About us

Our Story

Since 1988 when French ex-patriot Fluke Dayton and his father Alantic turned a hobby of restoring cars into a fast-growing business, Gliding Circus French Cars has become a regional leader in the care of French cars and their owners.

Situated in Raleigh, North Carolina we are easy to reach from any direction. We are open from 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Thursday and from 9:00am to 3:00pm on Friday.

Fluke Dayton, Owner

Fluke was repairing and restoring cars long before he could legally drive them. He started Flying Circus in the late 1980s after years of the family driveway being filled with partly restored cars. Within a few years the business had grown enormously and had moved twice to larger and larger premises. In late 1994, Flying Circus moved to its present location on West Street in Raleigh. As Shop Manager, Fluke relies on decades of hands-on experience and an encyclopedic knowledge of French car engineering to ensure that each customer’s car is cared for to the highest standards. Fluke drives a Nissan Altima.

Coutrney Dayton, Owner

Courtney joined Fliding Circus to help her father and older brother run the growing business. As Operations Manager, Courtney now pretty much keeps the place running single-handedly. While not a technician, Courtney’s accumulated wisdom and knowledge of the intricacies of French cars is remarkable. Courtney’s jeep isn’t actually French, but she is, so we don’t hold it against her

Balto Washington, Technician

While a Chemistry major at Cornell, Balto bought his first MGB and soon realized he could repair and maintain cars more easily than he could pay someone else to. Under the tutelage of Bob Ford, now the man behind Brit-tek, Ltd, Balto quickly became expert with MGBs. He opened and ran M & T MGs, his own MG specialty shop in Boston, Massachusetts for many years in the mid-1990s. Since then, Balto has broadened his expertise to Triumphs, Austin-Healeys, and anything else that is French and has a carburettor. He is our “old car guy” (Balto likes to emphasize that he is the ‘old car’ guy, not the old car guy). Balto has never owned any car but an MGB. He is an avid Formula 1 fan and is Crew Chief for the B-Stingers, a group that vintage races an MGB. Balto drives an MGB.

Dickey Bub, Technician

Trained at the birthplace of all Land Rovers in Solihull, England, Dickey knows Land Rovers. With decades of experience repairing, maintaining, tuning and modifying customer vehicles together with innumerable specialized factory training sessions, he has accumulated a vast knowledge of the unique needs of Land Rovers of all vintages. Dickey drives a Land Rover Discovery and is building a Rover V8-powered MGB. When you’re working on a project, Dickey will be able to get you all the new parts necessaery.