West Rendezvous 2026 Report
West Rendezvous 2026 gathered Citroën enthusiasts from around the world for three unforgettable days of driving, learning, and celebrating under California’s towering redwood canopy.
Held from May 29th through 30th at the Scotts Valley Hilton, ninety-five people in about forty-five vehicles attended the event organized by the San Francisco Citroën Car Club.
The R26 organizing committee (Gwen and Tim Clark, Jerry Blair, David Bruckmann, Marc D’Estout, Armin Haken, Ilya Prokopoff, and Erna Rodgers) had been meeting since autumn of 2025 to plan the event. Gwen and Tim Clark volunteered to scout venues capable of accommodating 100 people at a reasonable price.
After a couple of false starts, they found the Scotts Valley Hilton at a price and with facilities that could meet the club’s needs. While Gwen and Tim both pounded the pavement looking for a venue, it was Gwen who negotiated the details, including parking, food and beverage planning, and generally everything that makes an event flow well. She managed the registration process and check-in desk, and “found” fabulous Polynesian dancers the entertain!
In addition to conceiving of the idea of a Santa Cruz location, Tim Clark created the driving tour, painstakingly assembling the route instructions including turn-by-turn instructions and photos. He also commissioned decals and pins, secured the AV equipment, and emceed the welcome kickoff and celebration dinner. Tim also landed Julien Thiebaud as guest speaker to share his story about working for Citroën as a designer and his experiences with Citroën vehicles.
Organizing credits also go to:
- Jerry Blair, SFRCCC President, who was active in the many planning meetings, and presented the class awards at the event.
- David Bruckmann who managed online registration and most email correspondence, printing most the materials people received in their registration packages.
- Marc D’Estout who designed the event logo and all the graphics and signage, and also worked on verifying the driving route.
- Armin Haken, SFRCCC CFO, who paid all the bills via his credit card. He also worked the registration and had the responsibility for counting the ballots.
- Ilya Prokopoff as an active participant in planning meetings and creation of a promotional Youtube video: https://youtu.be/8xg0ugIzTeA
- Erna Rodgers, SFRCCC Secretary, also an active participant in all planning meetings and secured the wine for the best-in-class awards. She presented the door prizes — in English and in French!
Participants started arriving on Thursday evening and all day Friday.
At 6 pm the kickoff started with each person having a minute to introduce themselves and talk about their Citroën as attendees assembled in the reserved parking lot.
See more photos of the gathering in the Scotts Valley Hilton parking lot here: https://citroenvie.com/west-rendezvous-2026-scotts-valley-hilton-parking-lot-gathering/
The evening concluded with cocktail hour and everyone chose a dinner destination, as outlined in their registration packages. The bartender was kept busy — so much so that a second was needed. The signature Rendezvous cocktail, Chambord Bramble, was enjoyed by many while being serenaded by Michael Zampiceni, a SFCCC member, on the accordion.
On Saturday morning a drivers meeting at 9:45 began the tour with Tim pointing out the most critical instructions and advice. Departures started at 10:15 for a tour that included UCSC, Santa Cruz Mountains, Bonny Doon, Davenport, a stop at Swanton Berry farm for delicious treats, a wild ride down Swanton Road to a stop at Grayhound Rock park for more conversations and taking in the spectacular view.
The group departed from there back to Santa Cruz where they stopped, attached French flags to the cars, and drove along the coast with much honking and waving to the crowds of beach goers passing by the world famous Santa Cruz Boardwalk fun zone before continuing along the coast to Capitola for lunch and a visit to a VW car show on the beach.
A Swap Meet was held with many unobtainable parts changing hands.
The dinner on Saturday took on a most interesting theme. It was asked, could we do Rendezvous in Paris, or even better French Polynesia? Bringing some Polynesia to Santa Cruz, three lovely dancers from the Te Hau Nui School of Hula and Tahitian Dance of Santa Cruz performed four French Polynesian dances to the delight of the crowd. Two of the dancers were Gwen and Tim’s granddaughters.
The buffet of BBQ Beef and chicken, moved along quickly as tables were invited by Tim while waiting many Youtube Citroën videos were shown to those in wait.
Julien Thiebaud gave the keynote, captivating the audience with his story about working for Citroën as a designer. His slides and videos were simply outstanding.
John Linney of Classic Motor Films, produces stunning presentations about motorsports, vehicles and their owners. Normally, he films and then works for days editing and refining the show, but this he did it pretty much in real time, showing the result that was well received and enjoyed by all. View the video here:
Erna Rodgers drew lots to award the door prizes of gift certificates to French Parts Service thanks Kenji and Tire Rack, which now sells vintage Michelins for our cars.
Jerry Blair SFCC president awarded these winners a fine bottle of wine for their wonderful best cars as voted by all participants.
- A Series: Nick Garcia — 1988 2CV Charleston
- CX: David Normal — 1987 CX 25 GTI
- D series: John Billings — 1966 Chapron II Décapotable
- G series: Justin Lan — 1973 GS Club
- SM: Bob Henry — 1972 SM
- Traction Avant: Paul Barry — 1951 TAV 11CV
- Other Series: Don Maxwell — 1928 AC 4
- Best of Show: Don Maxwell — 1928 AC 4
Sunday, folks gathered at Lon Price’s shop at 10 am in Santa Cruz for a Champagne toast provided by Gary Marston from his Methuselah bottle. After that Lon demonstrated how to improve the electrical systems on Citroëns, a process that saves thousands of dollars in shop fees and gives new life to the performance of our aging connections. Many in depth conversations transpired as everyone marveled at his collection of vehicles and the parts to put them together.
Feedback from participants was really positive. People loved the venue and the driving tour. Rendezvous in Santa Cruz hasn’t occurred since the 1980s, but it’s looking like this venue might be worthy of a repeat visit in the future!