Blitz Motorcycles is a Paris-based workshop that have developed a reputation for building genuinely unique and oftentimes unusual custom motorcycles. It’s run by Fred Jourden and Hugo Jezebel, both avid riders and self-taught mechanics who have developed a style all their own. When Blitz first started building bikes in 2010 they split public opinion, with…
The story of Alpine and their 110 is one of the great David vs Goliath tales of 20th century motor racing. In 1973 the small French company Alpine took a 1-2-3 finish at the Monte Carlo Rally, and claimed outright victory in the World Rally Championship – made all the more special because it was…
Rustle of Silk is a boutique French company that still uses original silkscreening techniques to produce posters from the 1970s and before. Each poster is printed by hand on 50cm x 70cm, 300 gram vanilla paper using a 5 colour screen printing procedure. Just 40 examples of this design will be produced, and each will…
In 1932 somewhere deep in the French countryside a project was underway to build an automobile with a slightly unusual method of propulsion. It isn’t known if the designer of the Helicon was a pilot or an aircraft engineer, but it’s clear that the car takes a significant amount of influence from early aircraft design.
Fire Design is a French company that was founded by artist and product designer Rodolphe Gimenez, his goal is to create fire extinguishers that people actually want to put in their homes – only 5% of residential buildings have fire extinguishers installed, and study after study has shown that having an extinguisher on hand can…
The Concorde Story is a vintage documentary about the development of the world’s first supersonic airliner, it was filmed during the early, heady days of the now retired aircraft and it provides a fascinating look into how the Concorde came to be – starting with early designs from WWII. With a running time of just…
The Fast Times of Albert Champion: From Record-Setting Racer to Dashing Tycoon, An Untold Story of Speed, Success, and Betrayal covers the largely untold story of one of the most iconic and important characters in the early history of both cycling and motor racing. His name still graces two of the companies he founded –…
Renault was established in 1899 by the talented young French engineer Louis Renault, Louis partnered with his brothers Marcel and Fernand – Two men who had years of business experience working for their father’s successful textile company in France. The first model produced by Renault was the Voiturette, it was offered in 3 major iterations…
The Alpine-Renault A110 is remembered for two things, it’s beauty and its extraordinary rally abilities. The model had quite a long life for a sports car, it was introduced by the small French marque Alpine in 1961 and continued production until 1977 – it even saw parallel production lines running in both Mexico and Bulgaria…
This rather unusual looking Honda CBN400 is the work of Ed Turner Motorcycles, a French custom motorcycle garage run by a friendly chap by the name of Karl. The name “Ed Turner” is a play on the phrase “head turner” and not, as I’d first assumed, the name of the garage’s proprietor. CB400 is a…
Personally, I think the Alpine A110 is one of the most beautiful automotive designs of all time. It’s not a particularly famous car and it doesn’t garner the same praise as the E-Type Jaguar or Porsche 911 models that were released in the same era, but those who are familiar with the quirky rear-engined French…
The number 14 wrench you see here is made from sterling silver, it’s a design that was first created by Hugo’s grandmother in France, the team at Blitz liked it so much they decided to produce a limited production run of 100 units. Each wrench is moulded by hand in France from solid silver by…
