Thursday, September 25, 2008

A cute little car


I'm not a big car person but when I saw this little Autobianchi (an Italian make) in the rue de Buci (6ème arrondissement), I could not help taking a photo of it. It was so cute that a lot of passers by did the same or at least stopped to have a glance at it. This model - called La Bianchina - was built between 1957 and 1969 and it is so small - 10 x 3.3 feet - that it really looks like a toy even though it's got everything of a real car ;)

55 comments:

  1. What an adorable little car! The color is great too. I' m not surprised you started a photo trend snapping this one!

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  2. Oooh! I want one. I even like the perfect green color. The light from behind is sensational too!

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  3. OOOH! Missed by moments!!!! Congrats, Katie!

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  4. Ca c'est de la voiture !!
    The owner is a really lucky guy...

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  5. Welldone Katie!
    Don't forget to bring the GF crown at Les 2 Magots tomorrow evening (or is it this evening?)

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  6. Maybe if I had one of those, I could parallel park...Very cute car.

    Katie...Way to go GF vacationing girl. Where did you get the time to stop by PDP?

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  7. ooh I missed the gF by a mere 9 minutes! Congrats Katie!
    ultimately I didn't miss todays wonderful picture though. I love the colors, the green, the dark shadow curving across the cars hood, the chrome changing from blue to silver, the light on the pavement.
    Very nice. Merci Eric.

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  8. It does look like a toy and it's so cute. I bet the group meeting at Les Deux could probably lift that thing with no problem especially after a couple of drinks. ;-)

    Congrats GF, Katie. Phx can crown you officially tonight. That doesn't sound right. Well, you know what I mean. :-)

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  9. Maybe this nice little car will be park in front of Les 2 M'
    That would be a nice surprise ;-)

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  10. Cute! I'm a big fan of older cars, so I will save my snide comment about Italian cars in general ;)

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  11. It's charming. I like the reflection on the windshield, too, and this color of green.

    OOOOOOH! If wishes were airline tickets I'd be on my way to Les Deux Magots.

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  12. Eric, how tall are you?! Actually, you could seem very tall because of the point of view of the picture...
    I love this olive green...that's a nice car, the kind I would like to drive in Paris!

    Thib, PHX, Katie, Mike and Eric, don't forget our rendez-vous @7 @les Deux Magots!

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  13. Very cute car!! I can just picture it now some cute little parisian couple zipping through Paris.Like someone previous said,It does look like a toy car! Although,I've always had a thing for red convertibles:)

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  14. Guille I'll be there at 7 with bells on! Actually I should change that to wearing my crown, but thought you might like learning a new phrase if you didn't already know it. Can't wait to meet everyone! Now I should get to bed; I've become such a night owl seeing how I'm usually asleep by 10:30!

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  16. Katie, keep your crown! I'll be there at 7 past 10, because I'm always late LOL.
    And being a night owl in Paris is normal.
    See you tomorrow! Nite nite.

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  17. interesting car, but the Alfa behind it is more beautiful

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  18. Katie...Bravo! You snagged the crown! ;-0 Most fitting, and I hope it is most fitting on you! Sure it is. You could throw on it a few macaroons.

    PDPers at the Deux Magots...I'm sure you are all going to have a grand time. I'm with Petrea in so wanting to be there and will look forward to everybody's tales of the eve. You'll know doubt awaken the ghosts of Hemingway, Sartre and Beauvoir. If there's any dancing on the tiny tables, someone take a picture. ;-)

    Eric, this car definitely gets some style points for cuteness...and in a strange way, the color doesn't disturb me too much. Then again, I'm not a big fan of the colors in the "lime" family. If I had my camera and was walking by it though, I would have certainly taken a photo too! Hey, congrats on the article about PDP that Michael pointed out in yesterday's post. You are amazing.

    Guille...I'm usually a tad late to most soirees too. However, for a PDP partay, I would BE ON TIME! Saint Stephen has spoken...please don't throw any stones. LOL

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  19. I LOVE IT!! I totally would love this car. I love, love, love tiny cars, especially convertibles, but they are so impractical where I live. Most people just bring them out in the summer and store them the rest of the year! I looked at a '67 Mini Cooper here in the States just a few weeks ago, but it isn't quite the right fit for my life at the moment. (My kids would be hard pressed to fit into such a backseat!! Then again, so would anything larger than a book!)

    So cute, Eric!

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  20. For a little perspective with humans here is Ms. Bianchina whom one can see is indeed a tiny bit surprising in her diminutiveness.

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  21. Love the lime green! I want this car! Great photo.

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  22. Santo Stefano...I won't throw any stones, and to honor you, I'll be ON TIME!
    If I could use this car, it would be easier to be on time... :p

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  23. Tall G-Man...from your link, this car is indeed smaller than I imagined. And in the ad it is sporting four persons? I think this lime on four wheels would really be huffing and puffing to get four people up Montmartre...on a lawnmower-sized engine. The brake horsepower on this particular auto was somewhere between 15 and 21 bhp.

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  24. Guille...you make me smile. Shouldn't you be in bed? LOL. Have a grand time!

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  25. Hey! Everyone have fun tonight at les Deux Magots. My heart and spirit will be with you. Let me think: 7 p.m. in Paris is...midi à Minneapolis. I'll send a text message.

    Bisous.

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  26. Thib - you know these ladies really love you when they haven't picked up on your "The owner is a really lucky guy..." comment. I imagine this as a couples car winding through the Italian countryside with the woman's red or pink scarf blowing and her sunglasses big and round shading her eyes.

