In the semi-psychedelic lighting of the VIP-room of Retromobile a new award was presented to Model T world travellers Dirk & Trudy Regter by Directeur du Salon François Melcion (right) and Malcom Forest (left) "Antiquemobilist of the Year". The idea of the award - and the brazilian word 'antiquemobilist' itself - came from Malcolm Forest, he is a true old car fan from Brazil. You may have seen his name connected with Isotta Fraschini and a very rare Gräf & Stift limousine as well.
The idea behind 'Ántiquemobilist' is to honour a driver (or driver couple in this case) who made an exceptional effort for the old car scene while making use of their car (a not unimportant addition, so it is a prize for real drivers). Malcolm expressed his enthusiasm for the exceptional tour Dirk (!) and Trudy started in June 2012, starting from the Louwman museum in Holland.
From there they crossed Europe, took Africa north-south, made a 16,000 mile tour in the US, went from there to Ushuaia deep down in South America and up again to Brazil. And will soon continue travelling New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, India, Tibet, Mongolia (where they built two children schools with the proceedings of earlier journeys) and from there through Siberia...back home. All this in view to create a better world for children in hardship. All proceedings and gifts go to SOS children villages. Congratulations Dirk & Trudy and long live their Model T!