How and why did we become owners of Lynn's 2CV in 2025? Well, the answer to that question requires some context and a little history. Lynn taught French here in Palm Beach County middle and high schools for 22 years, and took many student groups to visit France and other Europe destinations during Spring breaks. She fell in love with the Citroen 2CV's seen almost everywhere, in various conditions and stages of repair. They are truly the People's Car, with millions of them having been built between the late 1940's and 1990 when production ceased. We collected small souvenirs of the 2CV from markets and shops over the years. After Lynn's retirement, we travelled throughout France on our own, and never failed to spot 2CV's hauling people, goods, and pets everywhere.... we took photos of them when we could. Finally, in 2014, we rented a 2CV in Burgundy and spent a memorable day flogging the car through all the backroads and scenic chateaux we could find. It was spectacular, and finalized our love for these unique, weird and iconic French cars.
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| Happy driver! 2025 |
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| Paimpol 2011 |
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| Plourhan 2011 |
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| Quillan 2025 |
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| St-Paul-de-Vence 2014 |
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| Villers-la-Faye 2016 |
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| Chateauneuf, Burgundy 2016 |
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Burgundy 2016
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| Portion of 2CV collection |
Sometime in 2025 we decided we should try to find a 2CV of our own, hopefully for an "errands car" Lynn could use locally. The mechanical simplicity of the car seemed like something I would like to work on when needed. So, our search turned up the perfect candidate, a "Bleue Celeste" 2CV with minimal mileage and completely renewed mechanical components, owned by a Citroen specialist in Seattle, Washington. Our plan to fly to Seattle and drive that 2CV back to Florida turned out to be overly-ambitious! Axel Kaliske, of https://www.2cvsrus.com/, the owner of the car and an incredibly experienced 2CV mechanic and savant, convinced us we should search for a 2CV on the East coast of the USA, rather than try to drive his 2CV across the continent without previous experience. Thus we started looking around, and miraculously found a French guy, Philippe Laine, selling his 2CV, only 15 miles from our home in Jupiter! We met with Philippe, loved the car, a 1985 2CV6 Charleston, and drove her home. Lynn promptly named her new-old car "CHARLOTTE". More info to come, but that's how our Citroen adventures began.
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| Lynn's 1985 2CV Charleston |
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| Officially named "CHARLOTTE" now |
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| Axel's 2CV in Seattle: We had to find one closer to home |
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| Philippe Laine, French artist extraordinaire, sold us his 2CV |
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| Brooklin, MA 2018 |
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| Actor Richard Dreyfuss, in "American Graffiti" 1973 |
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| Isle-Sur-La-Sourge 2014 |
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| Words of truth on the street in Provence 2014 |
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| Nuits-St.George, 2016 |
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| Nuits-St.George, 2016 |
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| Beaune, begin our 2CV rental day! |
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