Patrick Rondat

Patrick has always loved American muscle cars. It began as a young boy when a neighbour had a visit from a friend who owned a brand new 1972 Mach 1 Mustang. For Patrick as a kid in France at this time it was like seeing a UFO. It was a shock and very impressive, the way it looked and sounded was something never to be forgotten!
Some years later Patrick went to buy his first guitar in a local shop, and discovered the owner of the shop had just bought a new 1977 black and gold TransAm SE.

Patrick began to go to American car shows whenever he could - and promised himself that one day he would buy his own American car. He used to dream about cars and how they would look in the future - how disappointed he would have been if he had realised then that the 'Kangoos' would replace the Mustangs, Barracudas, Firebirds, Chargers, Challengers, 442s etc..

His love for music and guitar came a little later, but became his main passion - something that took a lot of hard work and time to realise, and in fact still does!
With his career decided and progressing nicely - the opportunity to buy his first American car came in November 1990.
He bought a 1975 red Firebird Esprit with a non stock formula hood (it turned out that was not the only modified thing about this car!) He began the long job of restoring the car. He thoroughly enjoyed what he was doing but soon realised his car was in a much worse condition than it had appeared to be, and needed an enormous amount of work.

In 1991 Patrick met François PRIMARD, a man who is even more crazy about American cars. The two men quickly became good friends, and they spend a lot of time together with other friends, relaxing and working on their cars. For Patrick this is his way to escape, clear his mind and get his head together when necessary.
François advised Patrick that his project with the Esprit was probably an impossible task,it was in such a very bad condition. Patrick soldiered on until 1993, when a friend of François announced he was selling his 1974 Formula 400. Patrick did not need much persuading to buy the vehicle.

Owning and driving a big American car is not, and never has been a 'poser' thing for Patrick. His love for the design, and sound of these big powerful cars of the '70's was with him as a child and grew with him into manhood. He has studied these American cars, and read many books about them, he can tell by sight, the year of a car, and the features it should have.
Over the years he has collected and watched many of the classic muscle car films his favorites are:-

Bullitt
Vanishing Point
Mad Max
Gone in 60 Seconds 1974 Original version - probably THE most famous and most exciting car chase movie of all time.

Favorite PC games:-

Midtown Madness
Starsky and Hutch
Catz and Dogz

2003

Pontiac Firebird Formula 400 with chrome headlamp bezels, trim rings, body mouldings and decals.
The dream realised!!!!! Patrick owns it, drives it, he restored it! Of course - there is always something more to be done to improve it - that is part of the passion for these old cars!

Any Classic car enthusiast, American or otherwise is going to spend a lot of time visiting the breakers yards.
(an acquaintance of mine takes his annual holiday in the USA every year- touring round the breakers yards! keeper)

These pictures were taken early on in Patrick's career - and you may recognise some from early album reviews in the French Hard Rock and Guitar magazines.

Just to give you an idea how it looks and feels behind the wheel of one of these American muscle cars - crossing Le Pont de Normandie on a beautiful sunny day.