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In the early days of the Internet (1996 or so), I met this phenomenon, called Jeroen Cats. In memory of
the good souvenirs I keep from him, I searched my archive for some photos... |
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| When I bought a Citroen for parts at the company where I worked (De Jonghe Autoparts - Deurne/Antwerp), I could lend the truck to deliver it to Grathem. And if we had some time left, we often went out to pick up another wreck, here or there. This truck has helped us to get an Ami Super from Groningen, a Traction 6-cilinder from Rochefort and this 2Cv from around the corner. And lots of others... |
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| Preparing for Paris. This was the greatest meeting ever, I attended. We just bought for a reasonable price 2 or 3 2CV's. Fixed them up to drive them to Paris and sold them afterwards. Great fun! |
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| Last preparations for the trip. Fixing the Belgian
Duck on the rooftop was my Job. Jeroen took care of the serious stuff
like brakes, ignition and such. Photo taken by Noush Richards in
Schoten, May 1998. (sent to me by Jeroen Smit, current owner of 1 of the Paris Ducks) |
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| Once in Paris, my wife and son Gilles joined us.
Then we got stuck in the biggest 2CV-traffic jam ever! See also my other page: Paris Traffic Jam |
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| Because of the heat and the slow driving, our 2CV's
were bothered by vapor lock. Nothing else to do then park them on the
Champs Elysees and go for a stroll. Jeroen tried to speed up the cooling
process, and also helped out the Sahara-2CV. Story: As Jeroen met the Sahara-guy, fiddling with his carburettors or so, early in the morning on the camping-site and offered some help, he was looked upon and the man grumbled something like: How could a kid like him help him out. When the Sahara-2Cv got stuck in the Paris-parade, right behind us, and Jeroen assisted in getting it rolling again, the guy was impressed and invited us that evening to his tent to talk about Sahara-mechanics! |
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| At the Belgian ICCCR in 1998, I teamed up with Jeroen Cats and José Biesbrouck. 3 generations apart, but united with chevrons. The 2CV-cabrio on the left side, will take part for the 4th time at the 2008 Rochefort-meeting, held every 10 years! More of José at www.citrobe.org . |
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| This must have been one of the first eendmeel-meetings in Grathem. Jeroen, once on a photo without a car, but surely talking about them! |
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| Fetching parts and cars was our biggest joy! |
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| Carefully seperating body & chassis, was 1 of
our specialities! Jeroen was in need of some rippled iron, and we got hold of this Acadiane from FE2PK. The chassis and trailer had to be brought back in a few hours. No problem. |
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| These are the highlights of our mutual 2cv-ownership. The blue Surf-vehicle and the Black & Chrome. Jeroen's 2CV was prepared to take his surfboard inside, from passenger seat, to the big Traction-bootlid. |
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| And then came the 4-cilinder-story. I got hold of cars & parts and Jeroen matched everything together. |
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| Occasionally, we got stuck along the road. But I cannot remember 1 occasion where we did not find a solution to move on. |
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| When the first Tudor Webasto Sunroof came along for my Visa, Jeroen was there to assist Guy Moerenhout. |
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| Driving behind Jeroen... |
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| Autumn 2006 we got hold of an Axel from Carlo Vanlingen. It would be our last trip together. As our contact was maybe less intense the last years, we always kept contact by mail. If I got in trouble in cyberspace, he was always there to rescue me. For example, the whole setup of www.reKup.net was my idea and his design. |
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Thursday 19th of july, I got the message that
Jeroen was no more. A stupid accident, the evening before.
His website forever : www.Cats-Citroen.net |
