I realize that I haven’t really given you an update on my Citroën 2CV in a few weeks, and I also realize that means many of you are either desperately angry, flinging glasses at kitchen walls in rages, or are perhaps resorting to finding out information via methods like augury, but watching bird behavior is notoriously inaccurate when it comes to automotive maintenance and usage unless you have a large population of crows, which seem to have at least a passing interest in cars.
The good news is, I’ve been using the 2CV as a daily driver pretty regularly since I got back from the Lemons Race at Carolina Motorsports Park and the milestone journey it made, and this past weekend I took it to a little gathering of our local French Car Club, which has a surprising amount of cars and people for a small college town nowhere near France.
The highlight of the meetup was local Citroën guru Til’s beautiful deep-red DS19, which rolled in towing a small sailboat. It’s a stunning car, and while I can’t recall exactly what year it is, it’s a Series 2 car (1962-1967), and has a unique taillight detail I think it’s important to discuss:
See the amber section of the taillight? That’s not the turn indicator: those were in those wonderful trumpet-like housings by the roofline that I’ve discussed before:
No, those are brake lamps!
The amber brake lamps weren’t used on all DS models; there were actually a number of subtle variations of DS taillights used:
The amber brake lamps were not legal in Italy and Germany, it seems, but were used in other European markets, though if I’m honest, I’m really not entirely clear where they were legal, or how they co-existed with red brake lamps. It does seem that by 1967, brake lights were standardized to red across Europe, so these really are an interesting relic for the true taillight connoisseur.
While I was at the meetup, Til helped me sort a few other minor issues with the 2CV – he found a hose clamp on the fuel filler neck I neglected to tighten, explaining why the car often smelled gassy (not the same manner that sometimes afflicts me), and noticed a few wires that need insulating. Oh, and I left the ignition on and learned a lesson about the coil heating up too much, too.
(I was asked to elaborate on this in the comments: I left the ignition on, car not running, for about 20 minutes; the current running constantly through the coil, as opposed to being pulsed when the engine is in operation, combined (perhaps) with no airflow, got the coil too hot to work.
We held cold-packs from a cooler on the coil for a bit, and it eventually cooled down enough to work. But this is something I need to remember.
Still, despite these flaws (and many others I still need to address), the car has been a blast to just drive around. Oh! And I also was able to take care of another issue, one with significant safety implications: my absurdly dim headlights.
Thanks to my fellow 2CV-owning local friend Lars, I was given a set of LED headlight bulbs; Lars, who has standards of quality acres above mine, had replaced these with a set of LED bulbs for his 2CV that had a better low-beam pattern; the ones he no longer needed he gave to me, and I was thrilled to have then as they are actually bright enough to be useful.
The difference they make is, um, illuminating! The old lights were like jogging with a pair of candles in your hands; these are like, well, actual headlights. And, to make sure I don’t just become another douche with too-bright lights right in your face, I did use the little headlight-adjusting knob to point them a bit down and keep them out of people’s eyes.
There’s also something I appreciate about combining modern, high-tech components into such an archaic car. I’m not really interested in making this into any sort of full restomod, crammed full of modern tech, but a few bits of modernity here and there not only can help usability in the modern world, but also let the outdated charm of the car shine a little brighter – in this case, literally.
I also need to play with the idle of the car; it’s still not exactly right. I think the float level in the carb needs adjusting, so I should address that. Oh, and Till noticed my parking brake adjustment was all off, too. There’s always something.
Every little mundane errand in the 2CV takes on a little more charm and joy; sure, sometimes driving a modern car like the Tiguan sitting in the driveway could be easier, and that car has luxuries like air conditioning and an ambient noise level well below a 747 taking off, which the 2CV does not offer.
But I’m happy to choose the sweatier and louder joys of the 2CV every time.
Top graphic image: Jason Torchinsky
I still recommend adding a relay harness for the headlights. Glad to see you’re putting miles on the lovely little car!
Have you thought of adding some engine bay and firewall sound deadening? Nothing crazy, just enough to take away the “should I be using hearing protection?” level of noise.
I can appreciate wanting to do some upgrades on older cars especially electronics. One of the first upgrades I did on my 99 Miata was to install projector retrofits inside the existing headlight housings to make nighttime driving more comfortable/safer. The factory headlights on the NB1 (99-00) were just single bulb dual filament setup and just not that good. I’ve been told the later NB2 cars (01-05) with the factory lowbeam projectors and separate high beams were better. I also replaced the useless foglamps with more modern ones that throw some useable light. They are actually Mustang driving lamps that I made fit. French Yellow of course.
