A LITTLE "FRENCHIE" IN
YANKEE LAND
by Richard Boudrias
Driving your Citroën, like many of
you already know, is an excellent way to get away from
the usual hustle and bustle of our everyday lives and
to feel as if we are going back in time. This time machine
provokes smiles, hand waving and conversations with
standers-by, that often times are astonishingly most
enriching.
As a part-time philosopher, I dare to
add that in this tumultuous time that we are living
in, this friendliness is quite an accomplishment.
Also for a more pragmatic reason, it gives
you an opportunity to really know your automobile by
the whispers of new sounds that forces you to find and
interrogate where they come from and what they are telling
you. They are squealers that call for preventive adjustment
or repairs, which will enable you to ride your "ancienne"
for more trouble-free miles.
It's for all these reasons that following
Tom Goux's, (grand-nephew of Gilles Goux, winner of
the 1913 Indianapolis race in a Peugeot) phone call
inviting our little traction to participate in an exhibition
that I accepted to drive down to Cape Cod with my pilgrim's
stick praising French technology.
The "Concours d'élégance" was
held in Sandwich, more precisely at the Heritage Garden,
with their fabulous Automotive Museum, which was awarded
three-stars in the Michelin Guide. The Shaker Barn has
a dramatic way of showing the fantastic collection and
serves as a superb background for our cars.
A regiment of volunteers greeted us with
a most cordial smile in spite of the pouring rain; an
apocalyptic curse that Cecil B. De Mile would have not
done better to signify the end of the world… The
density of the rain was so strong it blocked the trailer
doors where an assortment of vintage cars was sleeping
in a completely dry environment. Twenty "Invitation
Cars" were expected but only five or six dared
the elements and drove on the soaked lawn.
A 1950 "topless" Allard drove
through the shower followed by a 1921 Rolls Royce Silver
Ghost. These gentlemen are, in my opinion, true knights
of the Vintage Car World. Armed with the experience
of this first exhibition, the organizers elected to
have a rain day next year.
During our 600-Km back home we talked
and remembered about many of the trips we had enjoyed
this summer.
©VEA
