Since 2008, the Fondation du Patrimoine has been taking a growing interest in the motorised road vehicles heritage. Motul has played a key role in this development and has been participating every year since then in funding restoration projects. This involvement has, to date, allowed fourteen vehicles to be restored! To select among applicants, Motul uses several criteria: the vehicle must represent a certain rarity, justifying its safekeeping; it must belong to a museum or an association; after restoration, it must not be mothballed and should have educational value. What's more, if the project involves the participation of youths on training courses or undergoing social reinsertion, so much the better!
This year, one of the automotive projects concerned the 1922 Maratuech 1922, a unique model built artisanally and belonging to the Automobile Club du Sud-Ouest in Bordeaux. The official presentation of the restored car therefore took place in that city on 13 December. 'This car, which we're very stirred to see restored, illustrates a period of freedom we'll no longer experience,' affirmed Claude Chambonnaud, president of ACSO. Freedom, which in the 1920s, allowed Fernand Maratuech to make his dream come true: he built a car shaped like an aircraft fuselage and propelled by a motorcycle engine. A most colourful character, a lock keeper by profession, he managed to build the car using the means and materials at hand, relying on ingenuity when he encountered difficulty. This most uncommon car has been restored by Pierre Arnaud's workshop with the participation of young apprentices from technical training centres of the region. The restoration took place with total respect for the car's authenticity, a sine qua non for Motul to become involved in the project.
Photo credits: Amandine Oudart
