A short riff through the Kentish Hoppers' restoration of the 2CV called Mademoiselle d'Armentieres

French Adventure

Among Friends

Here is the story of the Kentish Hoppers' restoration of the project car, Mademoiselle, originally a twinning gift from the Northern french town of La Chapelle d'Armentieres to the northern Kent town of Birchington. The restoration itself was covered in a blog on the 2CVGB website which has , sadly, been lost in a server crash (although if you come to a show to see her, I have a print out of some of it). More recent events can bee seen by clicking onto the "Mademoiselle blog" tab on this site. In the main pic here, the old girl is on the left next to my own car (Clara Bow), Ian's "Slough-built" and Andy's van. A lovely collection, I think you'll agree

Frustration

The dreamed of mission with Mademoiselle to La Chapelle d'Armentieres creeps ever closer and we are all a bit frustrated with the lack of progress on the car. It's in our control, of course - we are all busy with other things, and the old girl is not getting the priority treatment she deserves.

We are all well aware that with no charging from the dynamo to the battery, we'd be rather foolish to try to take her on a trip through Northern France, but my attempts to engage our friendly neighbourhood 2CV doctor have been knocked back twice. Wish me luck - maybe 3rd time lucky. I have him booked again for this Sunday morning. If that fails I'll be tempted to drive her round to his workshop and park her outside so that she's in his face (and memory more!) 

As Snowy as it got...

Pathetic, I know, but we don't really do snow in Faversham, and this is about as snowy as it got unless there was grass. None the less, this is quite a nice shot vertically down on my own 2CV (Clara Bow) from the upstairs window.

The Kentish Hoppers

The Kentish Hoppers are the East Kent local group of the 2CV Club of Great Britain (2CVGB) http://www.2cvgb.co.uk). We meet twice a month at the Haywain in Bramling, near Wingham, just east of Canterbury on the A257. One meeting is on the 2nd Tuesday of any month, at 8pm (no fees) plus there is a 2nd meeting on the third Sunday in any month, lunchtime at 1pm. For contact details look in the club mag, or visit the 2CVGB website.

By happy coincidence, the Haywain is also site of the monthly meeting of the local group of the Citroen Car Club which caters for all Citroen models. Many 2CVGB members are also CCC members, so many of us turn up to both meetings, giving us effectively 3 meetings a month. The CCC meeting is 4th Tuesday of any month at 8pm and , again, there are no fees.

Hoppers organise 2 camps a year at a handy local farm in Preston, just the other side of Wingham from the Haywain - details in the club mag. We also take part in many other groups' events including the 2CV London-Brighton run in May, the National Club meetings, we were at the 2005 World meeting in Kelso, and will be at Duncombe Park this summer

We look forward to meeting you.

Mademoiselle d'Armentieres

This is Mademoiselle, the restoration project car of the "Kentish Hoppers", Kent local group of the 2CV Club of Great Britain (www.2CVGB.com) - unfortunately the club website is currently pooly and under repair. The car, a hotch potch of late 1950's and early 1960's bits was given as a twinning gift from the Northern French town of La Chapelle d'Armentieres, to the Kent town of Birchington, in the 1980's.

She was not legally drive-able and was pretty much put together for the photo-opportunity. Birchington gave La Chapelle a red phone box on a similar basis, which now graces the main square in the town. At some point Mademoiselle was moved to Dover Transport Museum, and in 2007, our club purchased her from them, with a view to a full, road-legal restoration. In June 2008, this is nearly complete