"I put my personal life aside": Dominique, a 61-year-old hospital worker, saved up for his life's dream: a 1954 Peugeot 203

"My father had a 203 , " says Dominique, his eyes shining as if he had finally fulfilled his lifelong dream. In his memory, this car holds a special place: "I have a photo with my brothers and sisters on the hood of the car, I have always kept the link with this car . " This is how this childhood image, frozen in time, became a quest that has guided his life for the last decade. "This car is the last memory I have with my father: one day he took me to his work and he was driving, there was a smell that I can still smell from here." Today, every time he gets behind the wheel of his 203, it is "this particular smell, this smell of the past" that envelops him and instantly takes him back to his childhood. "You can feel that they have lived and surprisingly they brought with them the scent of the 60s," he says.

"When you get into a car like this, you travel back in time, you know you're no longer in 2025," explains this 61-year-old hospital worker. For Dominique, this 203 is not just the realization of an automotive dream: it's the reconstruction of a lost bond, the means of rediscovering that father-son bond he has never forgotten. An imaginary world that makes each journey a Proust madeleine on four wheels.

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Finding the right 203 was no easy task. Dominique searched for four long years, faced with a sometimes crazy market. "It's not easy to find, there are so many ads and so many people who want to sell at exorbitant prices," he says. "I've seen 203s between 15,000 and 19,000 euros, it's beyond belief." Finally, despite a few setbacks, he unearthed - a little over a year ago - his rare gem for 8,500 euros. "The daughter of the deceased owner took the vehicle back, it was complicated, she didn't want to provide the maintenance papers," he recalls. No matter, it was love at first sight.

With his modest salary as a hospital worker, Dominique had to make many sacrifices to afford the car of his dreams. "I don't have much money, I make do," he says without regret. To raise the necessary 8,500 euros, he worked nights, accepted extra shifts, and he admits: "I put my personal life aside a little." This self-denial was not seen as a punishment, but as an investment in his future happiness. "I wasn't sure I would make it, when you get there you are happy," he says, " I experience it as a revenge on life."

Dominique also enjoys telling us the smallest details of the history of his 203. Abandoned for around twenty years in Côte d'Or , "in a pitiful state" , it was saved by a retired EDF employee who had completely restored it: "interior redone, seats, roof, carpet, completely repainted" .

"He explained to me that when he bought his house, the car was in the barn like an old Traction that was dying," says Dominique. That's the charm of car discoveries in France: "we have a lot of old abandoned vehicles that we find a bit by chance. Rosalies, Traction cars..." The downside remains that after having bought it: it took him twelve months to completely restore it. "I redid the brakes, the coolant circuit, the indicator . "

Dominique especially enjoys every moment spent with his 203, even though it requires constant attention. "At the moment I have an oil leak, that's the charm of old cars, we spend our time doing things," he smiles. On the roads, he never goes unnoticed. "People honk at me, I answer them with my vintage horn, and that's it, people are happy," he says proudly. The public's reactions touch him deeply: "People often say to me: thank goodness there are people like you. When you think about it, my car is a heritage . "

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And the sixty-year-old has no plans to slow down. "In 4-5 years, if all goes well, I hope to be able to enjoy it more, to do small parades, rallies , " he already projects. Before concluding: "It changes your life, it transformed me, I have definitely found my balance thanks to it."