Marque1

CLASSIC CARS AND BELGIAN CHOCOLATES

So there I was, enjoying a coffee and croissant with cousin Wendy, who lives a mere ten miles from Sidney but whom I hadn't seen in nine years. We met, the sad result of my brother Alan's passing, at a coffee shop I'd never heard of, called Tonelli's Deli. Located at the intersection of Island View Road and East Saanich Road in Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula, Tonelli's is a gem, such as you might expect to find in such disparate places as Brooklyn Heights or Quebec City.

Standing at the counter, with Wendy about to pay the bill, I observed a selection of chocolates in various package sizes, all featuring classic cars. Each package had unique illustrations, some with vintage grand prix racers, others with American cars of the 50's, and European cars from the same era. Along with chocolates in various package sizes, there were cookies and Belgian Waffles. (Ah... did you get that? Belgian Waffles? Absolutely the best waffles in the world!) I chose a small package of bitter sweet Belgian chocolate with a 1950 Citroen on the wrapper. As of this writing I haven't opened it but rest assured I will. Test bites soon to come.

How did this happen? A meeting with Jaak De Koninck, a Belgian artist, and Patrick Gilis, resulted in the creation of a range of chocolate products under the brand name "Starbrook Airlines", which later became "Classic Wheels" and "Fleet." It grew into an international brand sold at high end department stores, deli and specialty shops, and chocolate shops. The company now has distribution in 76 countries and 170 airports, border shops, and cruise and  ferry lines.

Which is how I found myself facing a range of packages whose graphics resembled our own Marque1.com blogs. I liked them all so much I wanted to take several home and frame them. After eating the contents, of course. Classic Wheels is expanding throughout North America and I suspect that, in the future, its unique packages will become collector's items. To which I can only add "love what you eat" and "eat what you love." Chocolate fans and classic car fans alike will appreciate those sentiments.

The Artist's Story: Jaak De Koninck uses oil paint and watercolours to portray his world of airplanes, air hostesses and of nearly everything to do with flying, captured under the name of his own imaginary airline: "Starbrook Airlines". Most of his canvasses are on permanent display in the Belgian airport of Zaventem. For some time now, he has been involved in a line of Belgian gourmet food, distributing chocolate delicacies, wrapped in his aquarelles, all over the world. To our benefit, Jaak is equally a classic car enthusiast.

VERTICAL MOBILITY IN BROOKLYN: RESTORED WAREHOUSE FEATURES CINEMA WITH GOURMET CAFE

Few cities are better at rejuvenating old buildings than New York. And that, of course, includes Brooklyn. A two-storey, mid-century warehouse in the district of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has been transformed into a three-screen cinema with a cafe and bar. The Nighthawk Cinema is a recent project of Caliper Studio, which packaged it in, as Wallpaper Magazine relates, "a custom zing panel facade with 2,000 hand cast glass disks, backlit by low voltage LED lights".

It includes three floors of residential apartments above the cinemas, bar, café and commercial kitchen below.

Well, that's architecture talk, but here's some of what the Nighthawk offers: "We are a new cinema that offers an experience like no other in New York. We have a street-level neighborhood cafe where you can enjoy cocktails or gourmet concessions anytime. In addition, we feature table-side food service inside our three theaters for each film."

Wow! An entirely new way of enjoying the movies, far better than my usual dinner on the couch while watching a lousy TV show. In fact, it seems like a contemporary version of the old show-and-dinner formula that made the nightclub scene so exciting. Or a dinner-and-a-movie-evening-out except that it all happens in one place. No need to eat dinner, drive to the cinema and hope to find a parking spot before the first reel rolls.

In case you're wondering, marque1.com has not changed its direction in order to promote movies. We're still a classic car site that also looks at ways of making cities a better place to live while (hopefully) reducing urban sprawl. My wish is that the Nighthawk returns the favour by including the fabulous F1 documentary "Senna" in its list of upcoming films. And that About.com's car czar Bob Schulties, who lives in Brooklyn, is in the audience. Are you listening, Bob?

HERE COMES THE BREAD TRUCK! CAN WE BUY A PIE, MOM?

