The Citroën 2CV and Renault 4L, these French popular cars mostly imported in Madagascar in the years 60 to 80. Nowadays, they are true institutions, a symbol of the country in some way. Most of the taxi drivers of the capital of Big Island, Antananarivo, notably, use those cars as vehicles, because they have the advantage of to consume less (we have to notice that they have all been enough lightned), they are also easy to maintain, and to repair : with wire, a hammer and rubber bands, a Malagasy mechanic do miracles ! But there are also some amators who restore them with care. For travelers, those old vehicles have a cheaper tariff than the other cars so it still works. There is nothing astonishing that it really founds a park of old cars and it is with those lasts that we could enjoy the beauty of the landscapes of Tana with a reasonable price.
In a countries of strategy where everything could be repaired , the 4L a 2CV are still alive here !
The Museum of olds cars of Antananarivo is installed by the road : for visiting them, as during the day as at night, you just have to take a taxi ... They are numerous, parked in bulk before the Independence Place. It is easy to notice them : they are colored with cream beige, They carry a yellow notice on the roof, sometimes written by hand.
They are officially 1.200 in the capital city of Tana, the sweet surname that was given to the capital of Madagascar : there are Simca, some Peugeot, a good deal of Renault and Citroën, there is no German car and a few of Asian. The number makes the authorities smile, which adjust : 1.200 at least. Officially. Since there are taxis, called gipsy... (Chut !!!)
Attraction
As we do not find any spare parts, or, these are too expensive, garage men manufacture the cars themselves, or adapt them. The engines are splendid : in some engines, there left just one genuine part.
It is said that there are still a working Dauphine, and even a traction : the traction, it is true, but it works only at night. They show the place where, it is using to, wait for customers : every taxi driver has their own habits. The Dauphine, it's also true, but its owner is retired, it just goes for some shopping, from time to time, and no one knows where it exactly lives. Otherwise, there is a 203 that spends his afternoon before the Plaza.
The taxis of Tana are deprived from clock (and from any over things which will be too long to be listed, brake
, dampers, blinkers, floor, door handles), therefore you have to bargain carefully the cost of the course before starting up : for an urban journey, count from 5.000 to 10.000 ariary. A fortune, when we know that one million ariary makes a perfect monthly salary in which few people could reach it, and that a place a taxi B costs (in town) 400 ariary.
The taxis of Tana, it is fair game, have a tendency to increase the tariffs when they deal with a vazaha (a white person), but the expat, installed sometimes in Mada since a long time, and the zanatany (whites who are born in Mada), stand up for themselves : the taxis is thus do not have any choice than tracking own (rare) tourist, or businessmen, that do not travel with their personal driver (very suggested in Mada, and not expensive).
Source > http://one-minute-madagascar-news.com/profiter-de-la-beaute-des-paysages-de-tana-a-un-prix-assez-raisonnable-a-bord-dun-vehicule-ancien/