Buttercup

It started when I was a little boy during WWII. At the time I lived with my mother in what was then French Morocco in the town of Rabat . My father had gone to war and I was not to see him for a very long time. When not at school I use to roam around always stopping to look at the cars parked in the streets of our neighborhood, these were scarce as gas, tires etc. were in very short supply. One day I saw a little yellow 5 CV and for some reason the little car caught my fancy: “When I grow up I will own a car like this one!” At the time I must have been around 5 years old…

When I was in my early 20’s I found a 5CV while visiting the South West of France. It was parked in a barn, in fairly good condition: I could not resist buying it! I took the horn with me and planned to retrieve the car at a later date. Several events came in the way of my plan and I had to abandon the little car… I still have the horn!

A few years later my father told me that he knew of such a car, it was a Cloverleaf (3 seats). I convinced him to buy it and have it restored. He did! The car was perfectly put back in its original form. Some time later it was stolen and, I was told, ended up in the private collection of the King of Morocco! There was little to be done to get it back!

Life went on; I traveled the world, got married in South Africa and, in the late 70’s, I ended up Managing Director of Citroen Cars Ltd. in the U.K. (The subsidiary of Citroen in that country.) At the time I had other priorities than looking for 5HP’s!

In 1980, my wife and I decided to immigrate to the U.S. where we had lived 3 years in the mid 70’s. We loved it and felt more at home here than anywhere else. We arrived in Georgia in January 1981 and never left!

I started a business in Albany GA where I ended up owning several dealerships: Mercedes, BMW, Chrysler, Plymouth , Dodge and Mitsubishi. I got out of the car business about 5/6 year ago when I sold my last dealership.

I am now retired. We live on a farm near Thomasville GA which is about 40 miles North of Tallahassee Florida.

Over the years I had bought a few cars hoping one day to restore them. I kept them in my hangar. Not very long ago my wife started to sell them! When only one was left I asked her to keep it as I wanted to restore it: it was a 1949 Dodge coupe. The project took shape and curiously my wife became terribly interested working on the car herself… This led me to acquire a Silver Shadow, then a Corniche which was the car she dreamed of when she was young… Then we became more serious and bought a 1937 Rolls-Royce Sedanca.

Last August we were invited to Pebble Beach with the 1937 Rolls! It was an extraordinary experience. We crossed America pulling a 40ft trailer with our car inside in 5 days!

When we left Pebble Beach , we were told that they would re-invite us next year “with a different car”…. Boat tails, American Hot Rods and something else would be featured…

Boat tails meant Duisenberg’s, Packard’s and other splendid machines, all out of my league! It is then that I thought of the 5 HP! After all it can be classified as a boat tail!

I don’t know if the Selection Committee at Pebble Beach would buy the argument but at this stage, it didn’t matter, the 5CV bug had again got hold of me! I had to find one!

A few hours on Internet and I found it. It was again in the South West of France near the Spanish border! I called the owner who made what I found later to be an honest description of the car. I called a friend and asked him to go and check the car. Very kindly he made the 6/700 km. journey by train and told me that the car was as described, and just needed a” paint job” to make it perfect! So I told my pal to buy the car!

To day the car has arrived in Savannah and is in the process of going through US Customs!

We are eagerly waiting for the green light to drive there with our trailer to retrieve it and start a body off restoration! It will have taken me more than 60 years to get the little car I dreamed of when I was a small boy!