{"id":92521,"date":"2023-08-11T08:25:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T22:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/?p=92521"},"modified":"2023-08-11T08:25:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T22:25:39","slug":"la-petite-fantome-gris-staying-in-a-french-state-of-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/2023\/08\/11\/la-petite-fantome-gris-staying-in-a-french-state-of-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"La Petite Fant\u00f4me Gris: staying in a French state of mind"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was a scorcher the August day we arrived in the south of France. Kim and I had flown in from Boston to visit our friends Jocelyne and Patrick, and to admire their new home, still under construction, in the old village of Fayence. <\/strong><\/p>\n

They\u2019d rented a nearby villa with a pool and had brought along Jacky and Christiane, friends from Paris. Lunch that day was a three-hour affair with several bottles of a tasty local ros\u00e9 from the Ch\u00e2teau de Valbourg\u00e8s. \u201cThey\u2019ve made wine there since the end of the Crusades,\u201d noted Patrick. \u201cWe\u2019ll go there one day to visit their old wine cave.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all the wine at lunch and the heat, I was ready to go anywhere, especially a cool dank medieval wine cave. Instead, I helped Patrick with the cleanup, lugging bags of trash and empty bottles to the poubelle <\/em>out on the street.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when I laid eyes on the most adorable car I\u2019d ever seen, parked at the curb.<\/p>\n

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What is that?\u201d I asked Patrick.<\/p>\n

Ah, yes, she is special, no, that one. We call it the cat-trel.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

My French was still in the early stages of development, including numbers and letters.<\/p>\n

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You know, a 4L. Made by Renault and very popular in the 1960s. You should have one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, I would love to have one.\u201d\u00a0 That was the wine talking, of course.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Four months later, Patrick sent an email saying that he and Jacky had found a 1966 Renault 4L for sale in Provence for only 600 euros.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a really good one, and Jacky knows because he worked at Renault in Paris for 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I shared this bit of information with Kim, noting that it didn\u2019t seem like a lot of money for a cute old French car. Kim was taken aback by this new piece of information.<\/p>\n

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You asked them to find us a car?\u201d<\/p>\n

Not exactly.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I showed her the pictures Patrick had sent of a dingy gray Renault 4L, crammed inside a small barn next to an ancient tractor, several old bicycles, miscellaneous farm equipment, and another Renault with several dogs sleeping inside. Kim, who\u2019s from Maine and more practical than me, wanted to know if it still worked (I\u2019m no mechanic).<\/p>\n

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And what will it cost to ship it to Boston?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I went online where I learned it wouldn\u2019t be cheap. An old Renault that would cost us 600 euros to buy would cost another $5,000 to ship across the Atlantic. I mentioned this to Patrick on a Skype call. He was silent for a minute and then, in his best logique fran\u00e7aise, <\/em>replied.<\/p>\n

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You cannot put a price on an adventure, and a good story.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Kim thought it was still a high price for a good story plus an old car. And then Patrick emailed to say that Jacky was happy to take the 4L up to his garage in Paris and, over the next 6 months, clean and repair it, charging us only for any parts it might need.<\/p>\n

That clinched the deal for both of us.<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s do it,\u201d said Kim.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be bringing a piece of France to Maine. We can call her the little gray ghost.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Patrick liked the name but noted that because a car, a voiture, <\/em>takes the feminine article, la<\/em>, the correct name would be la Petite Fant\u00f4me Gris<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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You can have a masculine fant\u00f4me, of course, with le<\/em>, but in this case, she is a car, isn\u2019t she?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A year later, our old gray Renault 4L, which had once been a blue police car in Marseilles, was sailing across the Atlantic, bound for Boston. Flying over, were Patrick, Jocelyne, Christiane, and Jacky and we all converged in Boston at the same time where we waited anxiously for the customs office to call. And we kept waiting.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Finally, a gruff voice with a heavy Boston accent left a message:<\/p>\n

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Is your cah the dark green Bentley with the leathah interior, or that French thing?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The next day we backed the Petite Fant\u00f4me Gris<\/em> down the container\u2019s ramp and began the 4-hour plus drive up to Maine.<\/p>\n

D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, it was August once again, and close to 100 degrees outside. On the highway, cars were stopped on the shoulder, hoods open, steam coming from their radiators. But the Renault chugged along just fine, at 45 miles an hour.<\/p>\n

The next day, at our home for breakfast, Jacky asked if we knew anyone who could service the car for us. The 4L model had never been exported to the USA. No one in Maine would know what to do with her. So, we took a drive over to our local mechanic, David Landry, to see if he had any ideas.<\/p>\n

He burst into laughter when we drove in, which annoyed Jacky and Patrick. But David explained that when he was a teenager, his family lived in West Africa.<\/p>\n

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I wanted to learn how to drive, and my dad said if I could get it running again, I could learn on the old Renault sitting out back in the weeds. It was exactly like your car.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

‘The Fant\u00f4me’<\/strong>, as we\u2019ve nicknamed her, has been with us now for 17 years, mostly thanks to David.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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This summer, on Bastille Day, as they call it over here, we drove the Fant\u00f4me over to Broad Arrow Farm<\/a> for their special afternoon F\u00eate de Bastille<\/em>. With her little French flag on top, we pulled in. Several people who were enjoying lunch outside (many wearing Basque berets for effect) jumped up and came over to look, ask questions, and take pictures.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying you need an old French car to help you stay in a French state of mind when you’re away, but it can\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n

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How do you stay in a French state of mind? Have you ever had a love affair with a car? Have you ever driven a 2CV or a 4L? <\/strong>Mark would love to hear from you\u00a0comments section below.<\/p>\n

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