Jellybean — A Remarkable 2CV Reunion

By George Dyke…

Every once in a while, things work out perfectly in our Citroën community. This is the story of a young woman in Toronto, who bought a “brand new” 2CV in 1990, sold it a year later, and regretted doing so ever since. She wanted to find her little gem that she called Jellybean and be able to own it again. Happily she has!

How it all came together is quite remarkable!

In the late 1980s, brothers Greg and John Long operated a business in Toronto called Escargot Motorcars importing 2CV’s that they purchased new in Europe. (The 2CV was still in production in Portugal until 1990). They managed to age them by 15 years or more for sale in Canada by finding used 2CVs in Europe that could be candidates for “restoration”. (We wrote about the process in the article; “How new 2CVs were aged for sale in North America”). Greg and John’s enterprise garnered the fancy of local automotive journalists, who wrote glowingly about how the 2CV was both charming and pretty much the antithesis of everything else on the road. Greg and John even took the bold move to display one of their 2CVs at the 1989 Toronto International Show.

In the spring of 1989, Carolyn Lane was in her third year at the University of Waterloo, when she took part in an exchange program to the UK. Independent and adventurous, she used the end of her studies abroad as a launchpad for a solo journey through Europe and North Africa that summer. Her travels eventually led her to Paris, where she fell in love with the city, and with the charm of the iconic Deux Chevaux. Upon graduation in 1990, when she read that “like new” 2CVs were being offered for sale in Toronto, she contacted Greg, learned how to drive a standard shift, and took delivery of a 1974/90 2CV6 Special on November 13, 1990 – the first time she had ever sat in a 2CV let alone driven one! Its bright red colour and round shape inspired Carolyn to name her pride and joy “Jellybean”.

Carolyn posing with Jellybean the day she got it — Nov. 13, 1990.

She drove Jellybean to family gatherings in Guelph, downtown Toronto, and to the Montreal Jazz Festival, and while she loved driving the car on nice days, she felt she just wasn’t ready for the responsibility required to care for it in the manner befitting a such fine automobile.

After just one year of pampered ownership, storing it during the winter and enjoying it only on dry days, she put a “For Sale” sign in  Jellybean’s window. Within minutes, as she was driving along Bayview Avenue, a fellow pulled up alongside her, waved, and said; “Nice car — will you sell it to me?” She responded with a price that was more than she paid for Jellybean and he said; “I’ll take it.” His name was Chris Fansabedian and he owned an auto repair garage called Arcan Automotive Centre, near Castlefield Avenue and Dufferin Street in Toronto. He bought Jellybean thinking it would be a nice gift for his daughter. It turned out that she did not have the same admiration for the car and so it sat with Chris for almost 5 years.

In the meantime, while she regretted selling Jellybean and thought of the car often, Carolyn had other priorities – furthering her education, work, travel, and equestrian pursuits – that put the loss out of mind, at least for the time being…

After years of his daughter’s apathy toward the 2CV, Chris parked it on his lot with a “For Sale” sign on the windshield.

Angela Fusco, an actor in Toronto, happened to hear of the car sitting outside on the lot from her brother Mark who was driving by and spotted it. Angela had spent some time in France in her 20’s with friends who owned a 2CV. She loved to ride in it and recalls that her friends were typical French drivers, constantly yelling at others to clear out of the way. She learned just about every French swear word there was riding along with them.

Back in Canada, she further developed an appreciation for Citroën because her neighbour across the street in Toronto owned a SM and she was captivated by the lines of it. She spent a few years working at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and the woman who was the Artistic Director of the English Theatre Company at the Centre owned a DS. She would take Angela for surreal rides in it, gliding around the nation’s capitol.

When Mark took Angela to see the red 2CV for sale at Arcan, they went for one test drive. That was enough for Angela to immediately bond with it and she bought it on the spot! At 55 years of age, this was the first car she ever bought. In fact, she had never applied for a driver’s license – a situation that came to light with Citroën Autoclub Canada when she did a little research about Citroëns in Toronto and attended a monthly Club meeting realizing that she lived just a few blocks away from our meeting location at the time – The Granite Brewery in the Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton Avenue area of the city.

