The Deux Chevaux Around The Corner

This sweet old French car has lived a few blocks from my door for a few decades, so I guess I'll give it a blip. I rarely see it away from its parking spot, but it's always clean and is clearly prized by its owners. I believe it's the 1967 Export Model.

The Citroen 2CV (the name "Two Horses" refers to its 200 horse power engine) was manufactured 1948-1990 and assembled in many countries, but it began life as one of France's affordable cars for Everyman in the years following WW2. Other examples were the Renault 4L, the Isetta, the FIAT 500, the SAAB 92, the Volvo PV444, the Nash Metropolitan, the Mini Cooper, and the Volkswagen Beetle.

I grew up riding in VW Beetles and learning all about cars. It was only as an adult that I started to understand the politics involved, but Volkswagens were as common as ants in the US then, while similarly affordable cars from formerly allied countries were either not on the market here, or uncommon and subject to urban legend. FIAT supposedly stood for "Fix it again, Tony;" SAAB was said to be a "Sob Story;" and Citroen or Volvo cars were said to bring on an Odyssey of waiting for self-important, specialized foreign mechanics, if yours ever needed a simple brake job.

Perhaps because I lived in France for a few years and miss the place very much, I think the 2CV is the coolest postwar economy car that's ever rolled.