Before my erudite post disappeared into the ether I was bidding you all welcome and offering a less than convincing explanation as to why yet another old fart had taken to the blogosphere. As some will know, I'm a reasonably active Facebooker in various classic and vintage groups but Facebook is not really the medium for intelligent discussion! Notwithstanding my propensity for rambling on a bit ( too long, didn't read!) a few misguided souls have asked me why I don't write a blog. Well, I've always given the stock answer "Too busy" which, of course, is a cop-out! Sure, I spend a great deal of time on research for my 'Ultimate Delage Resource Website' (don't ask, it will go live in the due fullness of time!) and other topics but there's always time to scribble a few extra lines.
Problem is...the historic vehicle virtual world is full of blogs good, bad and indifferent, mainly the latter regurgitating the same old inaccurate badly-researched guff. No point adding to that and being tarred with the same brush let alone getting involved in arguments with self-appointed experts! Nonetheless there is an altogether different perspective from which to view historic vehicles. Nowadays I want to find out a lot more about the people involved in the manufacture and, particularly, the ownership of these vehicles when new. It was on just such a quest for info on a D8 Delage the other day when I found myself wandering off into the realms of haute couture, business management theory, French films of the 1930s, the Paris stage and the French textile industry! Not to mention a certain lady being half-Jewish and living virtually next door to the Gestapo during the occupation of Paris...'next door' being on the Avenue Foch! All this, and a lot more, as a result of some desultory research into one particularly elegant lady who appears as an essential adjunct to mainly Delage cars on the Concours d'Elegance circuit. She, and her counterparts, will be the subject of my first 'proper' post so here's one of her quotes (concerning Christian Dior) to whet your appetite:
« L’homme qui sait habiller une femme est plus précieux que celui qui la déshabille.»
"The man who can dress a woman is more valuable than one who undresses her."
Problem is...the historic vehicle virtual world is full of blogs good, bad and indifferent, mainly the latter regurgitating the same old inaccurate badly-researched guff. No point adding to that and being tarred with the same brush let alone getting involved in arguments with self-appointed experts! Nonetheless there is an altogether different perspective from which to view historic vehicles. Nowadays I want to find out a lot more about the people involved in the manufacture and, particularly, the ownership of these vehicles when new. It was on just such a quest for info on a D8 Delage the other day when I found myself wandering off into the realms of haute couture, business management theory, French films of the 1930s, the Paris stage and the French textile industry! Not to mention a certain lady being half-Jewish and living virtually next door to the Gestapo during the occupation of Paris...'next door' being on the Avenue Foch! All this, and a lot more, as a result of some desultory research into one particularly elegant lady who appears as an essential adjunct to mainly Delage cars on the Concours d'Elegance circuit. She, and her counterparts, will be the subject of my first 'proper' post so here's one of her quotes (concerning Christian Dior) to whet your appetite:
« L’homme qui sait habiller une femme est plus précieux que celui qui la déshabille.»
"The man who can dress a woman is more valuable than one who undresses her."
à bientôt
Colin
Colin