After a day in the mountains, we ended up at the Amyard home near Briançon where Estelle and her brother, Francois, were raised. This is another of Alain’s tool skill examples. Over 40 years ago he built this house with his own hands, using skills he’d acquired while re-doing the chalet. “Took only 12 years,” he said proudly. Michelle has filled it with her own collections, mainly hurricane lamps of all sorts and sizes. “We never worry when the electricity goes out,” she said. What it comes down to is that they are both addicted collectors. Alain, with an eye for picking up bargains, has taken it one step further and has become a borderline pack rat.
When in Los Angeles, Alain told me he had a car collection. The evidence was in pictures from Estelle and Tim’s wedding in Briançon.I saw a beautiful Jaguar XKE that was enhanced by adding a bride and groom,
plus a Mercedes Benz 300 SL and a nicely restored Triumph TR4 from the ‘50’s.
When I pestered him to see the rest of his collection, he made that classic French shrug that says, “You’re sure about that?” and headed for a barn on the property. I didn’t know what to expect but I didn’t expect what I got.
When he slid the door open I could see nothing but piles of wood, old car fenders, hanging bicycle wheels and moldy tarps. He went at it like a man possessed.
Alain began tossing aside pieces of wood and pulling tarps. One revealed A 1929 Peugeot town car awaiting restoration. Right next to it I recognized the Triumph TR4 that I’d seen in the wedding pictures. The Jaguar was somewhere in there as well but I couldn’t find it.
I recognized the removable top of a Mercedes roadster but it was sitting on a blue Ferrari GTO that also supported a mattress box spring, a grass rake and a spinning wheel. Next to it was a motor-driven, scale model of a Ford GT40 that Alain hand-built for Francois to drive around the vacant lot next to their home. Estelle’s own tiny car was a plastic scale model of a 1934 BMW. It was formed by her father’s hands and now waits for little Marcel to grow up.
We drove to another barn that Alain and his son constructed just to hold his treasures. Judging by the Citroen 2CV waiting outside, it is already full.
This garage contained four Citroen 2CV’s (one was four-wheel drive) and the nicely preserved Mercedes 300SL with an inline six cylinder engine.
We went from barn to barn to barn, uncovering eclectic automotive treasures…all waiting for Alain to look their way with a wrench and brush. Don’t know the make/model of this car
But this one is a Porsche 911 Targa from the ‘60’s. He also uncovered two Mercedes sedans from the ‘80’s…”All drivable,” he claims. My mind began to fog as he peeled back tarp after tarp, all hiding a treasure, some questionable.
