This is a story of first love and second youth. Julie Steele is the PR and Marketing lady for Abbaye de la Bussiere in the Burgundy Region. When she was a student, a Citroën 2CV (deux chevaux as they are called in France) was her very first car – and her first love!
Fast forward to 2018 when Julie met a chap through work who owns a vintage car rental service. Upon her recounting to him the story of her first love, he told her that he could help find another one if she was interested.
That meeting was fate because in the space of one month, he found what is now my lovely Frog. It was the first and only one I went to see. The owner, a retiring antiques dealer near Louhans (not far from here), had looked after her beautifully and renovated her from scratch in 2013. That’s why she looks so immaculate. She’s a 1977 girl!
Julie recounts, “As I’m no longer a spring chicken, it’s the chance to feel young again and have the wind blowing through my hair! What I love most about her is the reaction that she gets from other people. I think, like for me, it reminds people nostalgically of happy days when life seemed simpler somehow. I get smiles and thumbs-up wherever I go and when I’ve parked somewhere, when I come back there’s more often than not a small group of people admiring her and taking photos. I offer half day outings to Abbaye guests along the Route des Grands Crus vineyards and the countryside surrounding the Abbaye and she is also on the Roule en Retro website.” Photo is taken in front of the beautiful Abbaye de la Bussiere.
Alas at the moment she is in a friend’s garage in Dijon and so I’m very frustrated not being able to get to her. Not that I could drive far, but at least I could have gone to buy my food in her and could be giving her some TLC!
Thanks for sharing your grenouille with us, Julie. I must admit to secretly being just a little jealous! Share with your 2CV fellow fans!
