Classic car-friendly towns and municipalities instead of driving bans
Garages in the Art Deco style testify to an unbroken optimism and a view of a future from the 1920s and 1930s in which the car had begun to play a dominant role in life. The buildings were often designed as temples of technology, far removed from the purely functional buildings of today.
Many of these contemporary witnesses have now disappeared or been converted. However, one such "station" has been preserved near Beaune in the French region of Burgundy, albeit in a far more modest design than those examples in larger cities. And the best thing about it: the garage - or Station du Bel-Air - is in the hands of a classic car club, or more precisely: the "Automobiles d'Origine et de Collection Beaune - AOC" association.
I'm going to have a look around there next weekend. This is not just out of pure curiosity, but also to find out more about a project that has set itself the goal of naming classic car-friendly destinations in France and giving them a common platform. This is basically a counter-reaction to those places that try to make a name for themselves by imposing nonsensical driving bans on vehicles of a certain age.
So there are towns and villages that have recognized the value of historic vehicles. A good example is provided by all those municipalities that not only support our desire to preserve technical cultural assets by approving a corresponding event, but also take care of local trade and tourism or even know how to promote them. The whole thing is called: Villes et Villages d'Accueil des Véhicules d'Époque and is an initiative of the French association "Fédération Française des Véhicules d'Epoque" ffve, i.e. the French classic car umbrella organization analogous to the German DEUVET or the Swiss SHVF.
To get to Beaune, I still have to make some provisions, including installing an electric fuel pump in my DeSoto, which is my answer to the events in Lapalisse and the question in my blog about upgrading or leaving it as it is.
Ahh and one more thing: the food in Burgundy, it doesn't get any better than this! Oui, ça sera magnifique!
