I bet the shape of this car will bring back a lot of memories to my French viewers... This automobile is called a 2CV (2 chevaux, two horsepower) and was extremely popular in France between 1948 and 1990. It is now pretty rare to see one in Paris and when I saw this one - driven by this guy with a French cap I could not resist taking the picture. And it feels good to smile a little after yesterday's photo... BTW, you can see another version on LondonDailyPhoto today...
Il n'en reste plus beaucoup des 2CV... ça me rappelle Bourvil tiens. Moi je la rêve en rouge cerise :) et pour un trip en Italie...
ReplyDeleteLa 2CV contre la Coccinelle... dur dur comme combat.
ReplyDeleteUn nostalgique, et je paris qu'il n'est pas de Paris!
ReplyDeleteMon boulanger bien Québécois en possède une aussi, j'essai de le capturer en photo (mais je pense qu'il la remise pour l'hiver)
So Eric, besides having 2 horsepower, is it a Citroen? Do you know what the guy was doing roaming the streets in this little box?
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love it!!! But 3 can play this game ! :-)
ReplyDeleteI give you ... the best looking 2 CV of San Francisco
Anyone else around the world? :-)
(Gee, I hope this link works.!)
I got one like this, it was painted in kind of red and black and it was called "Charleston". I shouldn't have sold it, i'am sure it worths a fortune nowadays!!!
ReplyDeleteoh, gee!!! it's the one which now is in SF. I wonder how the hell it got there?
ReplyDeleteManu: I didn't even realize it was the back of a 2CV! Of course it is, now I remember!
ReplyDeleteYou know the Pou Bel couple? Do you know why they hang around Bush street so much?
You can apparentley take them apart by undoing 4 bolts. I doubt the validity of that story though
ReplyDeleteVERY cool shot, Eric. I love the magenta scarf in the foreground, the amber of the windows, and the whites and grays/blacks of the car and people. Just saw a yellow and black one of these yesterday going down our street in Seattle. In our neighborhood old (classic) car models seems to be a hobby with many--there is an amazing number of restored cars roaming the streets here.
ReplyDeletebonjour !
ReplyDeletej'ai trouve une belle 2 CV l'autre jour dans paris aussi : http://heloise.lolitanie.com/index.php/archives/2006/02/15/eight/
et bravo pour votre blog que je regarde avec plaisir tous les jours !
My cousin owned one, back in 1974, and I bought it from him. It was painted bright yellow, looked very cool but, mechanically, it was in rather sad shape. It worked fine for just maybe two or three months, and then I believe that the transmission gave up. Since I was getting married and moving to the U.S. in August, 1975, I decided not to get it fixed, and sold it. The guy who bought it (for very very little money) was actually buying two of them that he was going to recombine into one.
ReplyDeleteI have great memories of 2CV - many of my student friends drove one, because that's all they could afford.
Billy Joel owned one and wrecked it. Yeah, and he claimed he wasn't drunk what he had that accident.
I got a ride in one from a farmer in Provence once. I sat in the back with his dog.
ReplyDeleteJ'ai la même !
ReplyDeletemais dans mon garage pour l'hiver...
Merci pour tes photos qui nous font vivre un peu la vie parisienne...
Eric My first car was a green Dyane the 2CV evolution but with the same high change gear !!! fantastic!
ReplyDeleteJOE
Hei Eric no more Rome Daily Photo link in your blog? I hope it's not because of Suez
ReplyDeleteReally Citroen 2CV? wow! very clean!
ReplyDeleteI honestly have to say, that despite the good photo, I don't see what all the fuss is about. Just goes to show you why Eric has the eye, unlike I.
ReplyDeleteWe don't see too many of these around Atlanta Eric. Not sure if they have air conditioning, but it gets quite hot and humid here.
ReplyDeleteEric - for me the nostalgia is with the old Renault 4 - I drove one in Australia in 1968 (it must have been 10 years old already by then)
ReplyDeleteMichael, it's not a rational thing. The car itself is really no big deal, but it carries a lot of nostalgia with it and maybe people tend to associate it with better times in their lives (childhood, youth, etc?) For me, it's a childhood thing.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the old version of volkswagen...isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAdore them! As quintessentially French in my opinion as the Citroen DS (my ideal car).
ReplyDeleteLOL tomate....the 70's ? I wasn't even thinking about cars then. Only kidding. I am amazed however of how many people know this car. I hadn't heard of it until I moved to France and even then, only by sight, not by model. You learn something every day I guess.
ReplyDeleteThe 2CV was my first car, and I'm only 30!
ReplyDeleteThe guy you see with a beret is probably from teh company "4 roues sous un parapluie" (http://www.4roues-sous-1parapluie.com/) that is a company that organizes tours of Paris in 2CV, and the driver always wears a beret. I used them once, and we had such an amazing time. When you drive in the streets of Paris with such a car, all people look at you smiling. People love this car and every single person in France had or know someone who had a 2CV !
Ok, ok, I take it all back. On my way to work this morning I saw a 2CV parked nearby, and thanks to all of this chatter, I even recognised it. I feel so enlightened now...
ReplyDeleteMichael: if it was parked, you missed 1/2 the charm. As Elizabeth kindly reminded us this morning, these cars also had a very distinctive ...ahem... sound!
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced - you've completely sold the wonders of Paris to me! glad to have found your blog.
ReplyDeleteJuste a confirmation. Jean-Hubert, you're right, this 2CV belongs to this company you mention. I did not know them. Thank you for the info.
ReplyDeleteEric, this link doesn't work.
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