Were 200 2CVs Really Given Away in 1990?
By George Dyke….
A 2CV has come up for sale in the Netherlands with an unusual claim about its history. This 1990 2CV Club, currently for sale at E & R Classics is supposedly #53 of the last 200 produced.
After production of the 2CV was discontinued in France in 1988, the Mangualde, Portugal plant continued production until the end of July 1990.
What makes this listing odd to us is that it states; “When the factory stopped producing the 2CV, approximately 200 2CVs were donated to the staff as a gift. The classic we offer here is number 53 of the last 200 and is therefore one of the most special Citroën 2CVs we have ever had in our showroom.”
Greg Long pointed out this listing to me and as far as he and I can recall, when the last 2CVs were rolling off the assembly line people were clamouring to get them, including Greg and his brother John Long who were selling 2CVs in North America at that time through their company Escargot Motorcars. Surely they would have heard about the 200 “gifts” if that had been the case.
And why has no other late model 2CV appeared for sale since 1990 with a similar story? Also, one would think that the “gift” came with a card/certificate/acknowledgement of some sort. Where aren’t any of those?
Unless some other credible people can come forward and confirm, Greg and I think the gift story (and possibly the number 53 on the firewall) was added by the seller or a previous owner at some point to get a higher sale price for the car.
Can anyone else confirm and show proof that approximately 200 2CVs were donated to factory staff as production wound down in 1990?
I agree that the story about the last 200 2CV’s from Mangualde being donated to employees is very questionable. I followed the end of the 2CV manufacturing in Levallois and in Mangualde quite closely back in 1988 and 1990, and I’ve never come across any mention of this. Is sounds quite unlikely to me that Citroën should have been this generous, particularly because it was no problem at all for them to sell the final cars.
I have a photo of a car manufactured in April 1990 in Mangualde which has a sloppy “29” scribbled in the PVC sound deadening coat on the firewall, exactly the same way that the ER Classics July 1990 car has a sloppy “53” scribbled in the PVC coating. I think it’s just a number without any historical significance, used for some internal sequencing purpose at the plant during the manufacturing.