
Seeing France’s Wild Mountains Through a Clouded, Classic Windshield - pingou
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/travel/cevennes-france-drive.html
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kweks
I have a friend that has just left France to drive to Mongolia in a Renault 4L
(Lovingly pronounce "Catrelle" in French) - loosely a "sister car" to the 2CV.

We spent a few weeks driving around the French and Spanish Pyrennees in it.
I'm not at all a car person, but fell in love with. Its quirks and personality
make it a pleasure to drive. The time you spend broken down is balanced with
the people you meet who all have a story about this car.

Buzzing around the mountain trails and getting jealous looks from ferrari
drivers are all part of the perks.

There's a huge passion behind these cars - they even hold annual rallies for
pushing these cars way beyond their intended limits.

[https://www.4ltrophy.com/](https://www.4ltrophy.com/)

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foobarian
The only car I ever saw with a manual transmission where the shifter is a
steering wheel stalk.

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steverb
I learned to drive "three on the tree" in a 76 Ford Maverick.

~~~
foobarian
<insert rant about Ford discontinuing sedans in the US including the manual
shift-only Focus and Fiesta STs...>

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danidiaz
Writer Edith Wharton (of "The age of innocence" fame) traveled across France
by automobile in 1908. She wrote her experiences in "A Motor-Flight Through
France"
[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57347](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57347)
which is a good read.

> The motor-car has restored the romance of travel.

> Freeing us from all the compulsions and contacts of the railway, the bondage
> to fixed hours and the beaten track, the approach to each town through the
> area of ugliness and desolation created by the railway itself, it has given
> us back the wonder, the adventure and the novelty which enlivened the way of
> our posting grand-parents. Above all these recovered pleasures must be
> ranked the delight of taking a town unawares, stealing on it by back ways
> and unchronicled paths, and surprising in it some intimate aspect of past
> time, some silhouette hidden for half a century or more by the ugly mask of
> railway embankments and the iron bulk of a huge station. Then the villages
> that we missed and yearned for from the windows of the train—the unseen
> villages have been given back to us!

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120bits
Seems like beautiful and great drive. One of things in my bucket list is to
drive on Lofoten scenic route [1].

[1] [https://www.lifeinnorway.net/lofoten-road-
trip/](https://www.lifeinnorway.net/lofoten-road-trip/)

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anm89
I think this is all I really want in life.

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FerretFred
Brings back memories! We had one quite a few years ago, and the recurring
problem we had was that the ignition timing would drift (worn cam), so we
always travelled with a packet of cigarette papers for setting the points gap.
Of course, the _other_ problem was that the points box was directly behind the
engine-cooling fan, which meant removing it before maintenance and running the
engine without while tweaking the timing. Great "fun" :)

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GrumpyNl
First car i owned, bought it for 100 gulden in 1979 with over a 100k on the
clock. Great fun.

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CriticalCathed
Ironic title considering there's not a single photo through the windshield. :]

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ilamont
Romantic, unforgettable, and a great conversation starter, but from a
practical point of view it's very worrying to travel on dangerous roads in an
antique car with a long list of mechanical shortcomings.

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floki999
Great car, the French Honda Civic of its day. Turn a corner a bit too fast and
the doors opened.

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chaseha
I'd likely choose the BMW, but sounds like great driving indeed!

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audessuscest
this car is the worst to drive... sounds like a hipster bad idea

