? A bunch of parts? I’m very curious.
Whatever it is, it seems a shame it’s not road legal, because it looks like it’d be a pretty fun open roadster thing, guaranteed to confuse everybody! And that’s a good time, at least I think so.
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