The other night, I was doing some member birthday drawings, an activity that, unlike writing, leaves the part of my brain that does language-type things unoccupied, so I usually like to listen to music or have something on in the background, a movie or TV show to keep that bit of my brain occupied while the rest desperately tries to catch up on making drawings. Because my attention isn’t fully on whatever is playing in the background, I usually don’t pick something too compelling or I pick something I’ve seen before, so I don’t get too distracted. It’s a balance. This particular time I had on the 2018 movie Deadpool 2, for that comforting combination of comedy-bloodshed. Anyway, near the end of the movie, I had finished a drawing, so I looked up and actually paid attention to the screen, and was rewarded with something amazing: an extremely out-of-place car.
It’s in a scene near the end of the movie, a movie that takes place in America – it’s never exactly stated what city, exactly, but it seems like New York, even though it was mostly filmed in Vancouver, Canada – and the car there is very much not what you’d likely find in North America. It’s this:
Look at that! It’s a Citroën! According to the IMCDB, it’s a 1978 Citroën Acadiane, but The Acadiane was based on the slightly-more-refined-Dayne, and I think this one looks like it’s 2CV-based? Or is it? It’s hard to tell at this angle, and this is the only angle it’s ever seen at.
Ah, but look – the Acadiane had those boxy little taillights, where the 2CV-based commercials still seemed to use the small, individual round lamps. So I guess this is an Acadiane!
Still, what the hell is this car doing there? These weren’t common in the US or Canada, and it’s a deeply odd car to have parked outside what looks like an upstate New York school/abuse factory for mutants. It must be some kind of deliberate automotive cameo, right? It’s too bright and noticeable and fun just to be some randomly-selected car.
I really love these little commercial vehicles; they’re so utilitarian they wrap back around to being stylish. They have so much charm! I’d love to have one of these little flat-twin things to haul stuff around.
Also, this movie is known for its fun cameos; remember the cameo with Matt Damon, where he gives some genuine sound advice about anal hygiene?
Sage advice, there.
Oh shit. That’s the grand parent to my all time dream cat,the Citroën c-15.
Pretty sure that’s a British Columbia plate.
I was in Vancouver last week and saw a Citroen Saxo driving around, so there must be some Francophiles there.
I know that car. It was owned by an older long-time Citroen enthusiast here in Vancouver. He usually ran it with Michelin service garage magnets on it. He died a couple years ago and I think the car has been sold outside the area as I haven’t seen it recently. There’s a pretty decent-sized Citroen community here.
Jim Henson worked on Deadpool?
I always thought of it as a nod to his Canadian background and it’s French roots (even though they weren’t imported to Canada in any real numbers). I wonder if some footage that explains it got left on the editing room floor.
I like to believe that the producers have a car enthusiast who begged to have it there, and they let them.
So much of the two Deadpool movies seem deliberate, something that stands out so much and looks out of its own time should have some sort of story behind it.
I like to believe that the Citroen was there because it might mean Gambit is around there. I can see Deadpool hanging around with Gambit.
I view the Acadiane in Deadpool 2 as sort of the automotive spirit animal for Deadpool himself. He is believed to be Canadian and is very much an outlier in the superhero pantheon, as is the the Acadiane in the auto universe of New York (or Vancouver. Further, Acadiane sounds much like l’Acadie region of eastern Canada and Nova Scotia, though there is no connection between the car name and the region. Still, the odd little trade vehicle and quirky hero labor for acceptance and are frequently disdained. A good match.
In the first Deadpool movie he imitates a sports announcer, saying “Wade Wilson, out of Regina, Saskatchewan, lines up the shot…”. This was toward the beginning, when he was about to kick Francis in the head and before Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead arrived to pick him up.
He even pronounces ‘Regina’ correctly. 🙂
I’ll be honest, I’ve only ever read the comics with Deadpool’s early appearances which hinted at a similar Canadian project X origin as Wolverine. Sounds like the movies confirm it. Thanks.
“Regina, it rhymes with fun.”
