New Officers Announced for the San Francisco Region Citroën Car Club
With more than 120 active members with Citroën models ranging from the Traction Avant through the 2CV, DS, Ami, SM, GS, AX, BX, CX, XM and more, the San Francisco Region Citroën Car Club (SFRCCC) have announced a new slate of officers voted-in to take over the Club’s stewardship:
Jerry Blair – Chief Executive Officer
Jerry grew up going to car shows and Citroën meets, and has been raised around grease monkeys most of his life. He inherited “Citroënitis” from his father, David Blair. Having three derelict ID 19s growing up (two of which survived the Alviso floods!), Jerry quickly moved onto non-red fluid cars.
Soon after graduating high school a family friend, Scott Curtis, gave him a 1971 D Spécial which he had for a brief period.
Jerry helped pre-run for the Baja 500 alongside Roy Tompkins, who fixes up Trophy Trucks and races in the Baja 500/1000.
Years later, Wally Esherich and Jerry rescued a derelict 1956 Ripple Bonnet 2CV. Through blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of help, they had the pleasure of semi-daily driving this beast.
In 2022 Jerry moved back to the Bay Area and found a beautiful 1978 Acadiane for sale. His friend wanted him to stop talking about Citroëns incessantly, so he loaned Jerry the money to buy it!
Jerry does most of the work on his cars himself and loves seeing both new and old faces in the Club.
Most of all Jerry loves learning new things through the experiences that these unique cars provide us with.
Armin Haken – Chief Financial Officer
Armin has had Nathalie, a 1954 Citroën 11BL Traction Avant since 1986. Unfortunately that car was put into storage many years ago when he went traveling the world and is still not resuscitated.
More recently Armin got Azélie, a 1959 12hp 2CV and original ‘survivor’ that has been in California since the 1960s. He drove Azélie up from southern California along Highway 1, but 55 mph is optimistic on a flat highway and uphill it is more like 5 mph. However, downhill on a curvy road it is as fast as any sports car!
About 2 years ago Armin retired as a ‘software engineer’ (computer programmer) and now lives in San Francisco. He have always liked old cars and has owned several VW buses and an International Harvester pickup truck. Armin also likes unusual cars and has owned a Wankel-engined Mazda and a 5-cylinder turbodiesel Mercedes, but he finds that Citroëns are the pinnacle of old and unusual.
He hopes that he can help out with everyone’s enjoyment of these old and unusual cars.
Erna Rodgers – Corporate Secretary
Erna’s car life may have been somewhat led vicariously through her husband, Clark. She caught the ‘bug’ when they began to participate in a few rallies in 2008-2016 period.
Erna is recently retired, having worked entirely in the semiconductor industry until December 2024. Her work was mostly inside sales, supporting outside sales which allowed me to travel to China, Thailand and several times to the UK and Italy. Working for a UK company had its perks!
Her first car was a Renault R16 and then she got into an R10. Clark picked up a 1952 Citroën Traction 11BL Légère in 1978 and thereafter joined the Citroën Club.
At one time or another they drove Renaults, had a Matra for a short while and Clark had a DS too. They always held onto the Traction, which they still have today. Their other car is a Porsche 912 5-speed from 1967.
Erna n\and Clark live in San Jose (Los Gatos-Almaden Road/Leigh High School area) where they raised their 2 children.
Tim Clark – Social Media Coordinator
Tim had a 1972 D Spécial and a 1974 2CV6. He has always been a car guy and a racer having owned eight Porsches and been an officer in Porsche Clubs and the British Car Club of Santa Cruz. One of his hobbies is restoring cars and motorcycles — he’s done \ about 20 vehicles.
Tim organized the Capitola vintage motorcycle show, Bikes on the Bay, for three years and also managed a group of volunteers at Laguna Seca where he was a Director.
Though he has been retired for 15 years or so, Tim’s business career included Bank Of America, ADP, Oracle and a couple of failed startups. The roles included vice president of sales, marketing, product development, planning and acquisition.
Tim lives in Capitola in a farm house he and his wife restored. He is looking forward to helping the club with social media and putting together a couple of events.