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…
Every now and then a car like this pristine 1935 Amilcar Type G36 Boattail Roadster comes up for auction with an estimated hammer price below the value of my house. This causes no small amount of consternation for me as I begin the process of convincing the 6 year old boy who still lives…
Facel Vega was a French automobile manufacturer that lived from 1954 till 1964, despite this relatively short lifespan it had significant influence on automotive design throughout the era and beyond, with many of the company’s styling queues appearing on cars from other marques in the years after it shutdown. The model you see here is…
This 1936 Delahaye 135 S is one of only sixteen ever made and one of only seven to survive to the modern day, the “S” suffix denoted the sporting credentials of the 135 and stood for either “Special” or “Surbaissé” depending on who you talk to, what mood they’re in and the current phase of…
This 1927 Amilcar CGSS represents remarkable value in the currently skyrocketing vintage car market, sometimes referred to as the “poor man’s Bugatti” the Amilcar CGS and CGSS were exceedingly popular sports and racing cars during the 1920s and early 30s. An Amilcar CGS won the world’s first 24 hour endurance race (the Bol d’Or) and…
France’s Laguiole region has been renowned for its excellence in elegant knife making for centuries, each blade is handmade and features the signature Napoleonic bee decoration on its spine. Made from 440 stainless steel and with a blade length of 7cm (2.75 inches), these are ideal everyday-carry pocketknives for those who live in countries with…
This new BMW Custom by Blitz Motorcycles has been called the “French Bobber” and very much in the style of the team at Blitz – it looks like something that’ll make the purists wail, gnash their teeth and don garments of sackcloth. Interestingly, the bike started life as 3 separate motorcycles – a BMW R80/7,…
The somewhat lengthily named 1936 Delahaye Type 135 Competition Court Teardrop Coupé by Carrosserie Figoni et Falaschi is one of my favourite examples of automotive design from Giuseppe Figoni (also known as Joseph Figoni), a man who’s prowess as a coach builder flourished once it was joined with the business acumen of fellow Italian and…
