left to right: Ad Teekens and my uncle Dirk Vonk with his Triumph TR6 PI in 1974

The authentic cheese stock house of the Vonk family left to right: my grandfather Dirk Martinus Vonk and me

The wedding of Elly van Vuuren

La Reina Negra in the country villa, Beierseweg Stolwijk
left to right: Michel Benningshof, my brother Dick Bos, Erik Benningshof, my grandfather Dirk Martinus Vonk, me Corstiaan Bos and Gijs Benningshof, 1978

THE YEARS 1970 – 1980

At the beginning of the seventies the hunt began to find French classic cars.
Many oldtimer fanatics travelled to France to try their luck. It was quite normal to find an old Peugeot , Renault or Citroën in a yard or in the field.
During this period many Tractions were taken out of France to other countries.

On the contrary , my uncle Dirk Vonk was not a Traction fanatic. In 1970, Dirk was travelling through France with his brother Kees. They went to the south of France to purchase a BNC , a French sports car of the twenties,
(the car looked like Bugatti but you couldn´t say that out loud !!)
On their way back to the Netherlands , they saw by coincidence an old Citroën standing in the field of a farmer.

They decided to enter the farm and to ask about the car. Apparently it was a BIG TRACTION with six cylinders. The owner had not driven the car for some time. After some little repairs my uncle Dirk decided to purchase the car for 300 French Francs!
The trip to the Netherlands was not without any problems. The fuel tank was full of dirt and they had to stop their journey to solve this problem. Has this been the worst purchase ever , was Dirk asking himself ??

After another repair they finally ended their trip in Stolwijk , a village situated next to Gouda , in the green heart of the Netherlands (Zuid-Holland) Stolwijk is known for it´s farmer cheese and it retains one of the last three authentic cheese stockhouses. This farmer stockhouse is still owned by the family Vonk , today.

Dirk was very busy with his career. The cheese factory was doing very well and Dirk had to travel to sell his products It was clear , there was no time left anymore for La Reina Negra., except for a wedding or party. His friend Elly van Vuuren didn´t marry Dirk but she married all the same in La Reina Negra.

One day burglars took the whole inventory of the villa (cottage style) of Dirk but they didn´t touch La Reina. That was not surprising because the 15 Traction was not worth a lot in those days. One day Dirk received an offer but it was considered too low.

Meanwhile Corstiaan Bos was 16 years of age and was working on his 49cc motorbikes. He only knew that a car had 4 wheels ………. That changed completely with this phone call from my uncle : “Corstiaan , I still have this old Citroën standing in the garage of my house in Beierse-Stolwijk. Just take a look maybe it´s something for you” With great enthusiasm , Corstiaan went to the garage and there was standing La Reina.
In October 1980 , on a foggy Saturday morning , La Reina Negra was transported out of Stolwijk to my father's nursery in Boskoop.

Two months later , after La Reina Negra was taken out of the garage in Beierse-Stolwijk , the complete garage and villa of my uncle was demolished by a tremendous fire.
La Reina was saved and the TR 6 PI of my uncle as well. Only the hard-top of the TR 6 was badly damaged and could not be repaired because of the fire.

Dirk lost everything and decided to turn his back on the green heart of the Netherlands , called Holland. He moved to the forests of Limburg , in the south of the Netherlands.