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Throwback Thursday: Voisin's Abstract Beauty

Last week we promised you to show you a series of great stories from a more or less distant past in view of PreWarCar's 15 year anniversary. This story by Rudy Kousbroek was published by us in November 2004. We found out that it was read, clicked and found better than any other story ever published at PreWarCar. Sadly Rudy died nearly six years ago.  He was a renowned writer, amilcarist and a personal friend of Gabriel Voisin. We are still proud that he liked to help us with this write up about the art of Avions Voisin. 

by Rudy Kousbroek:
(the above photo was a gift by Gabriel Voisin)

"What is the meaning of the word ‘classic’ in connection with motor cars? With the increasing use of the word its definition has become detached from the original meaning of 'a creation of the highest excellence', to mean not much more than 'old' when it is applied to cars. For this reason I prefer to use the English word 'vintage'. A vintage car is, in principle, an automobile dating from before 1930, but even so not every car from that time is eligible. Very rarely some vehicles of a later date may also be included in the vintage category, but they must fulfil exceptional criteria. That, to me, is what 'classic' means with respect to cars. No American cruisers with fins, no Volkswagens, no ‘oldtimers’. Recently someone handed me a copy of the magazine Classic Trader. I was appalled ....

Publiziert:
Mittwoch März 30th, 2016
Unbekannt
06 Mai 2016, 13:54
Bob King,
My father in law was Harry Donders.
Can you please let us know what happened to the C3 Avions Voisin he built for you ?
Thank you.
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bob
02 April 2016, 00:54
Kees. What can you tell me about the Martin 6 cylinder engine - obviously very effective.
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Unbekannt
01 April 2016, 03:45
The magic of certain words!!
CCCA in USA have copyrighted the words "Full Classic"! By the way I am a CCCA member.
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Unbekannt
31 März 2016, 17:03
Correction on publication date article: This was Januari 2007. Title: Paris-The Hague in 5 hours flat. (Upd. Martin's career)
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Unbekannt
31 März 2016, 15:52
Interesting story of Biob King. The car by the kerb which was owned by Rdy Kousbroek at that time was not an Amilcar Compound by a Amilcar-Martin, a "special" referred to by Kousbroek as his Amilcar six-cilinder. I had a couple of contacts with Rudy and after he passed away the Kousbroek family passed the car into my hands. There has been a story and photo of the car on PrewarCar (archive #2325 , september 2007)
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Unbekannt
31 März 2016, 10:21
Omitted is the nomenclature 'Post Vintage' which is often taken to mean 1931 to 1940. 'Veteran' and 'Vintage' are well defined in Britain by the Veteran and Vintage car clubs. 'Post Vintage' is becoming defined, and will be once there is a Post Vintage club. 'Classic' is yet to be defined.
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Unbekannt
31 März 2016, 09:11
"Even someone with little or no interest in mechanics ? and such people exist, just as there are people who are tone-deaf, or devoid of interest in art ? even such a primitive creature will.."

Primitive? Really?
(editor: you obviously have never met Rudy Kousbroek :-)
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Unbekannt
31 März 2016, 08:01
classic open to interpretation. i take it to mean basicaly anything of interest. which many cars that are not built yet can fall into this interpretation. i think if any person can show there car at an event and interest is created then we have a classic.
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Rutger Booy
31 März 2016, 05:33
This was probably the first of my many articles for PreWarCar
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Unbekannt
31 März 2016, 01:10
Rudi Kousbroek's name brought back memories of a meeting with him in Paris. I was newly arrived in Europe from Australia and was looking at a strange Amilcar parked by the kerb. I believe it was an Amilcar Compound. The owner arrived and we got chatting. We found we had many common interests and Rudi then took me for a wonderfully informed tour of the 'Musee des Arts et Metiers. I never met him again, but subsequently I did own and restore a C3 Avions Voisin. Wonderful memories.
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Unbekannt
31 März 2016, 00:54
The beautiful machines are only ever as good as the engineering beneath the bodywork. The term vintage, as it's applied to our cars and even enshrined in legislation in parts of Australia, is so misunderstood as to be almost meaningless. A small point: Rudy says "before 1930" but it's really "before 1931". It was an arbitrary year decided on by a group of people who happened to use the term "vintage" because "veteran" was already taken, and the Vintage Sports Car Club came into being. In truth nothing special happened at that time other than the Great Depression and the demise of Bentley. But great cars, good cars and not-so-good cars continued to be built, albeit in smaller numbers. If I had to choose a year to mark the end of the vintage period it would be 1934, when the era of vertical radiator Packards came to a close.
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