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MICHEL VAILLANT PAYS TRIBUTE TO LOUIS CHEVROLET |
Next Volume Of The « Dossiers Michel Vaillant » Tells Chevrolet Founder’s Life, Achievements And “Never Give Up” Spirit. One Of The Strips Devoted To Chevrolet’s WTCC Adventure!
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ZURICH / BRUSSELS, 20 October 2009 - The figure of Louis Chevrolet, his adventurous life, and his long-lasting contribution to the automobile industry and motorsports, which has a modern materialization in the Chevrolet WTCC team, are celebrated in the forthcoming “Dossiers Michel Vaillant” monographic book, to be released in French- and Dutch-speaking markets this month.
Michel Vaillant and Vaillante are names that need no presentation in French-speaking countries, and also in many other countries where the motorsport strip stories have been translated. The driver and his family’s sportscar constructor are the evergreen characters of a saga that fascinates many generations of motor racing fans of all ages since decades. The success of “Michel Vaillant”, the most acclaimed strip on motor racing, is due to the extraordinary closeness to reality. Jean Graton, the Belgian designer that created the character in the ‘60s and his son Philippe, who has taken over the helm of Graton Editeur, have managed to capture, in their stories and their drawings, all the richness of the sports and to render the technicalities and the emotions of racing to the last detail.
The “Dossiers Michel Vaillant” is a more recent product of Editions Graton, which combines texts, photographs and strips, to tell the “real” story of “real” figures of our sports. Previous issues have been devoted to champions of the likes of Fangio, Senna, Ickx, Pescarolo and Villeneuve, to prominent figures like Enzo Ferrari and Soichiro Honda, or to great motorsport lovers such as James Dean and Steve McQueen.
The eleventh volume of the series pays tribute to Louis Chevrolet and tells the incredible story of the Swiss-born watch and car mechanic that emigrated to Québec first and to the US later to become an acclaimed driver and the co-founder of the Chevrolet brand. Although he would not personally collect the fruits of his creation, Louis Chevrolet is today recognized as one of the pioneers in automotive history and remembered for his eclectic talent, his vision and the fighting spirit that animated him until his last day. His personal motto, “Never give up”, has been rightly chosen as the title of this book, written by well-known Belgian journalist Pierre Van Vliet.
The first two strip stories included in the volume and signed by Philippe Graton, cover Louis Chevrolet’s arrival in America and his heroic races in Indianapolis, while the third one is devoted to modern racing: Chevrolet’s presence in the WTCC since 2005. This allows to enjoy an unusual sight of the Chevrolet Cruze, of its drivers Alain Menu, Rob Huff and Nicola Larini, and of members of the Chevrolet team ...as strip cartoon characters!
QUOTES
Alain Menu: “I was very pleased when I was asked to write the foreword to this book on Louis Chevrolet. Being Swiss and having had to leave to the United Kingdom to live my passion for racing, I often think of Louis Chevrolet when I am behind the wheel of my Chevy. I am proud of being able to contribute a little bit to perpetuate his legend”.
Eric Nève: “To devote this “Dossier Michel Vaillant” to Louis Chevrolet is a great idea. I think his life and achievements really deserve it and I am sure this book will help younger fans to know the story of such a visionary man. I also have to tell that for someone like me, who has come to love motorsports reading Michel Vaillant stories as a kid, to see Chevrolet’s WTCC adventure in a strip story and myself portrayed in it, is no less than a great honor!”
Book references:
“Louis Chevrolet: Never Give Up”, by P.Van Vliet and Ph.Graton, Dossiers Michel Vaillant n.11, 48 p., Graton Editeur, Brussels 2009.
Available in French and Dutch. ISBN 978-2-87098-118-4.
For further info, visit www.michelvaillant.com
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