The luxury car market is strange to say the least. We might think that the most common thing is that the best-preserved classics with the least modifications and kilometers behind them are the ones that win the highest bids. And yet the Citroën 2CV most expensive in history It is a car that did not originally exist and cannot circulate either.
At least legally. Because yes, despite built in wood, this Citroën 2CV designed by the cabinetmaker Michel Robillard is fully functional, it can move like any other car of the time because it hides inside the engine of a 1966 Dyane 6. Obviously, with such a structure , the circulation permit has not been granted.
A cabinetmaker in love with the car
The creator of this peculiar Citroën 2 CV is the cabinetmaker Michel Robillard, who has been very happy that the vehicle has been acquired by Jean-Paul Favand, founder of the Musée des Arts Forains where the car is expected to be exhibited. To get hold of it, Favand has used 210.000 euros (including taxes), which is a record for a Citroën 2 CV.
Until now, the most expensive Citroën 2CV had reached a price slightly above 170,000 euros. However, the rarity, the meticulous work and the materials used by Robillard have been enough to establish itself as the new ceiling to overcome. The cabinetmaker was also satisfied with the fate of the car: “I will be able to see it again, because it could have gone to a foreign country and I would have had to say goodbye to it forever,” he declared.
The love that Robillard feels has its reason for being if we look at the process for the creation of the vehicle. The project began in 2011 and kept him busy until 2016. During this time, he tried to shape the walnut, pear and apple woods with which he created the bodywork and part of the interior. For the rest of the details she used cherry wood.
The result, it is obvious, is spectacular. The car is not only recreated in detail on the outside, but also on the inside. The steering wheel, the dashboard, the gearbox knob… everything is made of wood and with amazing precision, which gives the car a structure that, as we said, can be put into operation.
Robillard assured about the choice to install the engine of a Diane 6 under the hood was due to thinking “that this car would be a little heavier”. However, “in the end no, it is not heavier, since it weighs only 15 kilograms more”, pointed out its creator. The structure, however, is that of a Citroën 2CV from 1955 which, according to its creator, has only traveled 6,000 kilometers.
“He’s like my son. I’ve had three children and this is like my little son,” confessed Robillard, who claims to have spent a total of 5,000 hours on the process. Having finished this and satisfied with the result of the auction, Robillard already has a new project in mind: to have a DS21 Coupé Concorde ready in 2025. Wooden, of course. The 70th anniversary of the brand awaits you.
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Photo | Rouillac
