Week 2: '68 Citroën DS



The second addition to Daddy's Matchbox made me sweat. I allowed the selection of a .99 cent toy car to stress me out.

I went to the store alone to select the car, but without my son there to temper things, I slipped into real-world mode. Working second shift, I was able to stop at Toys R' Us before work, but my mindset was on practicality and responsibility and not on play.

Instead of being spontaneous like with the Chevelle, I began to over-analyze, asking questions like:

• Should I search out a replica of a new model car that would actually be practical to drive?
• Should I select another vintage muscle car, even if the color isn't quite right?
• Should I be worried about the symbology of the car? Is a Bentley a symbol of excess?
• What if I'm unhappy with my selection?
• What about gas mileage?

That final question was what broke the adult spell I was under and helped to awaken the kid in me. I was worried about gas mileage?

I was picking out a toy car, but was using adult sensibilities and considerations to do it, removing the joy and making it a dangerous chore fraught with trouble if I chose wrong.

With the Chevelle, it was simple -- the Chevelle was a car I loved to look at, a direct, immediate pleasure like drinking a milkshake.

I stepped back, and examined the ridiculously long line of Matchbox and Hot Wheels packages I had methodically laid out before me. Here I was, a 47 year old man in a Toys R' Us at lunchtime buying a .99 cent car and worrying about gas mileage. I suspect other shoppers were intentionally avoiding my aisle.

Trust me, I take environmental issues seriously and abhor waste, but if there was one time I could, I should, let go of the weight of worry and just enjoy something for what it was, that time was now. I like old cars. Looking at them makes me happy.  It's not right, it's not wrong, it just is. I like looking at old cars.

I laughed out loud at myself, and began hanging the packages back on their pegs. For a few minutes, it was time to forget practicality.

I selected the above Matchbox, a replica of a wonderfully sexy French car, the Citroën DS, a car that for me invokes old movies, style, trench coats and low-slung hats, and Audrey Hepburn. I'm not sure there was actually a Citroën in any Audrey Hepburn movie, but there might have been. It has the right feel. I have only seen an actual Citroën on the road at most three times in my life.

At the checkout, I laid out my single purchase, and the cashier, a young guy, said, "Going old school, huh?"

I laughed. "Yes. Yes I am."

I had been saved, if only temporarily, from the burden of seriousness.

The '68 Citroën DS is number 23 of Matchbox's 2010 collection, and is number 8 of 9 of the 2010 Heritage Collection.

Photo of my Matchbox  Citroën  DS by Andy Bindernagel; Eiffel Tower/Audrey Hepburn/Citroen collage by Charles Audino.


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