It’s been a little while since I’ve given you an update on my formerly one-with-the-Earth Citroën 2CV, and that’s mostly because I’ve just been driving it around, which has been, and I don’t think this is too much hyperbole, glorious. It’s just the right amount of hyperbole, I think. It’s proven to be reliable (when I remember to keep gas in it) and not only am I entertained when I drive it, most people who see it driving around seem to be made at least a little bit happier, too. Personally, I think that’s a pretty good metric by which to judge a car.
As the weather has been getting steadily more and more lovely, and the skies have become consistently dazzling, with big, exuberant, cumulus clouds that look like they’re on vacation from any number of renaissance paintings of skies (minus the cherubim; modern pest-control practices tends to keep our skies thankfully clear of those annoying winged babies) I realized that I have yet to unpack the full potential of my 2CV’s opening roof.
Sure, I’ve flipped back the front portion of that vinyl roof back a number of times, but I’ve never done the full, iconic-2CV roll-the-whole-roof-back-like-a-sardine-can thing. You know the kind. It seems like most of Citroën’s advertising featured the full-open roof:
This kind of thing from Citroën was very common, conveying the free-spirited nature of the car and a healthy disregard for safety, which is pretty much non-existent in this car, anyway, if we’re honest. Look at that, there’s seven people in that car! Or maybe on the car.
The full-opening roof was also shown to demonstrate just how much crap you could pack into a 2CV:
Always with the grandfather clocks, too.
Seriously, if Citroën had an opportunity to show the 2CV with the roof fully rolled back, they took it.
The only exception I can think of is when they portrayed the cars on the moon, because then you’d definitely want that roof closed for, presumably, pressurization and oxygen-retention reasons:
They’re not afraid to open that (optional) hatchback, though.
So why the hell did I wait so long to give it a try? Honestly, I have no idea. I should have done it long ago, at least just to confirm that the little straps that hold the rolled-roof worked and that the whole thing didn’t slide off like a slippery tomato sliding out of a burger.
Happily, those little straps, despite having some rust on the snaps, did seem to work just fine.
I was also afraid the rubber straps would be hopelessly dry-rotted, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, either.
The process of rolling the roof back isn’t too difficult, either, though it does take a bit of work. You undo two clips above the windshield, then slide the roof off of these two pins that hold it onto the hinged front roof frame, then you start rolling until you get to the center support, where there are a pair of little metal tabs that slide into these clips to keep the middle anchored.
Once those are freed, you just roll the rest of the roof back to the final horizontal support over the rear window area, and use the little snappy straps to hold it in place. Easy!
You can’t do it while driving, and unrolling it in a sudden rain could be done quick-ish, but not quick enough to keep at least a bit of rain out of the interior, I suspect.
Still, it’s worth the risk, I think, With that roof rolled back, the view out the top is downright panoramic:
Those horizontal supports feel somewhat insubstantial, though, and unlike all the people in Citroën’s ads, I’d be wary about sitting on or leaning on them? But people sure seemed to do that.
Interestingly, even with the whole roof rolled back, I’d hesitate to call this a “convertible” even a “fixed profile” type of convertible, like these:
The difference I think is the fact that the rear window remains in place; if the rear window folded away, somehow, I think that would push it into fixed-profile convertible territory.
That said, I don’t feel like I want that, necessarily. It’s plenty open as it is!
Did I just write a whole Cold Start about opening a damn sunroof? I guess I did.
Oh, and I also bled my brakes, because they were getting alarmingly mushy. They feel way better now, and I learned that for the front disc brakes, you only have one brake bleed valve for both front brakes, which saves a bit of time! Plus, I never get tired of the weird inboard brakes.
My tv must be spying on my phone because it showed a spectacular CV2 race where they were high speed capable
Don’t discard the demi-ouverture position. Not quite as open, but much quicker.
https://technique-mehariclub.com/fiches-pedagogiques/positions-douverture-dune-capote-2cv-a-ouverture-interieure/ (pardon my French)
Another feature with that roof is Otto can sit in the back doing bong hits at night and look at the stars in the sky while Torch and the Mrs Torch are asleep in bed. At least that’s how we did it in my parent’s VW Buses 55 years ago…
YMMV of course.
Did anyone else know that there are grandmother clocks? They are shorter than grandfather clocks. I just recently found out- I think I saw it on storage wars. I’ve always loved those Citroen ads.
“whole thing didn’t slide off”
Well, all you have to do is pull the straps to check, and then say “That’s not going anywhere!”