Owning one

“When I was 18 my father bought a Dauphine,” recalls Stuart Kitchen. “It was the sexiest thing on wheels at the time, but he sold it after 18 months because my mother couldn’t cope with the nonsynchro first – and it had already started rusting. Eighteen years ago I decided to relive that memory and my wife bid on this one for me at auction. It has led a sheltered life, covering only 46,000 miles in 58 years. It’s never been restored and I had the engine rebuilt just as a precaution at 45k, and had the radiator re-cored because it was running hot. Unfortunately, I now need to replace the original door seals – they went sticky last summer. It’s a 1963 French-built car with four-speed ’box and 12V electrics: we took it to the 50th-birthday gathering in France.”

“My father had to sell our first Dauphine because my mother couldn’t cope with the non-synchro first – and the car was rusting”