the ungeheuer's 2 cylinder european vacation

[ungeheuer]

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=39965.msg1185074#msg1185074

Alright.

It is a long story, but I'll tell it anyway.

More then a quarter of a century ago, in a world which no longer exists, the ungerheuers set out on a European vacation. 

To travel the continent from the Arctic north to the Islands of Greece a sturdy and capable vehicle would sensibly need to be acquired. 

Instead, we bought a 602cc 2 cylinder, air cooled, horizontally opposed, single coil, no distributor, twin shock absorbers (one one each side), open topped Citroen 2CV. 



As travelers do, we loaded it up with the journey's essentials: Tent, sleeping bags, camping stove and Mrs Ung's guitar. 

And headed off to terrorise France. 



The Citroen's quickly detachable chairs make for luxurious camping 

But in our French car, with our French tent, French camping equipment and smoking my French cigarettes, the French were utterly unalarmed by our presence.   
Until we spoke.  The pleasure of any verbal encounters with the locals was apparently all ours  .   

Turns out the French would terrorise us. 

You see, the Citroen 2CV is a driving experience like no other.  The first thing a non-Francophile needs to understand is the curiosity that is the gear change.  It's H-gate design is as conventional as most other four speed manual gearboxes of the era, but being French, there's a twist.  Literally. 

In this front wheel drive vehicle the gearbox is mounted aft of the engine.  And out there under the bonnet (*yeah, yeah, call it a hood if it helps) is - sticking up from that conventional H-gate - a gear lever. 

You're right.  That's gonna be hard to reach.

Citroen are way ahead of you though.  For your driving convenience they added a linkage.  Or as I prefer to describe it, an umbrella handle:  A horizontal steel rod, one end attached to the top of the under-bonnet* gear lever, passing through a round hole in the... um... firewall and terminating inside the cabin with a 90° upturn all topped off with the classic round knob.

In the photo below you can see the gear lever sticking up aft of the aircleaner box and between the heating ducts.  And its umbrella handle linkage heading rearwards into the cabin.....


To engage a gear in the H-gate the driver twists the lever to the left or right and pulls or pushes the umbrella handle in such a manner as to guide the remote gear lever through the usual H movement....

For example, to select first gear...


This driver is a master of 2CV gear change....
2CV

So anyway, once you conquer the gear change the next thing you have to become accustomed to is the inherent body roll when cornering.  There are no anti-roll bars in these petit babies...
 
On each side of the vehicle the front wheel is suspended by its own horizontally mounted coil spring and is connected to the horizontally mounted coil sprung rear wheel by engineering magic only understood by the French.
 
Cleverly, the rear wheel is preloaded for any upcoming road bump by the action of the front.  If you really want to know how this magic works, there's this:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2CV#Suspension

Enough about the car.  On with the journey.

 

Dinner somewhere in France...


Having finally consumed quite enough cheese and wine, we said adieu to France.  Traveling through Belgium, the Netherlands and via a stay with friends in Denmark, we began heading north.

Lakeside camping somewhere in Norway..


In a field by a Norwegian wood..


Sweden..


The Guitarist in a Swedish room..


Fat Swedish beer...


And finally into the arctic..


All the while the 2CV toiled hard without complaint.  Or maybe it was complaining but we thrashed it mercilessly nevertheless.  The only way you can make any forward progress in one of these things is to have the valves bouncing wildly . 

Headed south again now, so the going would get easier being all downhill from here.

Not only easier, but a little quieter too.  Visiting friends in Germany I took the opportunity to fit a new exhaust...


Behind the iron curtain we pretended not to visit a Hungarian friend.  The records will show (if along with every other Party Document they weren't shredded when the writing was on the Berlin wall) that we paid for and so of course stayed only at official camp grounds.  And we certainly did not sleep on the floor of Janos' tiny apartment.  Nor eat his weeks wages worth of chicken or get stupidly drunk doing Hungarian Vodka slammers.   Honest  . 

His neighbours must've wondered though  .

Budapest..


The Janos Trabant (in which we certainly didn't travel to his apartment  ).. a car which makes the 2CV seem luxurious indeed...


Spot the decedent Western daffodil amongst Communist motoring's finest...


