The car in its most basic form travels from A to B. Through the years, through technological advancements, more features have been added, whether for safety, comfort or to increase the levels of speed or luxury. Now, most modern cars come with air-conditioned seats, heated steering wheels, and 20 speaker systems. However, even up until recently it was easy to find cars with such simple mechanicals and zero-frills that were a hoot to drive and live with. One such car is the Citroën 2CV and our find today has to be one of the lowest mileage 2CVs in the country with just 1,633 miles on the clock. The 2CV is located in Montgomery, Texas for $26,500 on is available here on Craigslist. Thanks to Pat L. for the tip!
The 2CV or Deux Chevaux was introduced in 1948 and was produced right up until 1990 – meaning our seller has a very late model version. The car was devised to replace the horse and carts for French farmers after the war and to modernize their agriculture. The original versions were so simple that the steel body was corrugated in order to make it stronger. It’s incredibly light at just 600kg and has a tiny 602cc engine. They were produced all over the world from the UK to Argentina and our sellers model was built in Portugal for the German market in its last year of manufacture. In this time they produced 3.8 million of the 2CV and remain a cult classic to this day.
To find one in this great condition with such low miles – less than 50 miles per year in the last 33 years is remarkable, probably why this commands a strong price. But for that, you get an incredibly clean and unrestored example with its bright red bodywork in perfect condition. The engine, which is incredibly easy to work – on as it was meant for farmers to be able to fix the original versions – is also spotlessly clean. The interior is the same, with its simple bench seats and cloth coverings. This is about all you get in a 2CV in terms of comfort, but there has been one upgrade – a modern stereo system, with 4 speakers, which are mounted with velcro.
With a car this rare in the US, and with so few miles it feels like it should be in a museum. So this leaves the new buyer with a conundrum – do you keep it as a museum piece, or drive it as it was meant to be enjoyed – along bumpy roads in the French countryside? Whatever the buyer decides to do, they will be safe in the knowledge they have one of the cleanest and lowest-mile 2CVs in the world.
Cool little rig. I have never seen one in the wild. Can someone explain the purpose of the round, curved bars on each side of the upper windshield? Thanks for any advice, Mike.
That’s the window Mike, they open up And out.
They were notorious for coming down on unsuspecting elbows or fingers.
Given the quarter-circle shape of the front and rear door windows, I’ve often wondered if the designer originally intended for the windows to rotate down into the doors, but this proved impractical or still unduly expensive for the intended sale price point, so they came up with the cheaper, even simpler flip-up panes instead?
Ha, I see it now. Thanks Cadmanls! It seems funny to me that by 1989 they would not have roll up windows. Take care, Mike.
If you wanted roll-up windows from Citroen in 1989 you had to step up from the 2CV to the AX which was a fully modern design for that time.
Wow, super low miles but $26k is a LOT of money for a 2cv. I know…go find another, but the problem is that kind of money in a low, or no really, miles 2cv makes this a garage queen, and these cars – cool as they are – ain’t garage queen material
It certainly looks nice. One odd thing for a car with such low claimed mileage is that the headlights are replaced. This is a Club and has the wider light bar for the square headlights. It looks a bit odd to me when it has round Charleston headlights but not the correct distance between the light and the hood.
As much as I like 2CV I still can’t wrap my head around the price. That is a LOT of money for one of these.
Club?
I thought the last few years of production had the rectangular headlamps.
The rectangular headlamps only featured for a few years – 1977 to ‘82 if I remember rightly. Then they returned to circular lights.
Not one word about the crunched fender
….I don’t see it? rear, front?….intended for the German market? not so sure in my book, should have front seats head rests and right outside rear view mirror and a few more accessories inside that might be there but the limited pictures don’t allow for scrutiny. Chrome headlights? could have been since it was the last year, maybe that’s all they had in inventory? 26K…..sounds like reasonable in today’s 2CV market in the US, I’ve seen similar $$ for lesser 2CVs.
When I was a kid in the 60s, my mom had a crazy chain smoking friend who had one. I have excellent memories of her bouncy driving at maximum speed ! These cars do not turn over. The wipers were manual, no motor !
The wipers up in the early 60’s were operating with the speedometer cable; if you were at a standstill and needed the wipers, there was a knob to turn them manually.
spot with no paint on back above trunk on side.
Side panel in front of driver not a fender actually It looks damaged to me is. That supposed to look that
That’s the hot air outlet. Some models had louvres there, Some have the weird oulets that look like fender damage.
It should have hubcaps as well. Hubcaps were added in 1960.
Only the ‘luxury’ Charleston’s had hun caps as standard although they were available elsewhere on the range as an optional extra!
Another nice 2CV at a much lower price: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/carpinteria-classic-citroen-2cv/7515026833.html
Good find for sure! But 20 times the mileage, not an original color scheme….comparing apples and oranges….the 7K difference is justifie IMO.
$26k? There’s a sucker born every day.
the dent on fender is just above the yellow light. i was looking at prices for these and they go up to 39,000 now. it was just a couple years ago they were 8,000!
Simplicity in is final stage. Yes, French and the Italians invented
automobiles.
I found another car that might interest some here:
Same simplicity but more comfort and speed.
https://youtu.be/UYqOQ1xwNxM
I found another car that might interest some here:
Same simplicity but more comfort and speed.
https://youtu.be/UYqOQ1xwNxM