HOMAGE TO HERITAGE

Since 2008, the independent not-for-profit Fondation du Patrimoine, along with oil company Motul, have been financing restoration projects to safeguard and promote French heritage through public subscriptions and corporate sponsorships. Acting in a similar way to the National Trust in Great Britain, their interest in projects is certainly eclectic. For example, they can help to preserve former military buildings and cultural artefacts, but also work with those restoring vintage aircraft, cars and motorcycles.

In the realms of motorised vehicles, they started with a Quadricycle Peugeot from 1902 and a 1927 Faret and Clément with the help of the Veloce Club of Bordeaux, then filed an application and won €10,000 of funding to complete the restoration of the BCR (hence the plaque rivetted to the bike’s leather pannier bags).

Motul lends its financial support to the foundation to preserve mechanical motor-driven heritage, which also helps to support restoration and maintenance skills for classic vehicles in France. With a jury made up of independent experts and professionals, the ‘Fondation de France – Motul’ meets twice a year to study proposals and select those for grants. Every year, one motorcycle and one car project are selected and presented to the Moto Légende and Retromobile shows respectively in Paris. The vehicles are shown before and after restoration, and this process has resulted in some 50 rare, vintage French vehicles being saved. The grants bestowed on these selected projects comes with certain obligations – the vehicle has to be rare and technically interesting, and has to remain visible in a museum or presented at selected vintage shows.