Also, the original factory radio (with optional cassette!) went and was replaced with a Carplay unit. I don’t care if it’s not period correct, I threw out all my cassettes decades ago and pulling out a mile of tangled cassette tape is something I don’t have any interest in ever doing again. I did keep the original radio however in case the next owner is a weirdo and wants to put it back and dig out is old Duran Duran cassettes or something.
The headlight diameter of the 2CV is not standard – I think it’s a unique size that only Citroen used.
The corrosion on the lower half of the reflector doesn’t affect the low beam pattern – it uses the upper half and then is reversed via the magic of optics. There are H4 versions of the reflectors which work very well and would be my choice over LED.
I’ve had coils heat up and explode from leaving the key on. Usually overheating a coil will reduce its performance and result in poor hot engine starts. I usually carry a spare coil in the car just in case. There are rubber coil brackets which allow tool-less swapping too.
The 123 electronic ignition system has built in protection for the coil if the key is left on – highly recommended but a bit pricy – they even have a bluetooth enabled version which offers can be disabled for theft protection.
Switzerland used yellow brake lights on vehicles made during the 1970s and are still frequently seen on the roadways there.
Up next you could add a modern engine, like a Hayabusa.
LEDs? What is wrong with fireflies?
No yellow headlights?
“ But I’m happy to choose the sweatier and louder joys…”
I suspect this was also Mrs. Torch’s rationale when announcing her engagement to her family.
Since you left the key on long enough to overheat the coil that means all that current was also flowing through the points which can also cause them to overheat and possibly pit or start to wear quicker. Out of caution I’d order up a new set, if not to install immediately, to have in the glove box, along with the appropriate tool(s) to replace them.
As far as those LED bulbs the problem is that the light source is not in the focus point of the lens. That means the output pattern is not correct and certainly can be blinding to others on the road, even if you adjusted them down slightly.
It’s not so much the aim on the LED bulbs in rear-reflector lights, but the massive scattering effect of the LED dies being in a completely different positions than a filament-style.
I’m sure your lights are closer to a firm step up from bashing a bit of bronze into a curve, so less sensitive but likely your attempts to tilt down were better but would still have enough scattered light that it’d be more than a distracting hue.
You would probably get much better performance out of a dedicated LED housing – if it’s a standard size housing, you can often swap those out and you’ll get not only brighter, but more light down on the road where you want it.
Agreed. It’s really important to get an LED bulb that is as close to a point source as possible to the original lamp, and adjust that to the original point in the housing. A dedicated LED housing would work best here, since the original reflector looks to be in poor condition. Those look like glare bombs and so much of the light is going up into the sky or into other drivers eyes rather than on the road.
Yes. Don’t want people to be charmed by you during the day, but cursing you at night.
Huge improvement over the originals, for sure.
Looking at the close-up shot of the LED bulb in place, it looks like the reflectors on those Cibies are shot, which is also a huge reason the originals were orbs of darkness. Strongly consider installing another set of E-code lights (they’re the standard 7″ size?) so you can see down the road at night, and have the reflectors on the originals re-plated, for the sake of both originality and function.
If you’re going to stick with LED bulbs, spend the extra money on a set from a manufacturer who made an effort to have the LED array in the same places and positions of the original bulb’s filaments.
There has to be some way to reduce the noise while driving, thin fiberglass batting at select locations of the engine bay? Better seals on the interior?
Ear plugs.
Everytime I see your 2CV I want to do the Charleston!! Lol
I wish you many happy miles of motoring!
Two of the greatest cars ever made side by side!
The DS has some odd touches, such as a French number plate but a Deutschland sticker in the back?
Also amber brake lights are odd. European rules already mandated amber indicators (as opposed to red in the US). Why would Europeans do the opposite?
My guess it was originally French, then imported to Germany, then to the US. The french numberplate seems to be painted directly to the frame, this was done a lot back in the day. Most of the time it was a garage plate number that was painted on new cars so it was possible to test drive a car. After purchase they just put the actual number plate over the painted number.
Is it possible it is the wrong wiring harness, or the right wiring harness but connected wrong? Resulting in the ambers mistakenly lighting off the brake wire and the reds mistakenly lighting off the turn indicator wires?
” Oh, and I left the ignition on and learned a lesson about the coil heating up too much, too.”
You forgot to elaborate!
What happens when the coil heats up too much? Did it melt and break?
And why does it heat up with the engine off? I would think the current is not much different then with a running engine. Does it need the cooling air?
I added a few more details!
He did add some details, but I wanted to point out that it isn’t good for some older cars with electronic ignition. In addition to frying the coil you can also fry the transistor in the module. The earliest version of GM’s HEI system was that way but they quickly modified it to turn off the coil if there is no signal from the pickup for an extended amount of time.
That of course is a big reason why cars have an accessory position where the ignition doesn’t receive power but other things do.