I've ridden in one of them, many years ago, but I guess those of us who had owned VW Beetles were pretty much immune from the charms of the Deux Chevaux! My second car (in 1961) was a 1959 Beetle - rare enough in Australia in those days that we beeped each other when we passed in the road. Then in Toronto in '64 my girlfriend's sister had one too - also a '59 model, I think. Wonderfully warm in the cold Canadian winter!

Well, I guess that one of the things that makes us feel old is arguing about the respective merits of obsolete cars! The 2cv and the Beetle had this in common, that they were favoured by several law enforcement agencies - the one in France and the other in Germany. In 1964 I hitched from London to Hamburg and bought a second-hand Beetle that had formerly been owned by the Hamburg Police Dept. (It still had the Police colours - green and white, if I remember - but the salesman wouldn't let me keep them. It had to be painted all white before I could take it outside the lot.) It had a crash-gearbox - so what model-year might that have been? I'd never driven one before, and damn near dropped the transmission on the autobahn while learning!

I drove that thing on crappy back-roads (mainly) down to Ankara, parked it in the Customs shed for three months, then back to London via Moscow. When the transmission bearings (or whatever...!) cracked up behind what was then the Iron Curtain, a mechanic replaced them with a Fiat unit. A fabulous machine, in every way!

I bought my current car after seeing it on that site; it didn't sell at auction so I found the owner and haggled. It was in Florida. A Toronto firm went and fetched it for me. I expect they go to Arizona too. That said, there's a 2CV dealer near Erie PA, they have lots of them and that's half a day, even in a 2CV. If shopping there you could choose one of the hot rod 602cc models.

Well, we oldies have this one advantage over younger folk:- we know how to handle the wheel when the power-steering fluid runs out! I experienced this earlier this month. Suddenly, no power-steering; and the first thing I thought was "Cripes. Just like the old days!" Yikes!

Both my dad and my sister owned 2CVs at one point. Great fun cars - the umbrella-handle gearstick issuing from the dashboard was one of many strokes of design genius.

Possibly the silliest thing I've done in a car was a driving challenge on one of those corporate team-building days, at Thruxton race circuit, I think. A bunch of cones set up in a field, which we were to navigate in a 2CV that had the steering connected in reverse, so you turn the wheel right to steer left. I spent the entire time I went round (I seem to recall I did pretty well) muttering under my breath "It's a boat; that's a tiller. It's a boat; that's a tiller..."

I hate old Beetles. Not for any rational reason - more just a visceral reaction to the one a long-ago girlfriend owned. It took me much too long to realize that the only reason she condescended to be seen in public with me was because I could keep her wretched car on the road. I spent more time under the car than under... no, let's not go there

I think I’d stop short of calling it a stroke of genius. I recently drove a Mehari (sort of a 2CV in pyjamas) which had no handbrake. The umbrella shift has first and reverse in the same plane but backwards; one pulls to go forwards and pushes to go back. That’s hard to remember when under pressure so on steep slopes each start was a leap of faith; would I shoot forward up the hill or backward off the cliff? For me, a more conventional gear lever would not detract from the charm of the vehicle.

If you want a heavy car to drive try a Lada, we had one, no power steering so even heavier to turn the wheels, however it did get us down from the UK to the South of France with no problems, except that you needed to send a postcard in order to overtake as it was grossly underpowered. Interestingly one tip for driving in winter was to put the headlights on full for about 5 minutes before trying to start the car as it warmed the electrics up.!

Here's one for sale.

1972 CITROEN MÉHARI - Beach Car, Unique, Rare, Collectable, Super FUN Vehicle

When I have my mid life crisis it will either be a DS21 or maybe one of these

fiat 500L 1972 vintage

When I get to mid-life I'd like a Series 1 XJ6; one with all those rocker switches. This would be tempting though, if I'd reached that point:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1961-citroen-id19/

Looks nice.

This looks like a fun road trip.

https://citroenrendezvous.org/#home

It does. In the winter I went for a butcher's at this exhibit: Citroen French car exhibit at Mullin Automotive Museum I suppose that would have been more fun if we'd driven there. Better in a SM than a 2CV though one of those convertible Goddesses is the funds-unlimited choice.

For when you want to arrive by Citroen but the Mehari is too formal : https://bringatrailer.com/2018/05/07...r-in-maryland/