The ‘Philippe’ Golden Sphere award is given to a Citroën Autoclub Canada member that has made an outstanding contribution to the Citroën community or has worked to restore a Citroën in the past year and get it back on the road. We announce the winner at our annual Christmas Party!
Larry Lewis was the winner of our 2023 Golden Sphere “Philippe” Award for his work restoring the 1937 Challenger Traction Avant that we featured in Citroenvie. It has turned out to be a massive mechanical project, and if there is one member that can take on the “challenge” it’s Larry. This is his second time winning the award. He won it back in 2006 when he tackled another formidable Traction Avant project — a 1953 Traction Avant Light 15.
Citroën Autoclub Canada’s 2022 Golden Sphere “Philippe” Award was presented to George Klein, who won it for the third time for his marvelous work on a 1972 Citroën SM that came from Italy via Florida. It is a rust-free example, but George stripped down the entire car to be sure there were no rust gremlins and has either reconditioned every part or selected like-new components from his carefully curated parts that he has collected over 5 decades. This is George’s fourth time restoring an SM and for someone who has had the courage to do it that many times, and in his in his garage at home, we salute you with the Golden Sphere “Philippe” Award once again. Well deserved congratulations George!
Andrija (“Andy”) and Senen Racki are the winners of the 2021 Golden Sphere “Philippe” Award for the restoration of their 1972 SM. Senen and his Andy (his dad) started working on the car sometime before 1994. They can’t remember exactly when but they have an invoice from John Titus dated 1994 for one of his HEI distributors. After some substantial delays and shifting of focus to other car restorations (they finished a 1967 Peugeot 204C and a 1967 Cougar XR7 in the interim), they finally finished their “bright” green SM this Spring. Of course, being an SM, it’s never really “finished”, but they are slowly addressing all of the little things that it still needs in order to be a reliable classic cruiser. They participated with it in our Fall Citroënvie Outing this year, so we consider it back on the “back on the road” and are pleased to see Andy and Senen get the award this year!
Don Jones from Dundas Ontario is the winner of the 2020 Golden Sphere “Philippe” Award for the extensive work he performed on his 1970 DS21. Don put on a new front end and also added air-conditioning. Congratulations Don!
Sietse Elsinga is the winner of the 2019 Golden Sphere “Philippe” Award for his work over the past year on his 1980 CX Athena, successful repairs to 2CV gearboxes that have jammed, and for housing many of our Club’s parts in his garage in Beamsville, ON. Congratulations Sietse!
George Klein is the winner of the 2018 Golden Sphere “Philippe” Award. Actually, it’s the second win for George and again this time well deservedly so for his restoration of the infamous “Mazmobile” – a 1982 VISA II Super X that was owned by the late John Mazmanian. George rescued it four years after John’s passing still tucked away in a shed in Ft. Erie, Ontario. It’s last run was in 2011 when George Dyke drove it to Rendezvous, with permission from his sons, as a tribute to Maz and parked it in a special spot where it sat, just like Maz would have stepped out of it (with all the clutter inside) and a large memorial card on was placed on it that everyone could sign. Upon its return home it was driven back to Ft. Erie and parked at the request of his sons. When they decided to sell the property, the Visa was destined to go to a scrapyard as no buyers could be found for it. George Klein offered to take the Visa and do the necessary repairs it needed back in 2011 as well as the additional work required after four years of unheated storage. Maz’s sons agreed and so began 2 years of work on George’s part to make the car roadworthy. Work included; rebuilding the distributor and carburetor, installing a new fuel pump and hoses and air filters making new brake lines, rebuilding the front brake calipers and installing new pads and rotors, reconditioning the rear brake drums and installing new brake cylinders and shoes, cleaning and re-lining the gas tank, repairing the electrical harness, fitting four new tires, making a new headliner, installing new interior seat covers and a applying a 3M vinyl wrap to the body. It is for all this effort on George’s part that we are pleased award him the Golden Sphere for 2018.
Roy Pope is the winner of our 2017 Golden Sphere “Philippe” Award. Roy’s effort this year to resuscitate a 1979 2CV Dolly that was owned previously by John Painter in the Tillsonburg, ON area is the prime reason he takes home the trophy. However, it also gives credence to Roy’s working in previous years on another 2CV that he and Harriet Nixon imported from Europe as well as a DS and a Traction Avant that they brought over from England. There were boxes of parts with the 2CV Dolly but a lot were missing. It turned out to be a winter project! (Roy seems to relish taking on such work in the winter months when he and Harriet are snowed in at their home near Wiarton). Many hours in the garage and regular orders from Kenji at FPS West over the next several months and Roy had the car running! The front fenders were repaired and painted and in the spring the car was ready for the cruise night and show season with perfect red & white colours for Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations. Roy and Harriet drove it to Rendezvous in Saratoga Springs, NY with no problems. Roy is a very enthusiastic member of our Club and it is for these reasons that he is our well deserved recipient of the Golden Sphere “Philippe” award. We hope Roy has a big enough space to display what is becoming mammoth sized recognition achievement!
Jim Sciberas is the winner of our 2016 Golden Sphere Award. Jim (pictured right) takes it home for a number of reasons; First, Jim’s boundless energy and enthusiasm have been key factors in making our outings and meetings so memorable for the past 20 years. The way Jim sees life in the Citroën world and his “can’t wait for the next event” optimism is an attitude nothing short of contagious. Jim has taken an active and continuing role in our club housing and keeping a watchful eye on our club tools. He is also our organizer for the informal get-togethers we have every Wednesday night in Toronto. (We usually meet at a downtown pub and once a month try and view a classic film that has some Citroëns in it.) It is for these reasons, his dedication and cheerful participation, that Jim is such a well deserved recipient of the Golden Sphere award. Congratulations and thank you Jim!