They’re rare, but there is someone who drives a 2CV Fourgonette here in Portland. I’ve seen it on the road a few times. Always makes me smile.
I know of someone who has one in Albuquerque, too.
Ah, yeah, as good a conjecture as any, “It must be some kind of deliberate automotive cameo, right? It’s too bright and noticeable and fun just to be some randomly-selected car.” Either one of the film-makers really liked such a vehicle or it’s actually someone’s personal vehicle. Like, for instance, director Hayao Miyazaki included a 2CV in the 1979 film Lupin III: the Castle of Cagliostro because such a car was the first car he ever owned https://www.imcdb.org/v192733.html and animation director Yasuo Ôtsuka owned a Fiat 500 so it worked out that it was already lore that Lupin III drove one & it received generous (deservedly so!!) screen time https://www.imcdb.org/v192736.html
Those fourgonettes might be more common (!!) out in California (& Canada which seems to have had a longer relationship with Citroën than the U.S. did.) Some 20 years ago I lived for a few years in a fairly small college town (not so small but two entire towns could fit in the football stadium of the college town I currently live in; ironically the small town’s university had a substantially larger student body than my current town’s university but I digress) in northern California and one of the locals DD’d a lovely fire-engine-red 2CV fourgonette which was always fun for my toddlers (& me!) to spot from the relatively high vantage point of my VW bus while in traffic, such as traffic was in such a small town. And on road trips to San Francisco and southern California I would indeed see various Citroëns including fourgonettes, some of which still seemed to be used for work such as landscaping, construction, & the like. Granted, this was a good couple decades ago so dunno what the automotive landscape is like now.
Another case is Sam Raimi’s 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 which he’s managed to include one way or another in virtually every film he’s ever directed, supposedly including even a Western (The Quick and the Dead, where the chassis of such a car was reportedly used for a wagon though I have yet to see any credible verification thereof), beginning with The Evil Dead in 1981:
http://imcdb.org/vehicle_2887-Oldsmobile-Delta-88-1973.html
Has anyone reached out to Brendan McAleer? I assume if anyone knows about a weird car in the Vancouver area, it’d be him.
Other than that, I haven’t found a picture car company that lists this in their inventory, although it looks like it also popped up in an episode of Legends of Tomorrow (also filmed in Vancouver);
http://imcdb.org/vehicle_1357552-Citro%C3%ABn-Acadiane-AYCD-1978.html
something close is for sale on BaT https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1977-citroen-aks400-fourgonette/
Matt’s buddy was played by the excellent Alan Tudyk. You may remember him from such films as Serenity and A Knight’s Tale.
Oh yeah! And Tudyk is a voice in pretty much anything animated!
For some reason this made me want Alan Tudyk to do a Troy McClure impression and say “you may remember me from such films as Tucker and Dale Vs Evil and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story”
As great as he was in those, I imagine he’d do something goofy like “you may remember me as various animals in such films as Moana and Encanto.” It’s no “You might remember me from such public service videos as Designated Drivers: The Life Saving Nerds and Phony Tornado Alarms Reduce Readiness! I’m here to give you the skinny on shoplifting, hereby completing my plea bargain with the good people of Foot Locker of Beverly Hills!” but it’s goofy enough to work.
How could I forgot that he was Heihei! I love him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaGYXjMwS60
I was indeed channeling Troy McClure there 🙂
The longer [film] names would have worked better for that. I have the blu-ray of Tucker+Dale but have not yet watched it, which one might rightly regard as a small personal failing.
And the very fun show “Resident Alien” is currently showcasing his talents.
That is a good show. Currently there are 20+ episodes on the DVR so I’ll need to get caught up one of these days.
I write software for my day job and that’s both true and exactly how I describe it.
I’m jealous of my artist friends who listen to audiobooks and podcasts all day long.
There was one of these running around East Hampton, NY back when we used to visit there frequently (we’re not rich. It’s a long story). Amongst all the G-wagons and Aston Martins and Jaguars, there it was, parked outside an ice cream shop. It stuck out like a sore thumb almost as much as the beat up Subaru we were driving.