Filmmaker ships his 1997 Ford Fiesta from France to US for one final journey
Phoebe Wall Howard
6 min read
A man from France shipped his beloved 1997 Ford Fiesta to the U.S. so they could make one final journey together.
Dorian Degoutte, 31, an artist and film director from Vierzon, wanted to drive to Detroit in the car inherited from his grandfather. This would be a way to say goodbye to the vehicle that carried memories of fishing trips and laughter with Gerard Degoutte, a factory worker from Lyon.
The story is about a grandson saying goodbye. The old car failed its technical inspection test, and in France that means going to the scrapyard.
Degoutte is also filming a documentary to chronicle people's relationships with cars, including his own. He hopes to screen at film festivals in the U.S. and Europe. He is shooting the whole film himself, alone, rather than work with a crew. This project requires reflection and involves a bit of mourning best done solo, he said.
"I’ve been driving this car for over 10 years. I’m really attached to this car because it was the car of my grandfather," Degoutte said this week. "It was a big thing to give it to me when he died. This car is the last object from my grandfather that I’ve still got."
This trip was always intended to be a one-way ticket for the Fiesta. It cost something like $2,500 to ship it to New York, Degoutte said. The car has more than 186,000 miles on the odometer.
"I’m so attached to my car," Degoutte said. "I need to do this last thing with her, to share something with her. For me, a car is made to do a journey. I had this dream of doing a road trip. I asked my car: Where would you like to go? She told me, 'I want to go to my roots.' Not the place she was built. Her roots would be Detroit."
Dorian Degoutte, a filmmaker from Vierzon. France, shipped his 1997 Ford Fiesta to New York on Oct. 4, 2022 via Atlantic Container Line for a final trip to Detroit before going to the scrapyard. A separate receipt provided to the Free Press shows arrival Oct. 31, 2022.
What began as a clear transatlantic mission in October has become a little murky.
"I was thinking to bring the car to the scrap in Detroit. My trip from France to Detroit was like a final trip, and my car would go die with its ancestors," he told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, taking a break from filming at Pal's Auto Parts junkyard on Dix Street in Detroit.
"But when I get to the USA, and when I get to Michigan, many people tell me the rust I have on my car is nothing when you compare it to cars in Michigan. Also, something I didn’t expect, is this Ford Fiesta is only one like this in the USA."
Dorian Degoutte, 31, a filmmaker from Vierzon, France, stands next to his 1997 Ford Fiesta at Pal’s Auto Parts in Detroit on Dec. 28, 2022.
"I can still drive it in the USA," Degoutte said. "In France, I must bring it to the trash. That means that, before, putting the car in the trash in France was an obligation. Now it would be like killing my car."
Dorian Degoutte, a filmmaker from France, shipped his 1997 Ford Fiesta "home" to the U.S. (and drove it to Detroit) for its final journey. He posted this image in front of Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn on his Instagram page on Nov. 22, 2022.
"Here I can sell it and everything is fine. People will take care of her. This is a big change," he said. "I still don’t know. I really like the end of the movie that would be the crushing of the car. It’s so tragic. As a filmmaker, that would be the best end. I want to make people cry. ...
"The thing is, if I think about my car, which I am in right now, and if I think about my grandfather, I don’t know, maybe I would just sell it. If the car can still run, why not sell it?" Degoutte said. "It's a big dilemma. I can tell you, I've called my family to ask: 'What do you think? What should I do?' "
Dorian Degoutte, 31, a filmmaker from Vierzon, France, holds a photo of his late grandfather Papuche and his partner Georgette eating chicken and salad as Degoutte stands inside Pal's Auto Parts in Detroit on Dec. 28, 2022.
He met mechanics in Pennsylvania, during the road trip to Michigan, who may want to buy the Fiesta, he said. But that means Degoutte would need to return to the East Coast with the car. The logistics are complicated. Finding a buyer in Detroit may be destiny, he said.
"I need to find the place where I get rid of this car," Degoutte said.
Meanwhile, he's chronicling the adventure on his Instagram account, fiesta_lefilm. Through social media, he found a room to rent in Detroit for awhile. He has since rented a house in Hamtramck.
"I’m trying to find myself in the others. That’s the idea. When you go for a trip, it’s mainly an idea of meeting people. I use my car as a tool to meet people," Degoutte said.
His LinkedIn professional page, which features an image of a Ford Fiesta being filmed on a wind farm, says: "Adopting an approach of documentary creation, he uses his camera to go to the meeting of his otherness, whether it is human, animal or material. Using methods borrowed from sociology or anthropology, he sets up frames and situations that provoke encounters. He is currently leading a long-term cinematographic project called Vierzon-Cinéma in the town of the same name. The film project Fiesta is part of Vierzon-Cinéma but is also for Dorian Degoutte the way to experiment the production of a more ambitious film in terms of format, duration and on an international scale."
Dorian Degoutte, 31, a filmmaker from Vierzon, France, records footage for his art film inside Pal’s Auto Parts in Detroit on Dec. 28, 2022. Degoutte and his family believe that his grandfather Papuche’s essence is still in the car, making it one of the reasons why he decided to make the art film, in honor of his grandfather and his attachment to his car that was handed down to him over 10 years ago.
His dream is to screen the documentary at film festivals, in theaters and in open-air settings including the Silver Lining Drive-in of Bedford, Pennsylvania, and the Ford-Wyoming Drive-in theater in Dearborn, Michigan.
Last month, he stopped by Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn hoping to talk to someone for the film, but no one was available. This week, realizing he'll be returning to France soon, Degoutte connected with the company to schedule an interview with its historian, Ted Ryan.
Dorian Degoutte, 31, a filmmaker from Vierzon, France, records footage for his art film inside Pal's Auto Parts in Detroit on Dec. 28, 2022.
"When Ford of Europe developed its first subcompact in the early 1970s, no one could have anticipated its legacy," Ryan told the Free Press. "Dorian’s Fiesta is one of more than 20 million Fiestas produced, making Fiesta more popular than even the Model T. There are millions of personal Fiesta stories just like this one."
Dorian Degoutte, a filmmaker from Vierzon, France, posted this image on his Facebook page Dec. 23, 2022. He is making a documentary about bringing his 1997 Ford Fiesta "home" to Detroit.
Jonathan Klinger, vice president of car culture at Traverse City-based Hagerty, a specialty insurer of collector vehicles, said Degoutte's story illustrates "why a lot of people are drawn to a particular vehicle. It doesn't matter how much it's worth or how rare. It's his connection to his grandfather, and that's priceless."
