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The white 4L with beacon, barred by the police sign, is parked a few meters from the presidential palace of Renaissance style of Antananarivo. "No question of chase with, but it has the advantage of not consume much," explains, pragmatically, the policeman in uniform who drives.
At the end of the street, in the shade of bright jacarandas flowers, several Renault 4L but also 2 CV of the brand Citroën, wearing a sign "Taxi", waiting for customers.
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Scrapped or legendary in Europe, these popular vehicles after the war in France still roam the steep paths of the Malagasy capital and the dusty roads of the Big Island. To the point of having almost become its national emblems.
Rijason Randrianantoanina, a 37-year-old taxi driver, is proud of his "magnificent" "Deudeuche" (the small name of the 2 CV, aka "Two Horses") that makes him live for sixteen years now. "It was released in 1978, it's a solid car," he says.
Yes, the body shows several signs of advanced rust and the fuel gauge does not work anymore, but "I have a gauge in the head, you just have to get used to it, that's all," he explains with a natural disarming.
The tank of its 2 CV – cream color, like all the taxis of "Tana", the capital – contains only 28 small liters. And Rijason Randrianantoanina is visibly good at mental calculation: he never ran out of gas.
– "It goes everywhere … just lift it" –
Since the 1960s, many 2 CV and 4L have been imported from Europe, especially from France, the former colonial power. But models were also assembled in the Big Island until the 80s.
It is precisely here that Elysée Rakotondrakolona was formed until the closing of the Malagasy Company of automobile construction (Somacoa). He is now the reference 4L car mechanic in Antananarivo, in the popular district of Antoamadinika.
"The 4L was the first 4X4, and even where the modern SUVs do not come in. It takes three people to lift it!" He explains, phlegmatic.
In his open garage, wedged between an "esthetic hairstyle" salon and a street donut shop, only 4L carcasses are piled up.
Here is the reign of the resourceful. "I take parts of Renault 5 for the front 4L", says Elysee Rakotondrakolona, in a blue work almost as old as his models.
"Our specialty, we Malagasy, is that when we see two pieces that are similar, we know how to adapt.It is the D system," he says.
The expert does not give up in a specific case: when the gearbox is broken. "There, there is nothing to do."
– "Nothing electronic" –
Punctual or almost, easy to repair, fuel efficient: it is the recipe for the success of the 4L and the 2 CV in Madagascar.
No figures are available but they are certainly thousands to circulate daily in Madagascar, a very poor island of the Indian Ocean.
And no matter the pollution created by these old models not compatible with ecological standards …
In the garage of Elysée Rakotondrakolona, a worker patiently straightening with small chisels the very malleable bodywork of a 4L. Others remove the engine from an orange model to modify the chassis.
Bruno Rasolofomanantsoa, a rice farmer, also gave the "doctor" Rakotondrakolona his valuable work tool, his 4L van, to be desoldered and grafted into a traditional 4L body.
"There is no complication in this car.Everything is manual, nothing electronic," says the fifties who carries with his 4L fertilizer in its paddy fields. "If you have a problem in the middle of nowhere, to make a diagnosis, just open the hood."
Riri, taxi driver, approves. "I repair it myself, I learned on the job." On his sign, a N of Antananarivo took the powder off. But his 4L, which dates from 1975, "it's beefy". "It goes everywhere even when there is a lot of water, because the ignition is high," he says.
The original pieces are however increasingly rare, says Riri.
Traders are well specialized in the import of coins from Europe and Indo-Pakistanis settled in Madagascar have also scoured the vein, he says.
"But we do not know if these are copies or not, I suggest to the French to resume the production of spare parts!"
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