(TPV = Toute Petite Voiture = prototype 2CV 1939)
| I've just had an exeperience I need to
tell you about!!!! It involved 3 beautiful but older ladies! The Association
of French Clubs honoured my 2CV6 Limousine by asking to have it at the
RetroMobile Show. Well I had no choice but to drive the car from home (southern
England) to Paris, which meant a lot of cleaning and polishing when we
got there. The stands were being organised, with beautiful cars arriving
from everywhere. There were 14 2CVs of differing shapes and sizes, all
interesting, but there in the corner... I put down by cloth and walked
accross the hall in a speechless state... it was the three 2CV prototypes
found in a barn three years ago. The first public showing. They were beautiful.
The fully restored one, discovered many years ago was there, but her three
sisters were exactly as they were when hidden by Citroen test staff in
1939. Totally unrestored, dirty but definitely lacking in corrosion. Only
the small wings had a rusty film. In contrast, their great great grand-daughter
was sat near them. The last 2CV produced - a grey/grey Charleston assembled
in Portugal with only 6 Kms recorded. I think if anybody in the world can
understand then you are the people who will, but I actually had a lump
in my throat and felt the gleaming and expensive Monteverdis, Ferraris,
MGs, etc. etc. just fall into insigficance. These three scruffy old french
tarts were sat modestly and quietly, but overshadowed all others. There
in front of me was true motoring history. I had met the great grandparents
of my adopted children.
Graham.G.Garnett |
The first edition of the new French Publication
2CV
Magazine,
which features photographs and an article
about the 3 prototypes.
RetroMobile
Paris 1998
| Three years ago (1995) Citroën uncovered 3 prototypes which had been hidden in 1939 at the Ferté-Vidame test circuit in Eure-et-Loir. They were first announced to the public by Jacques Wolgensinger in his book "La 2 CV, nous nous sommes tant aimés" (November 1995), but as yet had not been seen by the general public. (Jacques Wolgensinger had recently retired as Public Relations Officer for Citroën Cars). The prototypes were apparently hidden under bales of straw in the roof of a barn. It needed special lifting equipment to remove them. Seeing them is like looking at time stood still. They have little corrosion because of the type of light metals used in their construction. Although similar, they are not identical, having slight variations in fittings and being at different stages of construction or testing. At the Retro Mobile they sit on a sloping stage, their backs to the wall, overlooking 11 other variations of the 2CV, like ageing grandparents watching their younger relatives. One of the three has "new" tyres fitted 59 years ago! Another has small hydraulic rams fitted to the front suspension arms, mounted along the chassis! The most used example even has two front lights! I could go on about them for hours, but you really should read the new magazine that I have scanned the photographs from, or better still you can see them at the Generation-2CV 50th Anniversary Meeting, Paris, in May. Citroën have agreed to supply several vehicles for display, including these three prototypes. Surely Citroën don't need all three… I mean they can't be worth much, they haven't even got a current "Controle Technique"! |
more pictures + description
of the TPV 1
more pictures +
description of the TPV 2
more pictures +
description of the TPV 3
2CV
Magazine
The first edition
of 2CV MAGAZINE is informative and has adverts, colour photos, etc. etc.
It is apparently going to be published in both French and English versions.
If the rest are as good as the first we should all subscribe and guarantee
its success. In danger of sounding like an advertisement I give the following
details. It is being published every two months. They want your name, address,
postcode, and telephone contact, and their address is… 2CV Magazine, Service
abonnements, BP 230, 92212 Saint-Cloud Cedex. Tel: 01 47 11 22 86.
 |
