This is my 2 CV. The third one in my life. (I never really could do without one.) 2 CV special, 1986 model, rouge vallelunga. So much for technical data. In twelve years, she had a bit of a hard life, and she looks it: her wings are all dented (apart from some damages done to her while she was innocently parked in quite decent-looking places, she could not even resist the passionate kiss of a fire hydrant that had long been admiring her). But, on the other hand, she could also enjoy some precious moments of both human attention and technical affection, which helped her get a new chassis, among other things. For the last few years, she has been spending the hard Austrian winter in a wooden shelter that had been specially built for her; but in summer, there is nothing that can hold us, we're queens of the road again, riding high and still going strong...

This is my first 2 CV, the pride and joy of my (then) 19 years. Back in 1977, an old and long-nourished dream of mine had come true. Gone were the days of impatient waiting for buses that would never arrive, gone were the days of undignified asking other people for a lift... Free at last, free to go my own way, whenever and wherever it would lead me to - I wouldn't mind, as long as it were in a 2 CV, since a 2 CV isn't just a car, but ... c'est un art de vivre!

And that was my most faithful companion: 2 CV 4, 1978, bleu myosotis. During eight years, she took me everywhere; in summer, we enjoyed ourselves riding with the roof open, in winter, we shared the terrible cold, united by our common disgust of low temperatures. Even when an ill wind thrust our bonnet onto our roof, we continued our way - dented, but unbroken, until we came across the Vienna Club of 2 CV drivers. There we met some kindred spirits who encouraged us at times; we came to know what a 2 CV meeting was like, and we loved it; and when we finally had to part, we both took along something from those days, something that is stronger than rust, though it never sleeps...

Eva Kretschy