With the 2CV that Angela had now affectionately named “Bisou” safely tucked away in her garage, and with encouragement from Club members, Angela took driving school lessons, got her license and managed to get the car plated in her name (it was registered and plated with Mark until then). She then bought a new automatic VW Beetle for a daily driver and spent some sessions with a couple of Club members mastering the manual shift and driving characteristics of Bisou.

Angela only drove Bisou occasionally and on Club outings where she was content to be a passenger in Bisou and have Club member, Jim Sciberas drive the majority of the trip. She and Jim did make it to the 2017 Rendezvous at Saratoga Springs, New York, in Bisou. That was by far the longest outing Bisou made.

Three years ago, Carolyn, still regretting selling Jellybean through that spontaneous purchase offer from Chris, found the contact information for Citroënvie/Citroën Autoclub Canada and contacted me asking if I was aware of any 2CVs in the Toronto area that were once sold here by Escargot Motorcars. I informed her that I actually owned a burgundy and black Charleston that I had bought from Greg and John in 1990.  (My first Citroën that I still own today). She then told me about her buying a red one from Greg that she named Jellybean and how she sold it to a fellow from Arcan Automotive with a garage near Castlefield and Dufferin Streets in Toronto. She said she would love to find and own that car once again.

I recalled how Angela acquired the car in the same locale and asked her at the time if she was interested in selling it, which she was not. So I told Carolyn that I was pretty sure I knew her 2CV was still in Toronto and in amazing condition, but that it was not for sale.

At the time we had a very similar red 2CV6 for sale on Citroënvie and I mentioned that car to Carolyn, but her heart was set – the 2CV had to be Jellybean. She subscribed to Citroënvie and I made a note of our conversation, actually wondering how serious she really was when a lovely red 2CV could be had right away, though she did mention that she and her husband were planning to have a garage constructed on their property, so unless she could actually purchase Jellybean that would be one reason not to commit right away.

This past May, Angela began the process of downsizing her belongings and contacted me about helping her put Bisou up for sale. I contacted Carolyn about the opportunity to own Jellybean once again.  Was she serious this time, or should it be advertised for sale, most likely on Citroënvie?

I sensed the excitement in Carolyn’s voice when I told her that Angela was willing to now part with Bisou which by this point had only accumulated 34,925 kms!

It became a “stars align” moment for both Carolyn and Angela. Within 24 hours, Carolyn was re-united with the 2CV she had purchased in 1990. She and her husband Christopher Dodd stopped by Angela’s house and after a drive around the neighbourhood with me to show Carolyn and Chris that Bisou was as nice as I described, they asked me to assist in the sale. I said I would be happy to make arrangements for an appraisal, suggest insurance options and assist in getting the car safetied, re-registered and plated in Carolyn’s name.

Angela was thrilled that it would be going to someone who would cherish it as much as she has.

She even gave Carolyn a lovely 3D engraved crystal of a 2CV that she had for fifteen years.

Just four days later, with the Bill of Sale in hand and paperwork done, I drove the 2CV with Carolyn as a passenger to Port Perry, a lovely small town about an hour northeast of Toronto, to transfer the title and put on new license plates. I had three reasons to want to go to Port Perry:

1. The people at the Port Perry Service Ontario are very friendly and helpful (unlike many Service Ontario Toronto locations), and usually isn’t crowded,
2. It would give me an opportunity to make sure the car ran as nice at it looked on a longer trip. (It drove like an original 2CV fresh from the factory),
3. I could make sure that Carolyn was able to drive the 2CV properly as she hadn’t been behind the wheel of one for over 34 years!

There wasn’t even a line at Service Ontario. We breezed in and had new plates issued in a matter of ten minutes We also got the used car information report for the car where it clearly stated that Carolyn had bought it from Escargot Motorcars on November 13, 1990!

In a parking lot just down the street, we put on the new plates to turn Bisou into Jellybean again, and I officially handed the keys over to Carolyn to drive it back to Toronto.

We took a reaquaintance run down an adjacent street and around the parking lot for about five minutes. That was all that was needed. How to drive it all came back to her and she took to Jellybean like a duck to water.

Carolyn was all smiles diving home and that very evening she drove Jellybean two hours up to their country home and its new garage near Creemore, Ontario.

It’s so nice to have circumstances like this in our Citroën community that have played out for 35 years, come together and everyone be thrilled at the outcome.

We wish Carolyn and Jellybean many more decades of happy motoring together!