It's over, October 18 &19th. What a weekend, perfect weather, a perfectly organized event and again enjoying the friendship of members of the VEA.
As most of you know, I have sold my 1966 Austin Healey, and the MGA that I have been working on since 1991 is not completed.
For this reason Helen and I were to go to the event with our every day car, and this is what I had told Patrick Morin when he phoned me.
About a week later, Patrick called me and said something like, "call Daniel Noiseux". So I called Daniel not knowing that he and Carolle-Anne were in the European car rental business, until they answered the phone with, " Deux Chevaux Leasing". I did not realize (because I know nothing about French cars) that a Deux Chevaux is a car. I thought he wanted to rent me an 8-legged horse.
To my surprise, Daniel wanted to lend me his 2CV. I knew that this was without a doubt one of, if not the best restored of all 2CV's in North America. I was so stunned that I started to cry. Daniel told me not to cry, so I stopped.

We arrived at his home and he took the time to show me the shifting, which to me was like steam trains pulling and pushing rods. I did a turn around the block and then I gave him the keys to my car, so that he could park it in his driveway. His Citroen 15Six was still there. Off we went! Helen could not believe how it sounded like a sewing machine. I told her not to worry, as the Bay does all my alterations.

All at once, I realized at the top of the Champlain bridge, that I did not tell Daniel my secret place to disarm my cut-off switch. We turned off in Brossard, and tried to call Daniel and Carole-Anne with no success.
It worried me a little, but every thing went very well thereafter. Daniel told me to keep the pedal to the metal. What a feeling knowing you could do that and not get a speeding ticket. With a tail wind going down hill, we hit 95 km/hr . Uphill, we maxed out at 45km/hr . Another of my fantasies was realized. You all know the feeling of following a tractor on a small road, with about 50 cars behind you, trying to pass. Well that is exactly what happened with us in the 2CV. I looked behind me and at least 400 cars were following, their drivers totally frustrated. I felt like the farmer, a feeling of power. Upon our arrival at 11:45 am Patrick and Nicole greeting us, gave us the rally instructions and told us to be back in time for the wine and cheese at 5pm.

Off we went! We took the long course and every thing was going well, until I saw a car which I thought was our president Gaetan's Mercedes going up a road. We took that road and we never saw Gaetan and Nicole, but we ended up down a very narrow road that opened up to these large homes and a private Tennis courts. I realized that we were lost because Helen was now yelling at me in French, which she never does, but I guess she felt like a French lady in a French car. I looked out my window, and saw two men coming out of the tennis court. I yelled to them in French asking them where is Highway 112. One of the men looked at me, and said "Bob, what are you doing here" I could not believe that I was face to face with an old client whom I had not seen in 8 years.

Before he gave me the directions, he wanted to know what the hell I was doing in this car. He gave us the directions to get back to the highway, only to get us lost again, so we gave up and headed back to Knowlton.
I must say even with all the direction problems , we enjoyed the scenery immensely. We were also falling in love with the 2CV.

On the way back, we finally checked the gas. I stopped before we got back to Knowlton and filled her up - 2. 09. I could not believe this. I even wrote it on my info card that was in front of the car. Now 50,000 people believe that a 2CV will do 425 km on $2.09 of gas. We found out on our way back Sunday that this was not so. We ran out of gas just before Farnham on the uphill ramp. I could see the Esso station on the other side. Helen and I got out of the car, and pushed it up the hill, then got in it to glide down and around the turn, off to the right, 50 feet before the Esso station.

I must say now, that our new member Bernard Pisarzewski had stopped, we waved at him to get out of the way as we coasted down the hill, so he took off as he understood our situation. . Nereo Valentini in his beautiful Ferrari Dino stopped asking if we needed help. I told him what happened and it seemed he had also run out of gas. It is amazing how much a Ferrari and a 2CV have in common.

Helen was so happy when the car started again and off we went to take the car back to Daniel and Carolle-Anne who I knew were waiting for us. Helen and I were thrilled by the whole weekend.
As an admirer of English cars, I now realize why the French have a great following for their cars. In fact Helen is now looking for a 2CV, with all the noise and special character that this little car has, one day we will own one.

I thought that a lot of people waved at us in the Healey, but we had more people wave at us in the 2CV, all with big smiles on their faces, so not only did this little car bring happiness to us, but also to many who saw us driving it.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Daniel and Carole-Anne for letting us have the pleasure of driving this wonderful little car.
Now about the social aspect of the weekend. It was without question the best event I have attended with the VEA.

The Rally was a total success, as was the dinner at the Auberge West Brome . The service and food could not have been better.
It was nice to see the all woman team of Florence Hickey and Anne Frey win the Rally. It was an evening of Anniversaries. Michel Regimbald and Marylyn Lavoie, Patrick Morin and Nicole Brouillette, also Gerard and Danuta were all celebrating an anniversary.
I would like to mention that the rooms and facilities at the Auberge were excellent, except for building no.1 which had no water and building no 3 where the toilets did not work. Only building no 2 had everything working. I had to go to Anne and Bengt Frey's room for a shower, where 12 people were waiting in line with the soap in their hands. It did not seem to bother the Freys, even though they did not have hot water left for themselves. Sunday morning was a sight to see. Frost on all the cars. The sun was coming up, and it gave the cars a beautiful look. Many were out taking pictures.

We had breakfast then headed back into Knowlton and parked the cars at the designated areas. The security was terrific and the crowds were unbelievable. This event promoted our club tremendously.
Again thank you Patrick and Nicole for a job well done.

©VEA