It’s pretty late, and I really need to get to sleep, because I’m about to be driving 9-ish hours to get me, my kid, and my Citroën 2CV to our 1rd Autopian Member’s Only Track Day, which should be a blast. As much as I’d love to drive the 2CV the whole way there, it’s about 3 times as far as the longest trip I’ve taken it so far, and I really don’t want to risk something breaking before I even get to the track.
Also, this Ford Ranger press car has A/C, which, I’m not going to lie, is a pretty decadent and wonderful thing. There’s probably some safety advantages, too, but I prefer not to scrutinize that willful blind spot of mine too closely.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the Ranger does here; while it’s not the genuinely small Ranger of yore, it’s still not a huge truck, and I appreciate that. It’ll have no problem towing the 1300 pounds of 2CV plus the trailer’s 2,200-ish pounds. Holy crap, the trailer weighs more than the car!
Getting the car onto the trailer was a bit tricky, because the 2CV is pretty narrow compared with most cars, and those tires are absurdly skinny. So that meant it just fit onto the ramps. I had my wife (hand pictured) help guide and align me as I drove up the ramps, and I’m not ashamed to say it was a little nervy. The car fit across that gap with just inches to spare.
Still, it did fit, and I aligned it a bit better than what you see up there, so don’t worry about that. If you are looking for something about which to worry, I have this for you:
See what’s going on here? Whomever inspected this thing had a pretty cavalier attitude towards what would be considered okay, because the tire-holdown-webbing strap or whatever it’s called was jammed in the ratchet arm thing really, really well. Like completely pinched in there. No amount of adjusting the ratchet or pulling would get that free, and, even if I did, the condition of those straps didn’t look great.
I tried to call the rental place to see if they could swap the trailer out for one that didn’t, you know, suck, but they were closed and I was leaving in the morning no matter what. So on to plan B.
Plan B is I used one ratchet strap to try and secure the tire hold-down as best I could, then went out and bought a really heavy duty set of ratchet straps and connected one to the 2CV’s towing eye welded to the frame rails and secured that to the body of the trailer. I connected the safety chain to the towing eye at the rear and then did the most important thing: I tugged at the added ratchet strap twice and said, in an authoritative and confident tone, “that’s not going anywhere.”
Glad that’s sorted out.
Just to give the 2CV a bit more racing flair, I took one of the magnetic race number panels I had gotten when I raced the Changli at a Motorsport 4the Masses event way back in 2020:
That adds something, I think. And it helps to keep the tradition of bringing really low-power, painfully slow machines to tracks alive, so that’s good.
I’m bringing an extra coil with me, some spark plug wires, a bottle of the weird mineral oil-based brake fluid 2CVs need, motor oil, a socket set and some other tools, all of which I hope I won’t need.
I’ll be driving pretty much all day today, going North up highway 95, mostly, and 270. I’ll be passing through Richmond, skirting Washington, and avoiding Pyongyang entirely, so if you’re around those areas, keep an eye out for me! If you see me, honk and scream something! And let me know if it looks like anything is about to fly off!
So you’re not bringing 2 CV joints for your 2CV? That was one of the funniest COTD’s, ha ha
Flyingstitch:
This could make for a great “who’s on first” conversation at the parts counter.
“I need 2 CV boots.”
“Sure, make and model?”
“Yes.”
https://www.theautopian.com/the-hilarity-of-trying-to-get-parts-for-your-oddball-car-cotd/
Have a blast. Figuratively speaking!
I had much the same experience hauling my first Saab Sonett V4 home on one of those U-Haul car haulers. Car too narrow, BARELY fit over the rails, and it was significantly lighter than the trailer, but all the weight ended up WAAAY too far forward. The Ford lump in the very tip of the Saab’s nose out ahead of the axle meant the tongue weight was rather higher than it should have been, but no good way to strap the car down further back on the trailer. probably should have tried loading it on backwards, but it was dark, raining, and we needed to get going.
That was an interesting trip. I hauled my Triumph Herald to a new owner in upstate NY, then picked up the Saab in CT on the way back to Maine. Towing unit was a friend’s horrible “baby Blazer”. The S-10 based one. The Herald was a much better fit than the Sonett. As small as a Herald is, it’s a lot bigger than a Sonett with better weight distribution. Rather more weight too – about 1800lbs vs. 1500lbs. But better aero definitely.
The new flat deck U-Haul car trailers look to be a massive improvement.
And thier trailers do suck so frequently. I was hauling a load of IKEA furniture home from MA in a box trailer once when I found that the trailer was about to break in half at the tongue/box joint from rust. The U-Haul livery kept getting lower and lower in the rearview. Stopped at the Kennebunk rest area, saw what was going on, reloaded the trailer to remove about all of the tongue weight and proceeded SLOWLY the last 30 miles home. Returned the thing, told them what was going on with it and got nothing but a grunt from the counter dude. Hopefully they took it out of service…
Good luck at the track! Wish I could be there. If it was a week later I could have stopped on my way to Maine.
Typical rental vehicle counter intelligence. I returned a rental car and noted that they had given it to me with the tires pumped up to 50 psi, according to the TPM system. Shrug.
In Chicago, a few months after 9/11, I was “upgraded” to a Cadillac DeVille with Florida plates. It wasn’t until I got on the freeway on a cold, sloppy night that I discovered the windshield washer fluid was just H2O and frozen solid. I stopped and bought some of the blue stuff and had to stop about 10 times enroute to South Bend, IN, and get out and manually splash it on. Fortunately, the hotel had a heated underground garage and by morning the ice had thawed, and I was able to squirt most of it out and put in what I had left from the jug of blue. When I returned to Chicago, the agent excitedly asked what I thought about the upgrade and didn’t get even a “sorry” when I told him what happened. Nor reimbursed for the washer fluid that should’ve been in there in the first place. Avis wasn’t trying harder that day.
Oh yeah – the counter agents sure don’t care for the most part.
Now that I live in FL mostly I have to remember to double check that my winter rentals have a darned ice scraper in them. THAT sucks when you find it doesn’t and it snowed overnight.
Yeah, check any U-Haul dolly/trainer before you get it off the lot. Having used them to tow various vehicles that may or may not have been a touch heavier than the rated weight, I recently got one where the strap on one wheel snapped in half—thankfully close to my destination—but it made backing up into the driveway impossible.
Hey Torch, a couple weekends ago I had the experience of helping a mutual friend of ours rescue a Suzuki Cappuccino from the side of US 1 using a U-haul tow dolly that was obviously geared toward much wider vehicles.
I’m sure you’ll hear about how it turned out, if you haven’t already.
Any narrower and you would’ve had to get the U-Haul Toy Hauler instead. I just used one- they’re pretty neat and new, but they’re waaaay more expensive to rent than the car hauler.
Wish you a calm, casual, drama free and relaxing trip to the Track Day event. Have fun!
Plot twist: it’s the press car shedding parts
You forgot one thing you need for a French car, a bottle of wine.
And I think it is a legal requirement to always be singing while driving a French car. I usually was when driving my Peugeots.
You’re towing the 2CV on a real trailer with a modern air conditioned pickup? Very reasonable and mature. Who are you and what have you done to Jason?
Let’s be honest, if he hadn’t been provided with a press vehicle, the Marshall probably would have been dragged into the towing role kicking, screaming and overheating.