My Citroen Surfer 2CV6- - the story.

 

 

My Surfer 2CV

     I had always wanted a Citroen 2CV since I first had a Citroen Ami 8 in the early 70's. I had a magical and memory filled tour round Europe in that car. After I had long retired and gone through the speed and sportscar stage, my sights set on this wonderful classic piece of engineering.

     The search, in earnest, began in 2020, when I asked my motoring friends to look out for a good cheap project car for me to restore. I saw many abandoned and uncared for cars selling at inflated prices until eventually I came across this car. History was a bit sketchy - First registered in Switzerland in 1984, imported by an agent in Portimao in 1986, sold on to the previous owner in 1994. At some stage he died (probably in 2012 when it had its last IPO inspection) and it was apparently left standing until my friend Roman found it for sale in October 2022.

   

  After cleaning up it was a bit bruised and dented with enough rust showing to make me believe there was a lot more hidden from view.  I paid less than the vendor wanted but more than I wanted to pay, but I guess that is always the way!

  And sure enough there was plenty of rust:-

No alternative but to go for a total bare metal rebuild using new panels as required. An arduous task but Roman had it in hand.

Welded, sandblasted and rust proofed!

Rubbing down the shell

Progress

Taking shape

At about this time I made the decision not to repaint in the original or even a classical 2CV style. eg Dolly or Charleston.  About a year or so earlier I had met a street artist in Lagos who had been commissioned to paint a large mural for a town centre restaurant.  I had seen other examples of his work for the LAC (Laboratorio de Actividades Criativas) at various sites round the town. I kept in contact with him as I have long been interested in art and street art, where fabulously talented artists are invited to decorate structures and buildings (and sometimes when they are not invited). His name was Tarso Silva and he was a renowned Brazilian 'cracker' (master spray paint artist) who had made his home for a time in Lagos, but was currently painting for an exhibition in Berlin.

   I had mentioned cars to him before, and he had told me he had a great interest in American Classic cars and was in fact restoring one himself in Berlin. I offered him the commission and gave him a brief of 'Sun, Sea and Sand' to reflect the environment in Lagos.

This was a rough draft but in order to comply with Portuguese licensing regulations it had to be more than 50% of one colour. I asked him to cut out the trees and increase the blue of the sea, and brighten the sun and the sand.

Tarso flew in  to Faro and after arriving in Lagos took two days to create the car, to sign it and another two days to ensure that the creation was varnished to protect the paintwork, with able assistance from Roman.

    

      I was very happy with the result and to ensure compliance I had the new roof in blue and he had painted the bonnet and boot also in blue.

Surfer 2CV

Duly signed before it was all put together.

The engine was also problematical and  took several tries and many spare parts to get it running as it should. Still some minor tweaking to be done, but registered and initial IPO test passed, and on the road.

Roman, Myriam and The Team (except Tarso)

The Happy Owners

  

    And that is as it is today, not exactly a classic apart from running gear, suspension and chassis, but now with the original artwork it must surely be a Future Classic in the same style as the Alexander Calder BMW and other artistic endeavours.