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Voisin is like having a new lover



‘La Vie en Bleu’ is a celebration of French voiture design from veteran to the Veyron, and this year our eyes fell upon a very stylish lady and her equally stylish car- a 1930 Voisin C14 ‘Chartre’ Demi-Berline with 2667cc six cylinder sleeve valve engine. We spoke to Julia about her exquisite car and being a recent addition to her stable she said “it was like getting to know a new lover.” Only when settling into the comfortable rear seat did she realise the tortoise-shell flower holder by the rear window matched the ash tray on the dashboard.

The flower vase is easy to miss against the distinctive deco upholstery so typical of Voisin’s unorthodox approach to every aspect of his car design. Sometimes utilitarian sometimes luxurious, and don’t be misled by Julia’s elegant dress style worn to match her car – she is just as often to be seen in overalls attending to the mechanical needs of her machines. Here we see her deep in conversation with Reg Winstone – translator of Voisin’s book 'My 1001 Cars’ and owner of two cars of that name. 

(Text & pictures by Robin Batchelor)

Pubblicato:
giovedì giugno 4th, 2015
Sconosciuto
08 Giugno 2015, 13:52
Robin Batchelor makes an excellent point about the Voisin mascot which, I think, is one of the best mascots ever devised for a car and completely encapsulates the car as a machine-age product. It is interesting in that it just pre-dates the Modernist movement and the Bauhaus dictum that 'form follows function'.
Actually, thinking a little outside the box, it is almost (if not!) 'Vorticist'.
Anyway, really like it and a very good reason for owning a Voisin.

Regards, Peter.
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Robin Batchelor
06 Giugno 2015, 09:20
Sandy, the Voisin mascot always commands attention. Known as the 'La Cocotte' (French for "chicken", or more commonly in the period "prostitute") Voisin chose to thumb his nose at the usual animals, birds, nymphs and figurines found on the more exotic cars and made his mascot from scrap aluminium held together with rivets.
The children at the local school in Tournus would make copies in their workshop class and in the gymnasium ( named after Voisin) stands a 2m high Cocotte replica made in the school workshop in 1993.

[img]https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8864/18513473962_d23dc38b00_z.jpg[/img]
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Sconosciuto
05 Giugno 2015, 23:52
Beautiful car but I suspect that a bridge builder designed and built the radiator cap topping.
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Sconosciuto
05 Giugno 2015, 11:17
Last time I really spoke to Julia was at a dinner at the last race at Aintree when we sat next to each other .She was taking helicopter flying lessons. A real action Lady
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