Love at first sight led me to a whirlwind adventure with my Citroën 2CV

Sir, – My first car, purchased in 1976, was an emerald green Citroën 2CV. It was love at first sight.

My father told me it was no better than a lawnmower and offered to lend me the extra money to buy a Ford Escort. I refused.

I’d read that a French farmer would load up his Deux Chevaux with garden produce, eggs and even a pig to transport to the market and I thought that this car could also have a commercial future. The deal was done, and a happy partnership emerged.

I could drive fast around corners with the body of the car leaning over while all four wheels remained firmly on the ground. When the roof was rolled back my friends could hang out and wave at other road users and startled pedestrians.

My most frightening experience though was when I was smuggling a television from Co Armagh, where I grew up, to Dublin where I was working. I’d decided to leave early on a Sunday and take an unapproved road to avoid customs.

In the depths of the south Armagh countryside, suddenly, a young man leapt from the hedge into the middle of the road in front of me. I had to jam on the brakes, the television wobbled in the back seat – the boot was too small to hold it – and the passenger door was wrenched open.

This stranger jumped in and said: “Drive.” I could smell alcohol and began to feel uncomfortable. I was asked where I was from, he named families in my village and then, just as suddenly as his arrival, his departure bore the words: “Stop. I’ll get out here.”

That was the beginning and the end of my side hustle as a smuggler. Although I never realised the car’s full potential as a goods vehicle, I had many memorable adventures the length and breadth of Ireland with my much-loved and treasured 2CV. – Yours, etc,

DOROTHY FISHER,

Bellewstown,

Co Meath.