Blue skies, bright sunshine and the unmistakable sound of the air-cooled Citroën two-cylinder engines: Everything was ready for a successful day on that Saturday morning. Liempde in the south of the Netherlands is an otherwise quiet and tranquil village with only 4000 inhabitants, located between the cities of Eindhoven and 's-Hertogenbosch. On the outskirts of the village, sport takes center stage: the tennis club and the local field hockey club are located here, as well as the archery club "L'Union". And it is precisely there, in the small building with the large surrounding grass area, that the annual A-market for Citroën two-cylinder models has been held for four years - traditionally in mid-March.
Meeting point archery hall
The event has been around since the end of the last millennium, for years in the municipality of Gemert. But when the pub there was no longer available after the corona period, the organizers started looking for an alternative and found what they were looking for in Liempde. The hall where the archers normally practice their hobby - the targets hang on the wall - is completely filled with tables for sellers of smaller parts, accessories, brochures, model cars and other objects, while cars and larger parts are offered on the grass area.
Vendors may display their wares from 7:30 a.m.; the gates open for visitors at ten o'clock sharp. Entry is free of charge. Anyone with a suitable car - the main thing is a Citroën with a two-cylinder engine - may park on the grass area. All other visitors park their vehicles in the streets of the adjacent residential area and in the parking areas of the neighboring sports complex. For a few hours that Saturday, Liempde was certainly the place with the highest density of Citroëns in the Netherlands.
Many Dutch people and visitors from the neighborhood
A tour of the parking lots shows that some visitors have come a long way. Dutch cars cannot be assigned to a specific region on the basis of their license plate number (the license plate does provide information about the date of registration), but there are relatively many Citroëns with German license plates: Cologne, Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach, Moers and more rural regions such as Kleve or Geldern. There are also many Belgians, as Liempde can be easily reached within two hours from Brussels or Antwerp.
Kees-Jan Smit, a graphic designer from Heemstede near Haarlem, was looking for a headlight bracket for his 1981 2CV. "I was there at ten o'clock on the dot. At five past ten I had already found the part I was looking for. So I could have left again after five minutes, but luckily I didn't, of course, because otherwise I wouldn't have met many people I knew," he laughs.
It was Smit's first visit to Liempde, which he rated better than the previous location in Gemert. "I find it clearer in Liempde, the parking lot is better. And it's also a bit closer for me," he says. Smit was pleased with the fact that there were relatively many younger visitors, including some families with children: "You often hear that our hobby is dying out, that people are getting older and older. But here it was clear that younger people are also interested."
Practical classic with potential
The brothers Arie and Klaas Jonker from Bergen in the north of the Netherlands are among the veterans of the Dutch 2CV scene. They offer brochures, books and parts from their enormous collection in the hall. "Last week we were at the big fair in Reims in France. In contrast, this is a nice, small and tranquil event, but both have their charm," says Arie Jonker. "Here and there, you meet lots of people you know and find things again."
While the Jonker brothers' enthusiasm is mainly for the oldest 2CV models, Kees-Jan Smit names a red Acadiane with a large roof rack as his favorite at the event.
Speaking of Acadiane: The fact that the more modern version of the box duck introduced at the end of the 1970s also has potential as an investment is shown by the example of a mint condition model in dark blue, which was offered for no less than 25,000 euros...
But there were also plenty of cheaper cars, so there was something for all target groups - even if it was just model cars or brochures. The latter is more the collecting area of the author, who was able to add some documents to his large collection of Citroën sales literature.
The province of Brabant, where the Liempde venue is located, is known in the Netherlands for its hospitality and good atmosphere. The catering, run by the members of the archery club, was also very popular. Coffee, cake, beer, pea soup, bread rolls with meat croquettes or the typical regional "Worstebroodjes" - bread rolls with a spicy sausage filling - were very popular. All those present agreed that the 25th edition of the A-Markt was once again a great success. We can already look forward to next year.
