When a mechanic told French filmmaker Dorian Degoutte that the 1997 Ford Fiesta he inherited a decade ago from his grandfather was on its last legs, he decided the car deserved more than just a tow to the scrapyard.
Instead, Degoutte took it on a journey of more than 6,000 miles to its manufacturer’s birthplace in Michigan that serves as the centerpiece of a movie he’s making about the attachment people feel to their cars.
“To make this movie, I needed to do something special with my car, and I decided to share a last trip with her,” Degoutte told TV station WDIV in Detroit. “I also put myself into the mind of my car, asking her where she would love to go for her farewell trip. … And of course she answers to go on [to] her motherland, the roots of Ford: Detroit, Michigan!”