    Guille, I'll be late too as I thought it was at 7:30 and not at "7 past 10". Ten o'clock is too late for me so you should see me around 7:30. :-)

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  27. I love it! I can just see Gina Lollobrigida sitting in the passenger seat now!! Wearing dark glasses and a scarf rippling in the breeze, she is bored as she is driven along the winding roads of some beautiful seaside location...and on the rue de Buci no less!! Ca, c'est Paris!! ;-)

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  28. Katie, congrats on the GF. What an accomplishment AND being in Paris at the same time. The other day we passed a Nash Rambler on the freeway. Now that's a tiny car.

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  29. So cute! I bet it gets great gas mileage as well!

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  30. As far as I understand, such little cars are extremely convenient for Paris life-style.

    And you're right, this one is very cute :)

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  31. Amazing, an old Italian car that is'nt a pile of rust! Clearly not related to Alfa Romeo.

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  32. What fun it would be to zip around Paris in this! Eric, did you stand on another car to take this picture, or do you carry a ladder around town? How did you get this great angle? I like the reflection of the building in the windshield.

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  33. Petrea, "I like the reflection on the windshield" : thanks for this point. I could not see it last night because of the small size of my blackberry. But now on my laptop it's much more detailed and I can see it !

    Michael, I knew it was risky ;-) But you know, this guy is even more lucky (luckier?) because he will be driving his nice little car with Guille, PHX, Katie, ...on the passenger seats, tonight at St Germain des Prés ;-)

    See you there!

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  34. Michael, shame on me! After 8 or 9 years of English lessons, I'm still unable to say 7.10pm (it is 10 past 7, right?)...But if you come at 7.30, you'll be late for real!

    Thib, I would love to come at les Deux Magots with this car. It's so...Simone de Beauvoir! I'll buy a red scarf and big sunglasses.

    Jeff, I'll text you!

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  35. Coltrane "Shouldn't you be in bed?", LOL. I'm sure that's a sentence that you often say at home!

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  36. Cute car for sure, love the color (*pffft* at coltrane for his lack of fashion sense, colors in the "lime" family are FUN!), but my favorite part of this photo is the perfect reflection of a perfect Paris building that is perfectly centered in the windshield.

    Now if you'll excuse me, I must go take some more drugs.

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  37. I take that back. Upon closer inspection I find that my favorite part of the photo is the adorable little squashed reflection in the corner of the hood of a dashing gent taking a picture!

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  38. Tanya you're right. Now I picture Ken and Barbie driving down the little pink highway with their house in the background! You have a creative mind I can tell.

    Guille, don't worry. I never make fun of anybody's English unless I know them and they speak perfectly. You fall into that category, so thus the blague!

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  39. Time is coming ;-)

    My office to Les 2 Magots : 15 minutes by tube, or 1/2 hour Velib'...
    let's see what's the weather like...

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  40. Michael, "Hey Eric and everyone, look here! You're famous!" I forwarded your message of yesterday to a ton of people; even some PDP people just in case they missed it. My daughter wrote back and said, "Hurrah, Eric!" That's a lot for her. Merci again for the link.

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  41. Ooooh, I want one! And I don't even drive!
    Eric -- several people asked, but how tall ARE you anyway? Or is this voiture really that small?
    Half an hour to the 2 Magots rendezvous. How I wish I could be there w/all of you. I know you'll have the BEST time together. [Toasting you with my bottle of Fiji water—all I can manage at work—right now]
    Take pictures.

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  42. Alexa, Eric is tall I think -- maybe 5'10" or taller. Well, next to me, he's tall -- I'm only 5'2".

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  43. Hi everybody, we are currently at les 2 Magots, sharing a glass (well, several!) Of nice French wine, and we made a toast to you all... Best wishes from LynnPHX, Katie, Heather, Guille, Eric, Michael, and Thib.

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  44. Thanks for the update, Thib. Hi to all of you.

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  45. I do love it, but I never buy anything green... some say it's unlucky...

    Oooooh yes I know you're at the duex magots, a little birdie told me. Have a great time. I sent a special kiss via Guille for Eric and Michael. Make sure you claim it, guys! xx

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  46. How fun to know so many PDP friends are together again. Bonjour à notre ami nouveau, aussi, Heather. Was it a dream, or did I hear the party and all your voices from here? I am certain that we will see some photos, n'est-ce pas?

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  47. Coucou Eric,
    Mummm super la couleur... Tres annees 60!
    By the way, tu diras bonjour à katie de ma part.
    Alors à quand la visite à Boston?
    Have fun!
    Bisous

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  48. Nice. It looks like our friends may be giving new meaning to PDP: Partying 'til Dawn in Paris with hands too full of libations, repasts, convivial communication, and Paris herself for any of them to find a spare finger on a Blackberry to send us an update.

    Enjoy!

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  49. Well, well, well. That was a really nice evening : wine glasses at les 2 Magots, then soupe à l'oignon or steak tartare at le Bonaparte, with lots ot jokes, laughs, and good friends.
    So many pictures were taken that certainly some of them will appear on the web in the next hours ;-)
    Now, I'm back in my room after 1/2 hour Velib'ing. Off to bed
    'Night everybody

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  50. Btw Eric, did you gain 20 cm (yes, 20) to take this picture or what?!

    Thib, this steak tartare was so good...don't worry about the pix. ;)

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  51. Hey, I shot a photo of it just a few weeks ago as well :) It's such a funny vehicle!

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