Preservation

Description

This car first rolled off the assembly line sometime in March, 1959. At the time the first owner had placed a special order for a PO edition of the 2CV as they had the intention to take it with them to North Africa (Algeria). The ‘PO’ refers to ‘POussiere’ (dust) or ‘Pays Outre-mer’ (overseas) and were sold in very limited numbers as they were special orders for export only. The PO was designed for more rugged terrain with the front and rear axles strengthened and better protected, an oil bath air filter, which allowed the filter box to be filled with oil to help filter out sand/dust particles, and an enlarged tubular steel front bumper (which is similar to the Safari bumpers), along with several other minor special features.

The car never made it to Africa, and it was sold late in 1959 to someone living in France, who drove it until 1981 when it was in parked a barn and left. In late 2017 it was sold again and the new owner extracted it from the barn and started a “hidden” restoration. This included sandblasting and resealing of the chassis, replacement of the rusted-out floor and firewall, a completely new braking system and new exhaust. During the restoration it was decided that since the bodywork was in relatively good condition, with only some surface rust, it would not be resprayed. Instead, more than 40 hours of waxing and polishing went in to preserving the great patina.

The car was imported into Australia in late 2019 by the current owner and is driven regularly. He intends to maintain the car in its current condition.