Skip to content

Eric & Carol Vigneron

Eric and Carol moved from So. California to Arizona in April 2020. The company Eric worked for, for over 26 years decided to close down its factory in CA and relocate to AZ. Eric and Carol followed and ended up settling in beautiful Estrella Mountain Ranch.

Eric was born in Brussels and raised in Waterloo Belgium, Carol was born to Irish parents and raised in San Diego, CA. They met on a not so popular dating website called “Biker Kiss” in 2008, married and blended their families in 2010.

Eric’s passion for cars and motorcycles began very young with a collection of diecast cars that he has kept all these years, some still in boxes!

His father took him to the Brussels Car Show every year to see all the new models of cars.

Eric started driving at 12 with the help of his father, even though the driving age in Belgium was 18 his father’s thought was “best to start them young!”

One evening Eric’s father asked him to park his mother’s 1968 Karman Ghia convertible into the garage. Not a problem for 14 year old Eric even though the garage was situated under the house at the end of an extremely steep driveway. Being dark outside, Eric confused the clutch for the brakes and crashed into the concrete wall at the end of the garage, the Karman was totaled and Eric had to wait until he turned 18 to drive a car again.

Eric traveled with his parents through Europe and many times in the US in the 70’s and was very impressed with the muscle cars and Harley Davidson back then, it was something that you did not see in Europe.

Eric & Carol's '54 Ford Customline

Couple of years after Eric finished his mandatory military service he moved to California in 1985 with 2 suitcases and $1,500.00 in hand. With no plan he started to work at a gas station on the weekend and for a friend’s construction company during the week. What started as an adventure turned into Eric becoming a US citizen 1992 and he has been a very proud American since then.

Eric spent his first $400 to buy a 1972 Ford Torino station wagon that he kept for about a year before buying a 1972 El Camino with a 350 cu.in. four barrels, mag wheels, headers and bucket seat, he kept the car for a year before buying a brand new Nissan truck needed for his swimming pool business maintenance that he started in 1987.

In 2003 Eric bought his first Harley Davidson a 883 Sportster and joined a motorcycle club in So Cal., he became the national secretary for the club of over 200 members with chapters in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, N. Carolina and Virginia. He retired from the club after 17 years of wild experience on the road of Western USA.

Eric and Carol have always dreamed of owning a classic or a muscle car so when one of their friends decided to sell them a 1954 Ford Customline out of their car collection it was a no brainer!

Eric and Carol enjoy boating at Lake Pleasant and off roading with their 2011 Jeep JK in the desert. They have four adult children with spouses, seven grand kids and one more on the way!

In the future, they are planning on buying a muscle car and Eric wants to one day buy his dream car…a Porsche!

Eric and Carol joined the club in July of 2022 and involved in many club events and Eric is also one of the club’s Webmasters.