How all that did start? May 7, 2000, my friend ED Merryman and me let us decide to make a small Sunday and family turn in Manhattan, with our 2 CV Charleston. It is already not very common to see a Small Citroen circulating in New York, then two, and identical, that attracts all the attention! By seeing us passing, the pedestrians freeze, as if an UFO had just landed in front of them. Once the surprise passed, they take their cameras so much the scene is unusual in the streets of New York. We park and crowd piles up creating attroupement, as if a movie star got out of a limousine. The afternoon is truly fantastic. Encouraged by this success, it germinates in us already the idea to do something of more significant, of better, but in the same kind…

The first opportunity arises quickly a few months later with July 14, French national festival called "Bastille Day" in the United States. Having taken some contacts, we gather two 2 CV Charleston, one 2 CV Dolly, one 2 CV Spécial and a DS. The said day, without preset route, we take the famous Fifth Avenue, under applauses of the passers by. In front of the Arc of Washington Park Public garden, similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, we stop for pictures. Even the police officers of New York accomodate us and greet us with "bon jour" quite French. The walk finishes by joining the reception organized by the Alliance Française under ovations of crowd present.

For 2001, we decide to still better do. With ED, we thus create a club which we baptize Greater New York Citroen & Vélosolex Club. Because, to the Citroen, again join from now on Vélosolex, available on the American market. We then expect to gather a maximum of ten Citroen and Vélosolex. The appointed date is that of Sunday July 15, feastday organized by the Alliance Française. However, as of July 13, the New York Times, announces with the one of its automobile heading the organization of our convoy!

The said day, arriving at the starting point of our strolls, I discover a significant crowd… An accident? Not, only of the hundreds of witnesses admiring the 35 Citroen (primarily of the 2 CV but also Traction 15/6 H, DS, CX…), Talbot, a genuine Jeep of the D-Day and three Vélosolex… The convoy gets under way finally. We occupy four lanes, without any authorization… As an organizer I start to have some comprehensible concerns! Fortunately all occurs well. We cross Manhattan while directing us towards the south to Broadway. We borrow the seventh avenue until Times Square, heart of "Big APPLE". We fork then in direction of the Fifth Avenue, where the 2 CV are given carry out a true ballet on the roadway ! After a stop in Washington Square, where journalists await us to take many pictures, we move towards Madison Avenue, then towards the festival of July 14 of the Alliance Française. And here is an alignment of more than thirty Citroen parked on the Fifth Avenue, in front of Park Exchange. One single, and absolutely unforgettable moment for all those which assisted to with it!

For edition 2002, the departure will be given by Mr Richard Duqué, the Consul general from France in New York. We wait already more than one hundred cars and a very large score of Vélosolex. Also, in memory of the victims of September 11, 2001, our tour in "Big APPLE" should take us along until the site of the twin towers of World Trade Center.