Would you pay $74,250 for a used bread truck? Come to think of it, if a bread truck is worth that much, what would a loaf of bread cost? It just so happens that I'm old enough to remember when the bread man came to our door every day, offering a mouth watering (to a kid) selection of breads, cakes, and pies. I can't recall the truck, except that it was yellow, but I doubt if the bread company paid more than $2000 for his specialised vehicle. As for the price of a loaf of bread, if memory serves me it was 25 cents.

Nigel Matthews recent article in the Vancouver Province took me back to those wonderfully simplistic days, as he wrote about a 1936 Helms Bakery truck that was sold at RM's Monterey auction for $74,250, a little under the estimated price of $80,000. Seems like a lot of money until you realise that this was one of just a dozen purpose-built, short-run delivery trucks manufactured by the Twin-Coach Company of Kent, Ohio, which had been formed by Frank and William Fageol in 1929.

The company manufactured transit and trolley buses, small delivery vehicles and postal vans. Indeed, anyone who's ever traveled on those intercity Greyhound buses that appear in old black & white movies will surely recognise the Fageol name.

Paul Helms founded his company in 1931 and achieved immediate success by landing the contract to supply baked goods for the 1932 Olympic Games; consequently he called his bread products "Olympic Bread." As Nigel writes, "Helms-baked products were not sold in stores, they were delivered by an armada of trucks that left the Culver City bakery daily, with each truck covering a selected 24-km route in the greater Los Angeles area. Often the baked goods were still hot when delivered fresh from the oven and included baked bread, cookies, pies and other treats, living up to the company slogan, 'Daily at Your Door'." Native Angelenos were alerted to the truck's arrival in their street by a distinctive two-pitch whistle; residents would flag them down to purchase their daily bread.

Nigel tells us that the vans had a rather unique standand-drive position in which the driver was required to operate two foot pedals. The right pedal was the throttle but the left was a combination clutch and brake. Depressing the pedal halfway would engage the clutch, pushing down all the way operated the brakes. I would guess that it took new drivers a few hours to get used to such a weird setup. Nigel wondered how many custard pies were scrambled by those novices before they could do it smoothly.

By 1969, the Helms fleet had grown to almost 500 vehicles, which generated the additional slogan "Three Times around the World Daily," representing the combined daily mileage of the entire fleet. Obviously very few such vans survive, including one in the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. I doubt the new owner will be using his to deliver bread and pies, although you never know. With the current rage for cupcakes, it would make a nifty promotional vehicle.

[Photo Credit: Nigel Matthews. Nigel is the Director of Sales and Marketing for Hagerty Canada]

TOASTING A ROVER WITH A CUCUMBER GIN

I've been accused of posting too many blogs about British cars lately, so I was planning to go all-American today with a nice 48 Chevrolet woodie. But that can wait, as I've just spotted this article in the Classic Driver newsletter. One look at the photo should explain why it was too good to resist. The car is a 1961 Rover P4 (one of my long-time favorites), customised for Hendrick’s gin, which apparently is an unusual drink due to its cucumber and rose-tinged flavor. Indeed, the Rover is referred to as "The Cucumbermobile" in the company's unique promotional campaigns.

It can easily be spotted in a crowd, thanks to its British Racing Green exterior, the flying cucumber hood ornament, a gearshift in the shape of a rose (which Hendrick's says "evokes thoughts of this rose-petal infused spirit”). Not unsurprisingly it has a bar that pulls out of the trunk from which Hendrick's gin can be sampled at concours d'elegance and other events. Passengers hoping to enjoy a sip or two en route will be pleased to know that the rear seat armrest has space for a bottle and two glasses. Adding pleasure to the trip, they can tune the original radio or listen to an iPod adapter through a stereo system playing period music. Need more gin to share with friends? What looks like a container of windshield washer under the hood is a spare bottle of Hendrick's! Outside, the roof rack holds a vintage Victorian tent, chairs, table, a picnic basket, vintage wooden skis for those winter trips to the Alps, a suitcase, and an emergency gas can.

Two years ago I visited the Goodwood Revival, where I revived myself with a delicious glass of gin from a distiller I'd never heard of. The taste was quite different, unlike any gin I'd ever experienced, leaving me to wonder now if it could have been Hendrick's although there was no cucumber in sight. If so, I'm delighted to learn that the company sells its product in North America and although not inexpensive I intend trying a bottle soon. It would be even more fun if the Cucumbermobile showed up at some special events on this side of the Atlantic. Cheers!

[Photo: Hendrick's]