2CV - Taking Life in the Slow Lane

Iconic: Yes, the car's slow, but repairs are easy

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Fans of an iconic French car gather this week in Slovenia to reclaim a slow, stress-free way of life where repairs are easy and cars are slow.

"Once you sit down, all the stress from your office is gone," Karmen Uglesic, one of the organisers of this year's 25th world meeting of Citroën 2CV fans, said. "You stop worrying and simply enjoy," she said.

As head of the Slovenian parliament's public relations office, Uglesic has more than 20 years' experience working with politicians and managing events as the tiny former Yugoslav state transitioned into a fully fledged member of the European Union and Nato.

Preparing for retirement, Uglesic says she owes her mental well-being to her passion for the "Spacek", or "little freak".

That is what one journalist, bewildered by the car's appearance, called the 2CV when it appeared in the Yugoslav market in the early 1950s.