Spaceship in the Smokies: A Citroën SM Takes on the Overcrest Rally

By Andy Daley….

I first heard about the Overcrest Rally across North Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina from a friend of mine who had driven the 2024 rally in Arkansas.  He frankly couldn’t stop talking about how amazing it was to participate in the analog, real world of spirited vintage car driving.  I was convinced I wanted to do the same in my SM. I submitted an application over the winter, and was accepted for the 2025 edition, consisting of nearly 500 miles of backroad driving over two days in October in Appalachia. 

Thursday was a travel day, consisting of a 600 mile blast from Chicago, IL to Helen, GA. I arrived at check-in surprisingly refreshed and nearly on time, thanks (allegedly) to sustained speeds around 90 mph.  As I rolled through the grass parking lot to join 140 other vintage cars, I must admit I really enjoyed the looking, pointing, and murmuring amongst onlookers – “Look, a Citroën SM!!” 

I immediately made fast friends and enjoyed checking out the wide variety of cars on the rally (everything from a Lancia Stratos copy to a vintage Mercedes convertible with an AMG engine and drivetrain).  I left the hood of the SM up while I wandered around, of course. 

Day 1 of the Rally was a 7:30 am start at the top of Brasstown Bald.  As the sun rose, the organizers reminded everyone of the rally hand signals – thumbs up if you’ve stopped to rest, thumbs down if you need assistance, two fingers out the window if you’re signaling someone to pass you. 

Drivers were reminded to always stop and offer help, enjoy the surroundings, and to respect the locals.  “If you’re first to finish today, you are the first loser.”  Day 1 was essentially all amazing roads.  So many switchbacks, uphills, downhills, and sweeping corners through Tellico Gap, the Cherohala Skyway and the Deals Gap.  At the Deals Gap, we tackled the “Tail of the Dragon”, which is an 11-mile stretch of U.S. Route 129 winding through the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, carved out of old Cherokee and buffalo trails and now famed for its 318 tight curves. 

As it was a Friday afternoon when I arrived, it was probably the calmest driving I did all day, as the road was packed with motorcycles, SUV’s, the occasional Uhaul van, and anxious sports cars.  Even at slow speeds, though, it was quite a workout, flicking the car back and forth around an impossible number of switchbacks. 

Saturday was Day Two of the Appalachia Overcrest Rally and more of the same amazing roads.  A start in Maggie Valley, through Burnsville, NC and onto Boone, NC. 

After lunch in Burnsville, NC, I was leading a run group made up of a BMW 2002, a Ferrari 308, and a pair of Porsche 911s, both lurking. North Carolina’s roads don’t mess around — tight uphill and downhill 15-mph switchbacks stacked one after another like a coiled steel spring (for those unfamiliar with a ‘coiled steel spring’, it is a rudimentary piece of metal inexplicably still used for car suspension, where compressed nitrogen gas and fluid is normally prescribed). 

The SM was surprisingly in its element. I was using every inch of the road on my side of the double yellow like none of the other 140 cars on the rally could. The rear wheels instantly absorb the dips into and out of the apex of the corners where the pavement ended.  I was flinging this 1972 French grand tourer into corners like it weighed half as much, the suspension reacting to every bend, half turns of the DIRAVI-fed steering wheel turning 180 degree switchbacks into sheer fighter-jet trajectory.  On the uphill sections, the Maserati sung and screamed between 2000 and 5500 rpm as I accelerated out of corners in second gear.  On the downhills, engine braking and third gear seemed the right combination to flow through the backside switchbacks, the engine gurgling and popping in anticipation of the next uphill.  In the rearview, the line of sports cars looked caught between confusion and admiration — because here they were, chasing a hydropneumatic GT spaceship through the Appalachians… and the spaceship wasn’t slowing down.

And then it all went suddenly wrong.

First a misfire as if two cylinders decided to give up, then the engine went silent, the stop light came on and I coasted to a stop: completely dead on the bad side of an uphill blind corner.  I was caught in wonderment how I ended up 650 miles from home (Chicago), with little cell service and a stricken 53 year old French super car. 

I’d packed spare spheres, a spare 6.35mm line between the pump and regulator, and even had extra 4.5mm line and my jig to make up hydraulic line on the side of the road.  I’d also packed what I thought was a complete spare distributor and coil.  But, to my horror, there was no rotor inside the distributor and I’d failed to check that before leaving. 

Consolation came in the form of the amazing support from fellow Overcrest drivers who stopped to assist.  About 10-12 people stopped to help push the SM uphill a couple hundred yards to a safe turnout.  Many other cars stopped to offer assistance and troubleshoot, but any attempts to repair the GM rotor failed, and after an hour of futzing about, I called a tow truck, insisting on something capable of a low profile car.  The driver arrived within 30 minutes. 

He initially declared he intended to drag the car onto the flatbed from the rear tie downs, which I immediately squashed and told him the car goes on the flatbed nose first.  I told him we needed a cloth tow strap around the lower control arm, some long wood boards to assist with the angle onto the flatbed, and all will be good.  He quickly agreed and the tow was trouble free. 

The next day, a trip to a parts store a couple towns away yielded the spare rotor I should have brought. The car fired up right away, and I started the drive home…stopping along the way to pick up another spare rotor of course, as I found out first hand the Math of Citroën: if you have one, you have none. 

I also snuck in a quick visit for lunch with David Hume and some spare parts picked up while I was at Excelsior Motors.

The organizers haven’t announced where the 2026 version of the Overcrest Rally will be, but I would love for a contingent of French cars to raid it and show how amazingly capable Citroëns are at munching miles, negotiating corners, and magic-carpeting the backroads.