Hello Philippe,
I read your memories of Charles Gendroz with interest. I was very sorry to hear in 2005 when in Switzerland that Charles had passed away the year before. I had the pleasure of meeting him back in 1988, and he showed me a lot of photos of his restoration of the Filipinetti Le Mans car, GT40 P/1040. So at least, thank goodness, a lot of photos were taken of that restoration.
Yes, Franco Sbarro has claimed that the fake GT40 he built up long after selling 1040 to Charles was the genuine 1040. Sadly, lying about GT40s seems to be what Sbarro does best. But that's another story.
But I just had to follow up your posting here because you mention you jointly restored numerous cars with Charles, and you mention Austin-Healey in you list. The very day in 1988 that I visited Charles at his home with my friend Henri, he had just that morning finished a restoration of a Healey 3000, which if I remember correctly was pale blue over white, and after he had shown me the photos of 1040’s restoration, he drove me down into the village for coffee in the Austin-Healey, the car having its first ever post-restoration run! I can’t help wondering if you had been involved in restoring the car I had a run in?
If you would consider sending me a PM with your e-mail address, I would very much like to communicate with you about Charles.
All the best, and thanks for the interesting posting,
Ronnie Spain