From Hungary we traveled down the stunningly beautiful coast of Jugoslavia.  There are no photos so you're just gonna have to take my word for that.  Having waited for 2 days in the hot sun for Greek customs officials to end their strike (the more things change, the more they stay the same) we were finally allowed across the border into Greece.



We made a furry Greek friend....  I still think about that cute and happy puppy


If you're observant (or French) you will have noticed that we no longer have our French tent...

...it fell victim to an Ouzo drinking incident about which Mrs Ung has generously promised never again to speak, so long as I promise never again to drink Ouzo.  Some commitments are easy to keep  .

After crossing over onto the Peloponnese...


...we came across this familiar sight

Never did find out why the Greeks felt the need to construct a mini Eifel tower of their very own  .

From Greece we headed the Citroen for home....  back through Jugoslavia, this time the more direct route through the dismal grey concrete inland...  up through Swizterland where we chugged over the Alps like The Engine That Could... and back into France.





Pretty sure this is the real one...



We completed our European round trip without incident (excluding the Ouzo).  No collisions.  No faults, electrical or mechanical.  No brake downs whatsoever.  The curious Citroen 2CV turned out to be utterly and surprisingly reliable.  With it's roll back roof it was fun, with its quickly removable seating it was a perfect camping companion.  And - excluding the cost of the German exhaust - we eventually sold it for just $200 less than we originally paid.

Turned out we did acquire a sturdy, capable and sensible vehicle after all  .

[LMT]

Look at the curls!

Great trip ung.

[the_Journeyman]

Sounds like a great trip!  Adventures like that are usually fun!

The 2CV is indeed an odd little car.  James Bond beat the hell out of one in one of the Pierce Brosnan movies.

Ouzo is interesting stuff.  I was in a nightclub in Istanbul where I had my first Ouzo encounter by mistaking a tumbler of it for water.  Imagine the shock when I threw back an entire glass (probably 3-4oz) of Ouzo.

JM

[koko64]

Bravo, opba .

[Grampa]

I didn't know you did porn

[koko64]

  

[ducatiz]

BP's photographic recall of 70s porn stars is disconcerting.. and amazing.

I am impressed you did x-country in a 2cv.

Why not a Lada or a Trabant or a Fiat 500 (a real one)?  I mean, you were scraping the barrel and all?  Do all of them and get your card punched.. lol

[duc_fan]

Sounds like a great trip!  Adventures like that are usually fun!

The 2CV is indeed an odd little car.  James Bond beat the hell out of one in one of the Pierce Brosnan Roger Moore movies.

Ouzo is interesting stuff.  I was in a nightclub in Istanbul where I had my first Ouzo encounter by mistaking a tumbler of it for water.  Imagine the shock when I threw back an entire glass (probably 3-4oz) of Ouzo.

JM

Fixed it for ya. 

The film was "For Your Eyes Only".

[swampduc]

One question: what was that babe doing with you? 

[swampduc]

Fixed it for ya. 

The film was "For Your Eyes Only".

Yep. Cross country through Spain after the Cuban assassin is killed.

[ducatiz]

Ouzo is interesting stuff.  I was in a nightclub in Istanbul where I had my first Ouzo encounter by mistaking a tumbler of it for water.  Imagine the shock when I threw back an entire glass (probably 3-4oz) of Ouzo.

JM

If you were in Turkey, that was not Ouzo, that was Raki.

Ouzo is made from grapes and spices and then flavoured with anise.

Raki is made from figs, raisins (not grapes), and plums and then flavoured with anise.

Ouzo is much sweeter, for the weaker palate.. :-)

Raki is the national drink of Turkey. 

[Howie]

We traveled in luxury, a used Peugeot 403 we bought in Amsterdam for $125.00.   

[ducatiz]

We traveled in luxury, a used Peugeot 403 we bought in Amsterdam for $125.00.   

right, but wasn't that before the unification of Holland by the Habsburgs?

[Howie]

right, but wasn't that before the unification of Holland by the Habsburgs?

No, the car was just that worn out   The year of purchase was 1967, don't remember what year the car was.  Sold it 6 months later for $125.00

[ducatiz]

No, the car was just that worn out   The year of purchase was 1967, don't remember what year the car was.  Sold it 6 months later for $125.00

lol, that's awesome