The Citroen 2CV is often mocked because of its funny looks, rudimentary construction, and archaic on-road performance. However, it was built in more than five million units over the course of its 42-year history and helped put France’s population back on the road after World War II and put Citroen back on the map as a serious carmaker.
So, with this being said, there are also a fair few people out there who like the 2CV and do everything they can to preserve the history of the iconic French car, and maybe even use it in ways you would never think it would be possible to do.
People like Bernd, a charismatic 2CV owner from Switzerland who owns and regularly drives a camper version of the French vehicle.
As you can see for yourself in the video embedded above, the tiny, 152-inch (3.86-meter) long Citroen has just enough room in the back for a double bed, albeit with an extra section bolted on the rear of the car to improve legroom. That same metal box doubles as a camp kitchen, complete with a gas double burner cooker and basic utensils
Privacy is assured by a generous set of velcroed curtains, and the biggest storage space is found under the rear bench seat, where there’s room for about three t-shirts and a pair of socks.
There’s no mention of the engine, but the owner says at one point that it’s a 2CV Special, which was only made in the 1980s. When new, it had an air-cooler 602 cc engine under the hood that made an unremarkable 29 horsepower, sent to the front wheels via a four-speed manual transmission.
Throughout its 40-year-plus history, the Citroen 2CV was nothing more than an economy car, the French equivalent of the VW Beetle. But in recent years, prices for used cars have varied between $5,000 and over $40,000 for special models.
As always, we’d like to know what you think about the video embedded at the top of this page, so after watching it, head over to the comments section below to give us your thoughts.
