An order duck from France
An order duck from France. An endearing classic. How beautiful can a find be? But in joy, people sometimes forget that the Loire in France is more than a river. It is a climate separation. South of the Loire lies the France of our dreams. North of the Loire? It can be as wet there as it is too often here.
The result is that the classics in the north of the Loire are often heavily damaged by rust. Their only advantage is that they have never seen much brine. But restoring such a classic can be quite challenging.
But luckily AMK and duck enthusiast Hans Beltman knew what he started when he purchased his new project. And that was the difference with the expectations that the previous, already Dutch, owner of the duckling had.
An order duck with a past
And there you are. Neither sanding work because of many layers of paint and paint showed that the ordered duck was ever rolled blue from the factory. And - very strange - that a lot of welding work looked like it had been done with copper. If there are readers who know where the copper luster in the welds comes from, they may report themselves.
Fortunately, sheet metal for Ducks is just as widely available as the promises in politics. Moreover, that sheet metal work is just as cheap as those promises are. And it took quite a bit of sheet metal to first prepare the Duck for RDW. Fortunately for Hans, he had previously been in contact with Sander van Essen from Alkmaar. Sander is 'EWEKA special products' and he welds on location. Working from home is becoming a thing of the past. A while ago we also met a certain Christiaan Bijsma who fixes electrical problems at home with classics and modern cars. The activities of this kind of people apparently fill the gap between 'Can't do it myself' and 'Outsourcing is too expensive'.
It becomes a free-range duck
It is Hans's intention that, like his red duck, his lean duck becomes a real free-range duck. It does not need to be restored, but it must simply be 100% deployable. And that there is something about a gap in the chassis and that the chassis number has become illegible? Well: in the most serious case the duck gets a new chassis. Because nobody sees that anyway and it does not detract from the pleasantly experienced patina of the car. RDW is technically the replacement of the chassis under the 1 / 3e, 1 / 3e, 1 / 3e regulation of the RDW no problem. Because the bodywork and the engine remain original for the law. The repair welding work and the new wiring are not confronting with the RDW rules, if performed correctly. And regarding the execution of the work, Hans neatly keeps his documentation.
To be continued
With Hans Beltman as an almost neighbor, we keep an eye on this project. And if his ordering duck is reborn, then we will put him side by side with his red duck in AMK. Because a perfectly restored 2CV is nowadays no longer a classic that you grab to do your shopping. But Hans' ducks have to do what they once thought of: work.
Dear editors,
I think I can answer the question where the copper glaze comes through during welding of the duck duck.
In the past I did everything by brazing. I used round copper bars with flux.
Boraxite I repaired sheet metal with a special soldering torch and replaced bottom plates and sills. In this somewhat primitive way "soldered" complete Citroën Ami's and Dyane's together. Major disadvantage: risk of heat deformation and rust sensitivity if the weld is not properly cleaned.
Heg still pictures of such a job.