Let’s Watch Some Videos Of Citroën 2CVs And Jeeps Being Taken Apart And Put Back Together Really Quickly

Humans are very good at finding ways to turn almost anything into a competition. Maybe it’s some byproduct of our biology, maybe it’s our fear of boredom, or maybe it’s just a way to make life a little more exciting. Whatever it is, we’ll do it for almost anything, and of course cars are an obvious example of this. But even if we look past all traditional forms of motorsport, even if we discount motorsports that involve mostly driving cars, there’s still ways to compete with cars. By taking them apart and putting them back together. As fast as possible.

Yes, there are competitive events for people to take cars apart and put them back together, and they’re a hell of a lot of fun to watch. These competitions tend to focus on cars that aren’t generally ones used for more traditional sorts of racing, though the definitely have their niches. From what I can tell, the most popular car disassembly and re-assembly competitions tend to happen with Citroën 2CVs, military Jeeps, Ford Model Ts, and, in a somewhat more limited way, Volkswagen Beetles.

I’d heard about this before, but I re-encountered it most recently via looking up 2CV repair details – remember, I have a 2CV I need to get running, and I’ve already written about how impressively easy it is to take it apart, certainly more so than nearly any other car I’ve ever had.

Well, there’s people who have taken this remarkable trait of the Deux Chevaux to its logical extreme, and do competitions where they drive up in a 2CV, take it apart, then put it back together and drive away. This crew does the whole thing, apart and back together, in about five minutes:

Now, they’re cheating a bit here: lots of parts that would be bolted on simply aren’t and are being held in place with gravity and enthusiasm, but so much of why this works really is just how cleverly and simply a 2CV is out together. See how they took off the doors, trunk lid, and hood, all by just sliding them off? That’s just how they work; hinges for all of those are just interlocking C-shaped channels. It’s amazing.

Here’s another crew doing it even faster:

 

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Again, they do make it a bit easier, and don’t bother with wiring or heater hoses or any fussy bits like that. Oh, and the engine has some grab handles welded to it. It’s still amazing, though.

Jeeps were designed from the get-go to be quick and easy to assemble and disassemble, as that’s a helpful thing when fighting wars, which is, of course, the original raison d’etre of a Jeep. Now there’s teams – like the Canadian Military’s Jiffy Jeep teams – that have honed the Jeep assembly/disassembly down to a very very rapid art:

These Jeeps are modified much like the Citroëns: far fewer fussy bolts, no wiring, no glass, everything simplified, but they’re still driving in on a Jeep, taking it to bits, putting it back, all within minutes.

Jeeps are well-suited for this – especially thanks to their very simple body that’s like 80% one big tub – but it’s still hilariously impressive. Our very own David is doing this same thing as we speak, or at least the assembly part, just in slow motion compared to these guys.

I suspect this all started with the car produced in numbers vast enough for something like this to rise organically, the Ford Model T. And, sure enough, there are similar competitions for speedrun Model T disassemblies/assemblies:

And finally, I would have thought the Volkswagen Beetle would be in this category of speed-pulling apart-and-putting back competitions, but so far I’ve just found engine removal and reinstall speedruns, but those are impressive as hell, too:

These Aussies managed to drive up in a Beetle, yank the engine and put it back in, then drive off again, in just over a minute. Holy crap.

The next time I waste 45 minutes trying to get one stupid little nut off my carb, I’m going to remember this and, I suppose, feel a little bit stupid.