Our Duck does not walk on two legs but drives
on four wheels. It is a Citroen 2CV derivative,
the Dyane. Since "Duck" is a generally
accepted nickname for 2CVs and derivatives,
it will be used on these pages. But we have
a special name for it: we call it The Can
(like a beer can, or a can of Coke). The
old name, which Brigita invented in a moment
of true inspiration, was the Coal-Box. We
don't use that one anymore...
Every 2CV driver can think of him or herself as a member of a world wide 2CV gang, with all the benefits that go with it. This usually means a great deal of travelling and a lot of good time on our regular gatherings. Every other year we have a World meeting. The 11th World meeting was held in '95 in our country and most of the participants agreed that it was a lot of fun. There is a sort of universal friendship among us, which leads to another benefit: A 2CV driver in trouble can always get help from other 2CVers. You can verify this if you take a look at Uwe's story.
2CV is a way of life, not just a vehicle. By driving one, a certain stand is taken: be yourself, show some personality and individuality, don't just be a sheep like too many others (or at least be a black sheep!). To be short: things important for us are fun, travel, meeting people, having friends. Things we don't care about too much: career, big bucks, big cars.
The third reason: the duck is a quite reliable car that consumes little fuel and is a real fun to drive. Soft and comfortable suspension makes long journeys a pure pleasure. Because of funny looks and a tiny engine, this car is usually heavily underestimated by the owners of ordinary vehicles. But there's more to it than meets the eye. Our Dyane has just turned 340.000 km on the counter, but it still cruises happily wherever we want to. That's with the original engine, which has never even been taken apart yet. We drove it across much of Europe til now and have some great plans for the future trips. We will be doing more off-road trips in the future, like Sahara, Asia, Arctic regions etc. This is not a joke, it's very serious: in a few years' time, we will take a year off and drive our Dyane around the world.