Film director Dorian Degoutte ships 1997 Ford Fiesta from France to US

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Dan Smith

A man from France was able to take his beloved 1997 Ford Fiesta to the United States for one last trip together.

Dorian Degut, 31, an artist and filmmaker from Vierzon, wanted to drive to Detroit in the car he inherited from his grandfather. This is how you say goodbye to a vehicle loaded with memories of fishing trips and laughter with Lyon factory worker Gérard Dugute. The story is about grandchildren saying goodbye. An old car fails a technical inspection test, which in France means going to a scrap yard. Degut has also shot a documentary documenting people's relationship with cars, including his own. He hopes to screen at film festivals in America and Europe. He shoots the entire movie alone rather than working with a crew. He said the project required some reflection and a little mourning for doing his best with his solo.

"I've been driving this car for over 10 years. It was my grandfather's car, so I'm very attached to it," Degut said this week. "It was a big deal for him to give me that when he passed away. This car is the last thing I still have from my grandfather." This trip was always meant to be a one way Fiesta ticket. Shipping to New York cost around $2,500, Degut said, and he has over 186,000 miles on the car.

"I am very attached to my car," said DeGute. "I need to do this last thing with her to share something with her. To me, cars are made to travel. I had this dream of taking a road trip." ?She said to me, "I want to go to my roots." She is not where she was born. Her roots are in Detroit. "

What started out as a distinct transatlantic mission in October has become a bit vague. "I was thinking of taking the car to scrap in Detroit. The trip from France to Detroit was like the last trip. My car will die with its ancestors," he told the Free Press. We stopped shooting at Pals. An auto parts junkyard on Dix Street in Detroit.

“But when I go to America, I go to Michigan, and a lot of people tell me that the rust on my car is nothing compared to the cars in Michigan. It was this Ford, and the Fiesta is the only one like it in America."

Ford sold the Fiesta in the US from 1977 to 1980, and from 2010 onwards as the 2011 model year. "You can still drive in America," DeGute said. "In France you have to trash your car. So before, it was mandatory in France to trash your car. Now it's like killing the car."

"Here I can sell it. Everything is fine. People will take care of her. This is a big change," he said. I really like the ending of a movie like that.It's very tragic.As a filmmaker, that would be the best ending.I want to make people cry....

"The problem is, if I think about my car that I have now, and if I think about my grandfather, I don't know, maybe I'll sell it. If the car still runs, sell it." Would you like to see it?" "It's a big dilemma," Degut said. "I called my family and said, 'What do you think?

He said he met mechanics in Pennsylvania during a road trip to Michigan and they might want to buy the Fiesta. It means that there is a need. Logistics are complicated. It may be fate to find a buyer in Detroit, he said. "We need to find a place to dispose of this car," DeGute said. In the meantime, he documents his adventures on his Instagram account 'fiesta_lefilm'. Through his social media, he found a room to rent for a while in Detroit's Mexicantown. Since then he has rented a house in Hamtramck. Wherever I go, I hear family stories and car memories. "I'm trying to find myself in others. That's the idea. When I go on trips, it's mostly the idea of ​​meeting people. I'm using the car as a tool to meet people." I will," said DeGoute.

His LinkedIn Professional page, which features images of a Ford Fiesta taken at a wind farm, states: Materials. Using methods borrowed from sociology and anthropology, he sets the frames and situations that provoke encounters. He currently leads a long-running film project called Vierzon Cinema in the town of the same name. The film project Fiesta is part of Vierzon - cinema is also a way for Dorian Degut to experiment with the production of more ambitious films in terms of format, duration and international scope. "

His dream is to screen documentaries in film festivals, theaters and outdoor settings such as the Silver Lining Drive-In in Bedford, Pennsylvania and the Ford Wyoming Drive-In Theater in Dearborn. Last month he stopped by Ford's headquarters in Dearborn hoping to speak to someone for the film, but no one was available. I got in touch and scheduled an interview with historian Ted Ryan.

"When Ford of Europe developed its first subcompact in the early 1970s, no one could have predicted its legacy," Ryan told Free Press. "More than 20 million Dorian's Fiesta have been produced. It's one of the Fiestas ever made, and the Fiesta is more popular than the Model T. There are millions of personal Fiesta stories like this."

Jonathan Klinger, Traverse City-based Haggerty's vice president of car culture, said DeGoute's story "shows why so many people are drawn to a particular car. It doesn't matter how it's worth," he said. Rare. That's his connection to his grandfather, and that's priceless. more:Ford Electrifies Classic Pickup to Launch Stunning F-Series Truck more:Family love for Ford Escort extends generations, dents and everything more:The first Ford Mustang owner kept the car.Currently worth 3.5 million yen

Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or contact [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.