Right man for rotten Méan

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The quirky Méan Sonora has come past here before as a quiz car. It’s a two-seat sports car with space frame and fibreglass spider or coupé body that was built by a man named Jacques d'Heur from the mid-1960s in his castle (!) just outside the rural village of Méan, Belgium. The Sonora was available with a multitude of engines, but just one of them had Mini power, and its story is as colourful as can be.

The car was built on request of the organizers of the Copenhagen motor show in 1967. Monsieur d'Heur liked the idea and promised them to do so but totally forgot, being busy building other cars. Some months later, in the mid of winter and with 12 inches of snow on the ground, a lorry entered the Méan castle grounds to pick up the finished car. Jacques d'Heur suddenly remembered about the deal he'd made, but had nothing close to a finished car, nor a suitable donor Mini to build it. Somehow he manages to build the car in just five days, though, and it makes it just in time for the show in Denmark – read the full story here.

What happened afterwards to the car remained shrouded in mystery, though, until Louis Lempereur found it earlier this year, derelict in a Belgian garden. Louis has now started a full restoration on the car, which was in a pretty sorry state, and has even found some of the men who originally helped Jacques d’Heur building it to help him. Once finished he plans to take it to Monaco where it turns out to have been before, now. This Sonora may be as obscure as the Pope is holy, but at least it has found the right man to take care of it now. Great job Louis!

(Pictures courtesy Louis Lempereur)  

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