Marijke Dyke is our 2015 Golden Sphere Award winner and for a variety of reasons; As we say, “You don’t have to own a own a Citroën to be in the Club, you just have to love them.” And love them she has. Since 1989 not only has Marijke helped her husband George keep his Citroëns on the road, but for the past 15 years she has worked tirelessly behind the scenes in the Club keeping membership records in order, helping to organize events, taking the minutes at our planning meetings and being the mainstay person in our booth at Rendezvous and our Christmas party each year. She puts in many hours each week maintaining our website database and communicating with members to ensure they have proper online access. With all that effort year in and year out, we felt it more than fitting to recognize her efforts with this Golden Sphere award. Congratulations and thank you Marijke!
A side note: This year we lost our very first Golden Sphere recipient Philippe Devingt to cancer. In Phil’s honour, along with an amusing tale you can read in Citroënvie about the actual Golden Sphere on our award, (https://citroenvie.com/in-memoriam-philippe-devingt/), we have have elected that from now on we will refer to this as the ‘Philippe’ Golden Sphere Award.
Steve Loria (pictured right) is the recipient of our 2014 Golden Sphere Award. Steve is one of the early members of our Club and has for over 30 years served as our treasurer. Steve’s dedication to keeping a sharp eye on our finances has helped in great measure to ensure our ongoing viability. Of course being an accountant professionally helps! When he’s not crunching numbers at work or at home for the Club, Steve is thinking about Citroëns. Steve purchased his first DS in 1972 when he lived in Montreal. He still owns the car and over the years has imported a couple of 2CVs and a Traction 11BL. He just completed restoration on his Traction last year. Steve has been an ambassador for the Club on many fronts. He has been going to Rendezvous in the USA each year pretty much from its inception. He regularly travels to Europe to attend major Citroën events such as ICCCR and the International Meeting of 2CV Friends, usually picking up his 2CV that he keeps in Austria and driving it to them. His Club promotion efforts at events and his behind the scenes dedication is finally getting well deserved recognition. Congratulations Steve!
George Klein (pictured left) wins our 2013 Golden Sphere Award for his tear down and rebuild of a silver 1973 2.7L SM 5-speed. George is no stranger to the SM having owned his present white 5-speed since 1974. And while he has done most of the maintenance on it, and picked up a number of parts cars over the years, George had not fully restored a SM, until now. Two years ago he purchased a SM in New York state. Although it was relatively rust free and unmolested, he fully disassembled the body and the interior. After a bare metal repaint and sorting out the typical technical challenges, George reassembled the SM, and took it out for the first time on our Niagara Summer outing. The SM made the trip and impressed all of us on the tour. Congratulations George on another major refurbishment effort!
Congratulations go to Nazar Miszczuk (pictured left) on winning the 2012 Golden Sphere Award for the restoration of his 1939 Traction Avant 7A that he purchased in New Jersey. When he got the car it had been sitting in an open field for many years, but was still quite solid and “all there”. Nazar did some mechanical work, applied new exterior paint and re-trimmed the entire interior. You can read about that in the Fall 2012 issue of CITROËNVIE magazine.
Our 2011 Golden Sphere Award was presented to Jeff Teerlinck (pictured right) for his efforts in rescuing a 1972 SM efi (5-speed, euro lights) from a yard in Montreal. Jeff had never tackled anything tougher than his 2CV. The 2.7L engine turned over but it would not run. Jeff methodically addressed all the mechanical issues, including the 30+ joins in the fuel injection system, and nurtured the SM back to life. Today Jeff has the confidence to drive it great distances, and now it just needs the cosmetics of a fresh paint job for it to look awesome. Congratulations Jeff!
Congratulations to Brian Chewter on winning our 2010 Golden Sphere Award. Brian put back on the road a light blue DS 21 that he acquired in a barn near Albany New York. Over the past couple of years he dismantled and completely restored the car, for the most part by himself! We have had the chance to see it at a few of our Club meetings. Nice job Brian, and a most deserved win!!
Congratulations to Andy and Greg Lamb on winning our 2009 Golden Sphere Award. Andy and Greg have been CAC members for 4 decades and have played key roles over the years in organizing events, setting club policies, taking care of finance and publishing our newsletters. A most well deserved win!!
Our 2008 Golden Sphere Award was given to George Dyke and John McCulloch, not for restoration of a Citroën, but for the effort they have made this past year organizing our international ‘Tour D Falls’ meet at Niagara Falls in September and for their continued work on the Citroënthusiast newsletter that they tirelessly do for both the CAC and CCNA. Regretfully John passed away on November 15, 2017. You can read a tribute to him here.
It has been a labour of love for Peter Westwood searching for the Dyane he once owned and restored and then carefully re-restoring it yet again! We salute Peter with the 2007 Golden Sphere Award for his perseverance and perfection and for the six articles he wrote for Citroënthusiast outlining his progress.
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In July 2005 Larry Lewis inherited a 1953 Traction Avant Light 15 from Midge Minnis (pictured on the right). 18 months of restoration and dedication in getting it back on the road has Larry getting our deserved recognition with the 2006 Golden Sphere Award.
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Philippe Devingt won in 2005, the inaugural year of our Golden Sphere Award, for his hand’s on restoration of his 1966 DS21 Cabriolet. Congratulations Phil!
Sadly, in 2015 Philippe passed away. In Phil’s honour, along with an amusing tale you can read in Phil’s tribute in Citroënvie about the actual Golden Sphere on our award (https://citroenvie.com/in-memoriam-philippe-devingt/), we have have elected that from now on we will refer to this as the ‘Philippe’ Golden Sphere Award.