Sacre bleu! Mon dieu! etc.
2CVs, Renault 4s, Citroen DSs, in fact any car over 17 years old will be banned from Paris from 2014, according to plans by the mayor. I don't know his policitcs, but I'm guessing he has a left wing/green coalition to satisfy?
Paris will never be the same again!
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According to Wiki mayor id Bertrand Delanoe, his background is indeed left.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Delano%C3%AB
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 23 Nov 12 at 15:16
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Those companies offering guided tours by 2CV will be raising their prices.
Friend of my mum's used to give us a private version of that in London in her R4. I've never seen a vehicle more competently piloted through city traffic, and no congestion charge to worry about in the early 80s.
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What a shame. I've had three of these over the years but liked the first best. It had the 425cc engine (the others about 600cc) and an old-fashioned motorcycle speedometer with an exposed cable. Earlier ones were even more basic, with just one headlight. I used to drive mine (in Malaysia) al fresco style with the top open and the doors, bonnet and boot lid slid off and stored. It then looked like a motorised skeleton. It was great fun to drive even if 0-60 did take about a fortnight.
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>> I used to drive mine (in Malaysia) al fresco style with the top open and the
>> doors, bonnet and boot lid slid off and stored. It then looked like a motorised
>> skeleton. It was great fun to drive even if 0-60 did take about a fortnight.
>>
>>
When was this?
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As I've mentioned before, although I don't like French cars, I respect the engineering of the 2CV very much. The creative solutions which allowed so much to be acheived with so little is truly amazing.
Some people seem to get hung up by high specification, where good engineering is really about getting the most out of cheap parts.
So, some Honda parts, for example, may be nice, but, they're also expensive - not brilliant engineering.
A good engineer is someone who can do for a shilling what any fool can do for a pound.
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>> A good engineer is someone who can do for a shilling what any fool can do for a pound.
Well, not exactly, and a crude way of putting it (I don't blame you for quoting it though N_C), but a pretty good accolade for the 2CV. I had two 2CV variants, a 425cc Bijou which was a bit of a dog, and a new Dyane which was all right, but pretentious and no better than a 602cc 2CV. I knackered it in 30,000 miles. These days I would be a more suitable owner.
Citroen engineers were good and original, and used to be given their head. The Light 15 was a true classic and the DS and its variants had a lot to recommend them in most cases. Some people claim the DS wouldn't go round corners and handled like a drunken sailor on Saturday night. Fatuous, ignorant garbage. The thing went like the wind, in the hands of an actual driver, not some home counties yobbo raised on 1600cc Fords in the London suburbs.
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>>
>> When was this?
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1961.
The Light 15 has been mentioned above. When some models were assembled in Slough, French colleages told me the cabins were much better kitted out than their French equivalents.
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2CVs to be banned from Paris. - Bromptonaut
