With a lot of help from my good lady and more too from our French hostess, the following explanatory words were printed onto a poster which adorned the car during the Showing stages

"

1277 SK 59

134 XUR

 

Cette voiture, à l'origine construite en novembre 1961, était donnée en cadeau par la ville de la Chapelle d'Armentières à la ville de Birchington, dans le nord du Kent, à l'occasion de leur jumelage en 1989. Les crêtes héraldiques datent de ce moment-là. La voiture a passé quelques années au musée de transport de Douvres, puis elle a été découverte en 2007 par les «Kentish Hoppers»,  groupe local de l’association britannique de 2CV. La voiture était dans un triste état, ayant besoin d’une remise en état importante avant d’être inscrite pour l'utilisation sur les routes britanniques.

Les Kentish Hoppers étaient heureux d’acheter la voiture au musée, et les membres Andy Briggs, Matt Care, Ian Cheswright et John Joy ont passé une grande partie de l'hiver de 2007/8 dans une annexe de ferme, à démonter la voiture, à nettoyer et préparer les pièces qui pouvaient être réutilisées, à souder des nouvelles sections de la carrosserie et du châssis, et à obtenir beaucoup de pièces chez des spécialistes et sur Internet.

Pendant tout ce temps-là, l'équipe de restauration est  restée en contact avec les deux communes, en envoyant régulièrement  des rapports sur l'état d'avancement, et des photographies, que les communes pouvaient inclure dans leurs bulletins municipaux respectifs.

La voiture était finalement prête pour l'immatriculation et  pour  le contrôle technique (MOT) dès la fin de l'été 2008, mais ce n'était seulement début 2009 que certains problèmes, tels qu'une dynamo défaillante, ont été résolus. Nous avons alors pu parcourir de plus longues distances avec la voiture afin d’aplanir les derniers petits problèmes.

C’est un grand plaisir pour nous de conduire la voiture jusqu’à La Chapelle d'Armentières au moment de vos célébrations de jumelage, et nous remercions vous tous pour votre hospitalité généreuse.

Mais - nous ne savons rien de l'histoire de la voiture avant 1989. Connaissez-vous la voiture ? En étiez-vous propriétaire à un moment ou un autre? Étiez-vous garagiste qui a travaillé sur elle ? Faites-nous le savoir, car nous avons fort envie de connaître toute l'histoire de cette voiture!



 

I mentionned in the last post that the La Chapelle trip had become the "almost final" story in the restoration Saga. While we were at La Chapelle we met a load of the people from Birchington, and it turns out they also have a "home leg" of the twinning celebrations, and this is taking place on 21st June. We are invited to this, so watch this space while we find out what this involves. I would be amazed if Birchington can oput on anything as big and as bonkers as the La Chapelle carnival weekend, but you never know......

We made it! The big one. The almost final act in what's been a fascinating and enjoyable project. (I say "almost", as the project just grew and extra aspect, but more of that later). We drive Mademoiselle and Andy's "Slough built" 1955 2CV down through Northern France to the car's town of birth to take part in the 20th Anniversary twinning celebrations.

What a fantastic weekend! Crazy, fun, bizarre, amazing, moving and delightful, challenging and elating all at once. We are welcomed in by our hosts and by the whole town with such hospitality - we are feted and treated like celebs, we are greeted by the Mayor (several times), applauded by the locals, invited to Civic Reception(s), to a show by school children and a gala cabaret night. They even insist that we lead the town carnival parade

The cars cause Universal delight - everybody seems to love a "deu' ch'vaux" (2CV). They've owned one, or their parents did, or they learned to drive on one, and they seem to hold a warm corner of their hearts reserved for 2CV's, so everywhere we go people seem delighted that these whacky british fans are bothering to restore them and bring them down to show them off.

The cars performed well, running the 100-odd kms down through St Omer to La Chapelle, and back again, so we are delighted. We also learned some bits about the cars, and one of the twinning committee has promised to advertise for any more info - who owned her and worked on her prior to 1989. What we learned was that.

1) The lion on the bonnet is not some random heraldic beastie - it is a "Lion de Flandres", symbol of the Flanders region since the time of Robert 3 of Flanders (1249-1322) (or something like - history never was my strong point) 

2) The idle mixture screw will slowly vibrate out till you have no idle.

3) The speedo does not work at all, but the wipers work very well.

But enough of that. Fantastic weekend all round.

Almost home - chugging gently up from Pluckley (Darling Buds Country) to Charing here, when Andy's good lady was struck by fields of bright yellow oilseed rape. This a pic of the car, with Andy (right) and myself, definitely enjoying ourselves and starting to believe she's actually going to make it home. What a brilliant day, for sure - 2 old ladies, less than 900 cc between them and more than 100 years (not including Andy's good lady, of course!)

More pics from the Journey Home

More pics from the car park

What a fantastic day! We are pleased to report that Mmle's "shake down" trial - the run from Blean to Hove Park to join up with the 2CV London to Brighton was a great success. The old girls (Mmle and Andy's Slough-built, both 400cc) both made it down the 83 miles or so in 3 hours, including stopping for some scenic photo's

When we got there we were told that a special parking place had been reserved as were were "old" and therefore honoured with a front row space. Mmle is not quite the pinnacle of oldness, a "ripple", but she does have drum brakes, the smaller engine and the windowless rear (C) pillar, and she is from November 1961.

"We" driving down were Andy in his Slough-built, plus his good lady. The Slough also performed well, but she is already tried and tested. While there, we met lots of nice epople who came up and introduced themselves, usually recognising the car from magazine articles etc.

At half past 3 we were on the way home again, keen to get back to the lock up before dark, and again Mmle did the business, by now loosening up a bit, so that the Slough was registering 50-55 on the speedo (Mmle's isn't connected up at present)

So, a brilliant exciting, satisfying day. Well done Mmle. You deserve a nice rest, now.