I had to save the best for last (that was sarcasm BTW) by posting this Citroën 2CV. Now, why did I say that? Well, when I met Bettina back in 1983 she had a Citroën 2CV Ente in lime green (we do have photos of her car but they haven't yet been scanned). The Germans called this car the 'Ente', which means 'Duck' - as in the bird.
It was - to be brutally honest - a piece of junk! However - to be fair - it did have it's good points.
Good points:
-It was cheaply built, thus very affordable
-It was roomy inside - even at 6'2" I had plenty of head and leg room
-Should the motor not start via a key start, the jack handle doubled as the starter crank (yup, just like old Model T's!)
-It had lots of innovative features which kept the cost down
-It got great gas mileage
-It's a manual transmission, not automatic
-It was a really good car for city driving (except on hills)
Not so good points:
-The innovations which kept the costs down also made for a cheaply made auto
-The body was made of paper thin metal
-The seats are minimal and thinly padded
-There was no insulation in the passenger compartment to keep the winter cold at bay. I seem to recall a burlap type of material lining the inside panels
-The engine is two hamsters on a treadmill, oops, I mean 2-cylinders. That means a weak-ass engine almost incapable of getting you up steep inclines.
Interesting / Unusual Features:
-It has no roof panel. What it has is a canvas tarp which can be rolled back to allow fresh air in the passenger cabin. The tarp is secured via two straps
-If, let's say, you don't want to or can't roll back the roof tarp, there is a vent just underneath the windshield which runs the length of the windshield. There is a crank inside the cabin which is used to open that vent
-The windows do not roll down inside the door panels. They are hinged in the middle and fold up and outwards and stay open via a latch
-As stated earlier, the 2CV has a manual transmission. The gear shift is an 'L' shaped rod sticking out of dashboard area. To shift from one gear to the next one pulls the crank out and twists it either left or right to engage whatever gear you need
-The jack handle is used as an engine start crank should the starter not work
-The engine is rear-mounted. The trunk/boot is in the front of the car
-There is no dashboard or glovebox in the conventional sense. There is a small instrument panel with a shelf that runs from the panel to the passenger door
Driving experiences:
-Driving on the German Autobahn is a real adventure. The car can only hit maybe a maximum of 100kps/60mph - if you get out and push :-) Downhill is fun because you actually can gather some speed...
...however, you'll need that speed to get up the next hill you know is coming. What's really crazy is that on many uphill stretches of the Autobahn, trucks are not allowed to pass and they must stay in the far right lane or risk a hefty fine. It really sucks for them getting behind a 2CV when it's struggling to get up a hill at maybe 40mph!! I don't know how many times we were on the Autobahn, with a convoy of trucks trailing us hahahaha
_Sooo, one day Bettina and I were driving to Kreuzberg Kaserne in Zweibrücken, GE (where the Army base was and where the local Commissary for us military was located). The Kaserne was located at the top of a hill and we decided to take a side street which also happened to be very steep. When we got to the top of the hill where the side street intersected with the main road leading to the Kaserne, Bettina was driving and had to stop at the 'STOP' sign. What came next is a bit tricky to explain. When she took her foot off of the accelerator pedal to apply the breaks, the accelerator pedal fell off! You see, it wasn't actually attached to the accelerator linkage, instead it was attached to the floor of the car by a hinge!!! The springy action of the linkage, plus the steep angle we were at caused the pedal to flip down onto the floor. Bettina was panicking and yelled at me to help! In order to use the gas to accelerate I had to reach down with my left hand and manually push the accelerator linkage in to give the car gas!! As the car leveled off I was able to flip the pedal back into the upright position, allowing her to drive normally!!!
-The best ride I ever had was finally driving that car to the junk yard! I don't remember how much we got but I was almost at the point of paying them to take it off our hands!!
Enjoy! Opa Fritz
Above the rear motor compartment is molded:
CITRËON
FRANCE
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