The body of the Citroen was hand-crafted with walnut, pear and apple tree wood. A single block of cherry wood was used for the bonnet.

A Citroen 2CV made of wood, thought to be the only one of its kind, has sold for US$ 225,000 at an auction in France recently, setting a new price record for the iconic vehicle.

The car, in full working order and registered in France, beat all the expectations when it went under the hammer in the central town of Tours, AFP reported. It was snapped up by a Paris-based collector, Jean-Paul Favand, who owns a museum of vintage fairground attractions.

The body of the 2CV was hand-crafted out of wood with the same famous curves as the post-war French classic.

Carpenter Michel Robillard crafted the wooden 2CV’s wings out of walnut and its chassis from pear and apple tree wood. He used a single block of cherry wood for the bonnet, shaped with just chisels and sandpaper.

Robillard told AFP that he spent 5 years and approximately 5,000 hours creating the car, beginning in 2011. “It’s like my daughter,” he said as he polished the vehicle before the auction. “I had three boys and this was my little daughter.”

The 2CV – which stands for deux chevaux (2 HP) – was launched in 1948 as Citroen’s answer to the Volkswagen Beetle.

Robillard’s model is equipped with an original engine from Citroen’s later 3CV model, giving it the extra power needed to propel the naturally heavier wooden structure.

He said he had another “crazy project” in mind for the next few years.

He intends to make a wooden version of another French classic – the Citroen DS, which in 2025 will celebrate 70 years of existence.

A woodworker since the age of 14, Robillard began making miniature wooden replicas of the world’s famous automobiles in the 1990s. He has won several prizes for his intricate work, including for a Harley Davidson motorcycle and its sidecar, which took more than 500 hours to complete. 

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