Ok, I lied. On Monday I said I’d bring this post to you on Tuesday, which evidently never happened. But here we are, on a Wednesday, so let’s put this whole thing behind us and go on with the post. Also, even though it’s not French Friday, let’s just call this a Wacky Wednesday!
About a month ago, I got a Snapchat (Google it if you’re old) from my friend letting me know that she was about to set off for a ten day trip to Paris and Rome. Naturally, I was excited for her and a bit jealous. But soon my feelings turned towards curiosity. This was the friend who I had gone Christmas shopping with in December, so she knew about my affinity for diecasts. As you likely know, France is the land of forbidden diecast for us Americans, so I quickly Snapchatted back asking if she was considering purchasing ‘souvenirs’. When she asked what was on my mind, I told her of the marvels that are Norev and Majorette. Being the gracious soul that she is, she said she’d keep her eyes open. Three days later, I had forgotten the conversation when, while driving with another friend out to lunch, I got a Snapchat saying, “I’m at Peugeot! Whaddaya want!” with these accompanying images:
I didn’t want to be too greedy, and I had previously sent her a picture of the 208 Rally as an example, so I quickly typed back for her to get the 208 and a 308 SW (which I adore, too bad we don’t get it here.) It was all a bit rushed and I had to tell my other friend to dictate my response while I was driving. We vowed to be more organized, and two days later, when she stopped by Renault on Champs-Elysees, I was more prepared.
First, I got this picture; definitely an overload of information going on. I knew they had the amazing Renault RS 01 but since even Hot Wheels offers that now, I wanted to get something more unique that you can only find in France. I told her to get a Talisman (which is truly stunning for a family saloon), an Espace (I adore MPV castings), and a Megane (just because).
When I asked what else there was, she responded that there was the Kadjar and the Twingo. Naturally, I had to go with a Twingo, so the Megane quickly was replaced by a white city car.
Finally, two days later, she ended up at Citroen C42, and we went through the same process. I wanted a C4 Cactus (naturally) a C5 Tourer (the more modern one) and a Grand C4 Picasso (again, that whole minivan thing). There was a bit of a miscommunication with the Picasso, though, as you might understand with the next image:
Anyways, she had wanted to return to Peugeot since I had chosen only two Pugs and three from each of the others, but unfortunately she was unaware that the Peugeot store closed at only 19:00 whereas it had been open until ~22:00 on the weekend. Fast forwards two weeks, and she and another friend are meeting me at school (because she also happens to be my prom date) for us to work out the details. I brought $80 since the little souvenir had turned out to be more of a diecast shopping extravaganza, but it was still a relatively good price considering the HAWL. Here is what I eventually received:
Overall, I am amazed by the quality and diversity of this assortment of Norevs, and the experience really allowed my friend and I to have some bonding time as well! (free international video calls FTW!) Anyways, I hope you appreciated this story, and expect to see these cars on many French Friday’s to come (perhaps a CDM for the 1/43 Picasso)! Thanks for looking, and see you around LaLD!