For Sale – 1984 Citroën 2CV France 3

France entered a yacht in the 1983 America’s Cup called the France 3.  To honor it, Citroën produced a limited edition of 2000 2CVs called the France 3 that had a unique nautical paint job and upholstery and a top that matched it (highly unusual for Citroën!) and, on the trunk, not only words identifying what it was, but, above them, a large, thick “decal” that was an amazingly accurate depiction of the actual yacht.  This car is a rare contemporary replica of one of those, based on a 2CV Club model, with a 602cc engine and front disc brakes. It’s in exceptional condition, driving as if it were a 4-year-old car, not a 40-year-old one.  It does have a dent in its left front fender—there’ll be more about that farther down.

Unfortunately, health issues have forced the owner to live in a nursing home. That’s why he’s selling his 2CV France 3, but he doesn’t want to just fling it onto something like Craigslist or an online auction site. He feels like he’s a mother with a baby whom circumstances force to surrender. She hopes whoever gets it is happy to and can grow to love it. The owner thus wants his car to go to a person who knows 2CVs and will willingly and lovingly care for and drive it.

The car was in an accident on May 7, 2024. The owner had taken it across town to a get-together with friends. Everything was fine until they heard that a violent thunderstorm, which wasn’t supposed to arrive until long after the 2CV and he would’ve gotten home, was approaching much faster than expected. He cut the visit short so he could beat the storm home. No problem for the first half of the ride home — just some mist, drizzle and light rain the 2CV had been in before — but then the storm suddenly hit with sheets of driving rain. He’d driven in heavy rain before, but nothing like this. A person couldn’t really see anything that was more than a couple feet away from him with the possible exception of the taillights of the car ahead, which he’d try to keep in view so he could follow them and not go off the road altogether. He wanted to turn right into a side-street so he could just park there and wait out the storm, but he couldn’t because the sheets of rain were such that he couldn’t see far enough to the right to know where the side-streets even were. He must’ve gotten too far to the right without realizing it — easy to believe when a person can’t see where he’s going — and went up onto a curb. Even though he was driving pretty slow because of how dangerous it was, before he could steer back down off the curb, he smashed into something. Luckily, he was able to keep going — if he would’ve stopped, whoever was behind him would surely’ve crashed into him. It was obvious from the way the car was handling that, in addition to everything else, he was now driving/struggling with a flat tire. Thank God he made it the rest of the way home without any further incident.

Upon inspection at home, the owner realized that he had dented the right front rim and the fender, and the wheel wasn’t aligned properly, which meant that some of the steering and suspension parts were also damaged. He had it towed to the garage that services his Citroën and had them do a full repair. If anything, it looked better when he got it back than it did before the accident, and it drove better, too — not that surprising when you consider that the replacement parts are 40 years newer than the ones they replaced.

What pains the owner enormously is that, a few days after he got it back, he hit a low post that was below his field of vision, putting a dent in the left-front fender and ruining the perfection. One of the pictures in this listing is a photo of it. He didn’t get it repaired, figuring whoever buys it from him can decide for himself what to do about it, and that’s reflected in his asking price of $21,000 (USD).

The car is garaged in Indianapolis. If interested, please contact norrissanda@yahoo.com, or by phone at 317-696-5657.