Dilly has become the first Citroen 2CV to be registered in the American state of Washington after being sold on eBay

Is she French, English, or American?

To be honest, she probably doesn’t care – Dilly the Citroen 2CV is simply glad to be in one piece.

Worth little more than her scrap value, the 21-year-old car had been sitting on a drive in Amber Lane, Chart Sutton, for months as the neglected pet project of 48-year-old owner Graham Majin.

Adverts in newspapers raised little interest and it looked like Dilly was destined for the breaker’s yard – until last month, when Mr Majin hit on the idea of posting a video on the internet of the car being started and driven along his drive.

Within days the video caught the interest of 72 eBay bidders, including "loveable old hippy" Doc Wheeler, who was sitting at his computer some 5,000 miles way in his US home.

Dilly had no MOT and a corroded chassis.

Now she is on her way across the Atlantic to make history as the first 2CV ever registered in the state of Washington. Bought for £500, the 2CV was subjected to what Mr Majin calls a "slightly bizarre" United States citizenship ceremony, last week, then taken down to Southampton Docks and loaded onboard a ship bound for America.

Mr Majin, the head of production for Kersh Media, said: "He said it just makes him smile – he bought it, got it registered in Washington state and came over with the licence plates.

"They’d never heard of 2CVs and there were none on their records."

"It shows the potential of video on the internet – it brought the car to life."

Mr Majin said he had warned Mr Wheeler not to drive the car without an MOT, but did not know how he had transported it to Southampton.

But he added: "It will make a fine car when it is restored."

To watch the YouTube video of Dilly being naturalised in a US citizenship ceremony visit youtube.com