1965 Citroën 2CV Is Our Bring a Trailer Auction Pick of the Day

• Refurbished and gorgeous, this example of a 1965 Citroën 2CV is charming its way up the rankings of most expensive 2CV ever sold on Bring a Trailer.

• The car has had a lot of work done in the past five years, including interior and exterior restorations as well as powertrain maintenance.

• A video showing the engine starting up shows the simple elegance of cars from a half-century ago, when Citroën could not make these little 18-horsepower cuties fast enough.

I knew I loved the Citroën 2CV way before I knew what it was called. I spent some time in
Germany as a child, where the car’s nickname is Ente, or duck. Obviously, a car this cute needs a cute nickname. I’ve never driven one, but I distinctly remember when I was maybe 10 and being completely mesmerized every time a friend of the family would take us for rides in hers, whipping around Spandau and waving at other Ente drivers. I didn’t understand automotive communities back then. I just thought she was friendly. In any case, I’ve got my little reasons for loving on the 2CV.

Turns out, I’m not the only one who enjoys this little duckling, as an auction happening now on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos) proves. With three days to go, a gorgeous blue 1965 Citroën 2CV has already hit $20,000, which is certainly on the high end of 2CVs sold on BaT over the last two years. If the car can reach $26,501, it will beat out a beautiful 1989 Citroën 2CV6 Charleston, auctioned in 2021, as the most expensive 2CV ever sold on the site.

But wherever the price ends up, the buyer can enjoy a recently redone 2CV—inside and out—complete with import documents showing that it just made the trip from Italy to Florida earlier this year. There’s a classic roll-up soft top and flip-up front window, and four seats are removable. The visual restorations took place between 2017 and 2021, and the seller conducted some powertrain work, including a refurbished carburetor and adding a new clutch and muffler, after purchasing the car in 2021.

The tiny 2CV is powered by a historically accurate 425-cc flat-twin engine that sends its meager power to the 15-inch steel wheels using a four-speed manual transmission. The seller has posted a few short videos of the car in action. In the one showing the engine bay as the car starts up, the moving wires and pulleys are a blast of fresh, all-analog air in a world where “under the hood” now refers to the empty space of a frunk. Online bidding is at $22,215 at midweek, with the auction set to end on Saturday, June 11.