Walking to a friend’s place in Portland Saturday morning after the terrific TriMet public transit system deposited me just two blocks away, I spotted this (herd, concave, covey – what would be a good moniker?) of Citroëns.
On the same property, but not near enough to be included in the group shot was a red 2CV van. I’ve never seen a 2CV in the metal before, and the yumminess of spotting two very different ones appealed to me. Imagine using this as a delivery vehicle for French food. (Random tangential thought – that’s one niche I haven’t seen filled by one of the thousand Food Trucks in Portland)
Very nice, would have been perfect if you had a Cafe au Lait and a Pain au Chocolat with you at the time. The first 2CV with the two-tone paint is a Charleston model.
Sweet looking Citroens. My favourites are the 2CV, the DS, and the CX. It’s an unforgivable shame that Citroens were never sold in North America in large numbers.
or that the government forced them off the market after their best year in the U.S. ever. That height adjustable suspension and dynamically-aimed headlamps are unsafe, you know…..
How about Trois Chevaux (3 Horses!)
That would be a troupeau (herd) of Citroens; as aren’t they, especially the 2CV , a little agricultural?
An eccentricity of Citroens?
I know this group of cars well! This guy has had this stash forever, I first spotted them in the early 90’s! Cool to see a scene I’m familiar with on my favorite site!
I stumbled on this house of Citroens back in 2009, but only the DS and GS were there at the time. I took shots of them both, but have never written them up; my bad.
My girlfriend found this beauty in Seattle last week.
Nice, I have one in my driveway, I’ll be looking for another to supplement it when my daughter starts driving
I suspect it should be “Mes Citroëns” (I went to a very dodgy school so I could be wrong).
I can live without the umlaut, or whatever French people call it, but as I was already being pedantic I thought I’d throw it in there.
You’ re right: it should really be “Mes Citroëns ” (plural) and not “Mon” (singular). The “umlaut” is called “tréma” in French
Fixed. Merci!
Im pretty sure Ive seen that black/burgundy Charleston (isn’t tht what those tutone 2CVs are called?) nattering around Portland. Lots of cool and unusual stuff here!
When I lived in Denmark, in the 1940s, I use to see one of those 2CVs delivering long loaves of Liverpate’ on large trays to the delicatessen below our apartment in Copenhagen. That stuff was so good, when my mother sent me to purchase 25 øre worth, I had often eaten it all on the way back up to our apartment. I ended up going back for more, and did not eat any of the second batch you can be sure!
What would be a good moniker for those Citroens?
I looked it up. They are Citroens; it is called “entrepôt de ferraille”.
Citroën 2CV is often called by popular nickname in Germany: Die Ente (the duck). A less common variation is Gauloise-Ente (French cigarette brand and duck).
The story behind the nickname is a journalist from the Netherlands who saw 2CV in 1948. He thought of the ‘de lelijke eend’ (the ugly duckling) from one of Hans Christian Andersen’s fables.
My parents who have the same type of 2CV in the aforementioned photo (a 1986 Charleston model) always call it ‘Die Ente’.
Perfect! An entropy of Citroens. Since mostly I see them sitting somewhere.
Nice ! .
I’ve always been impressed by Citroens .
I had an unrestored 1959 2CV AZ model , it was a great car if a total deathtrap .
-Nate
Nice photos indeed and I love seeing all the old cars around Portland, but Citroens are not terribly common. There might be still a DS off of North Vancouver Avenue as it was there a few months ago. On a side note there is a house in Northeast Portland which is home to at least 6 Studebakers and there are a few other one car company households around town.
Great find.
I propose that the collective term for a group of Citroens is the Une equipe des Amis, or a team of friends.
Very nice collection! Next three that he needs to get to expand the set would be a Traction Avant, an SM, and an Ami.
There were a couple of those Charlestons running around the research triangle area of North Carolina, where I lived previously. A black and burgundy like this one that I’d see frequently, and a dark gray/light gray that I saw at least twice. The two-tone suits it, though it’s a bit ironic that this “retro” paint scheme was only offered late in the run (1980’s).