MEHARI

The Mehari uses the 2CV drive train, the chassis and suspension is somewhat reinforced. The body panels are made of ABS plastic, some metal frames are bolted to the chassis and the panels are attached to them with rivets and bolts.
It has removable soft top and doors, the windshield can be folded down on the hood.
There were two and four seat versions along with a 4x4 model. The Mehari was sold in U. S. for few short years in early seventies, these differ from European models due to compliance with regulations, most notable is the larger sealed beam headlights, reverse light and few other items.
There are sites with more information about this model and some sources for parts on  links page .

I got the first Mehari a few years ago, it came with a lot of spare body panels, it proved very useful since the plastic panels become brittle and faded after many years of exposure to sun, especially in the southwestern U. S. climate, I started restoration and on this car, and before too long ended up acquiring three more. Two of them were taken apart for use as spares and sold the other one last year.
Here is the restoration process.

Here it is as I got it to Montana along with all the extra body panels.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The start of disassembly.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The metal piece on the floor was covering the badly broken plastic. The bolts and screws were quite rusty and some had to be cut off.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The tubular frames are now exposed after the body panels are removed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Next step was to sand blast all the metal parts, fortunately there was no rust damage, only surface rust which was easily removed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

All metal was coated next with rust inhibitor, then primered and painted. I used the old tractor to hang up the chassis and spray both sides.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I did not take any pictures during the hardest part of restoration which was the repair of plastic panels, most of them were badly cracked and some had missing pieces, the best panels were chosen from the spares and reinforced from the back with fiberglass cloth and resin, the floor area was done with heavier materials, then all were cleaned and outer surfaces of repaired areas smoothened with glazing putty and lot of sanding, everything was then primered and painted. I added flex additives to prevent paint cracking on the panels.
 
 
 


The rims were also sand blasted and repainted, I got the 135x15 tires from a VW speed shop in Los Angeles, they were imported by them and made for 2CV's in Portugal. Many VW customizers use these smaller tires on their cars in U. S.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A local auto trimmer made the top and door skins from the material I provided, it is marine grade vinyl, same as the seats and should last for many years.
I decided that it was more suitable for use in warmer climates and took it on the 1500 mile trip down to Los Angeles. This picture was taken along the way on the Monida Pass, crossing the continental divide and Rocky Mountains between Montana and Idaho at elevation of 7000 feet.
 
 
 
 


And here it is in our driveway ready for occasional fun drive.

It sat unused for some years, a friend was interested in it and we made a trade for a 1980 Series 1 CX diesel,