Journal: Welcome Alain de Cadenet To The Petrolicious Team!

Welcome Alain de Cadenet To The Petrolicious Team!

By
December 6, 2017

Among the tasks of the day and the unopened emails from yesterday, it can be difficult at times to recall how this all began, how we got to the present moment. We’ve come so far since Petrolicious’ fledgling steps in 2012, and the enthusiastic response from the community that made the ensuing growth possible in a matter of just a few years is a testament to the timelessness of our mission, our mindset, our motto. We are humbled and energized by everyone who has supported our content, and though we’re a long way from where we started, there are no intentions of laurel-resting at Petrolicious. As we approach the new year and the question of “What’s next?” becomes increasingly pertinent for everybody and every business, we are proud to announce today a new addition to our team who will be instrumental in crafting our filmic and editorial presence going forward.

Many names and nationalities have appeared in the bylines and credits of Petrolicious over the years, but rarely do they confer the experience and insight of a man like Alain de Cadenet. From giving up rock’n’roll photography and entering his first motorsport event on a whim in pursuit of pretty girls, to creating a Le Mans-contending team bearing his name on the hoods of its prototype race cars, Alain has certainly “lived it,” as they say. In his career outside of the car that followed, he would go on to lend his keen wit and racing intellect to the sport and its prominent machinery as a commentator and host of such series as Victory by Design. Our own Ted Gushue spent hours getting to know Alain during our interview with him earlier this year, so please do give it a read if you’re interested in the supremely interesting life he’s led so far— few people possess the same humor and humility alongside these kinds of accomplishments.

Of course, I’ve known of him for decades, but over the past few months I’ve had the pleasure of sharing numerous conversations with Alain as a friend and a likeminded enthusiast. His reputation in the automotive world is impressive and accurately reflecting of such a racing career, so it’s no surprise that anecdotes abound from his time in the driver’s seat, but I found myself equally captivated by his stories of people, of ideas, of travel, of the broad thing we summarize with “life.”

I came away from these talks energized each time, and it became apparent that Alain would be the perfect fit for our mission at Petrolicious, a sentiment that Alain shares:  “I want to create something that’s pertinent and worthwhile, not dry and rehashed—pairing levity with the exploration of serious sports machines. I look forward to creating evergreen stories and films with my fellow enthusiasts here as we work to create content rather than churn it.”

With that shared philosophy, we have already begun developing two new film series which will feature Alain as the host, in addition to an editorial series which will debut soon on the site.

So, fellow petrolisti, please join us in welcoming Alain de Cadenet to Petrolicious—stay tuned for more to come, we can barely keep it to ourselves as is.

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Jack B
Jack B
6 years ago

It’s been nearly four months since this article. Are we going to see anything from de Cad?

Jack B
Jack B
6 years ago

When will we see DeCad’s first contribution, or did I miss it? Either way I’m really looking forward to it!

Pietro Lo Fria
Pietro Lo Fria
6 years ago

I completely had this as part of my Product Roadmap if I had a chance to join your team!

Irvin Jaffe
Irvin Jaffe
6 years ago

Alain de Cadent has been a favorite of mine for decades and decades. A great enthusiast at all levels. Excellent choice

Roger K Rexroade Jr
Roger K Rexroade Jr
6 years ago

This channel is now in another stratosphere with the addition of Mr. DeCadenet😎

Richard L Fontenrose
Richard L Fontenrose
6 years ago

What an excellent choice. I’ve loved his work with Victory and elsewhere. This puts Petrolicious squarely on the map for me.

MCC356
MCC356
6 years ago

By adding Alain to your team you’ve convinced me to sign up.
Please give him my regards and tell him that I have the perfect motor for the ’64 SC sunroof I sold him 7 or 8 years ago (see my current profile photo).
I hope he shares the story of how I drove the car from Huntsville, AL to meet him in Albuquerque, NM, so that he could drive the car home to LA. Of course, it is only a small adventure in the many he has had.
Alain is truly an old school racing hero.
Congratulations!
Martin Folgmann

Brad Baum
Brad Baum
6 years ago

Christmas comes early to Petrolicious fans. I couldn’t dream a better addition to my favorite classic car internet site than DeCadenet.
Afshin, see if you can get a contribution from Simon Taylor and Mick Walsh occasionally, and I can drop my paper magazines all together.

Tim McGrane
Tim McGrane
6 years ago

Alain, congratulations…this is great news and look forward to continuing to follow your exploits. Tim

Larry Andriunas
Larry Andriunas
6 years ago

No way, this is Great News. I was crushed when they canceled Victory by Design. Alain will be a great fit to Petrolicious telling the story about the automobile but more importantly the connection the people have to it. Congratulations and welcome Alain.

wing nut
wing nut
6 years ago

I shall never forget seeing Alain’s reaction to a Spitfire coming so close to giving him a haircut that the F-bomb was dropped and for good reason! Yikes that was close! Tells me the man is not above showing true emotion when moved to do so. I’ll look forward to hearing some of his wonderful memories and hopefully he’ll spice his offerings up with a few back stories of the life of a well healed, good looking bachelor racing driver in the swinging 60’s. I can only imagine what him and his mates were up to back in the day.

Lance Dong
Lance Dong
6 years ago

I also have followed Alain for many years. I finally got to meet him at an Alfa Romeo event this year in Monterey. What a great get for Petrolicious. I eagerly await the coming contributions from him!

Frank VELLAKE
Frank VELLAKE
6 years ago

I remember with great fondness Alain’s Speed channel series about design and the automobile…good stuff . Glad he’s still active and look forward to seeing him again.

rick cavaretti
rick cavaretti
6 years ago

The best automotive news I’ve seen all year. Alain, in the words of my teenage son, ‘is the man’. Victory by Design on Speedvision…the golden era of automotive programming.

Justin Platt
Justin Platt
6 years ago

A great ambassador to the team!

Monza owner and drives it!

I wonder what he’ll think of my 105 GTA 1600. A future film maybe.

Looking forward to his articles on the lovely. interesting spectrum of cars on Petrolicious.

JP

Andrew
Andrew
7 years ago

Alain de Cadenet is one of the top….if not the top vintage and purist car guru I know of.
How lucky we are.

Sir Mouse
Sir Mouse
7 years ago

If it is true that GS has been removed from the site, I would be asking why?
While I rarely agreed with any of GS’s comments GS did make me reflect on what I thought and why. Silencing those who have a contrary opinion to ourselves is a sign of elitism and small mindedness. I wonder who be next?

Paul Ipolito
Paul Ipolito
7 years ago
Reply to  Sir Mouse

Probably me. I gave GS a hard time at every opportunity, but I agree with you 100% Don’t have a “Comments” section if you are afraid of what might be posted.

Jack B
Jack B
7 years ago
Reply to  Sir Mouse

While I believe in the absolute right of the forum owners to exclude anyone they choose to, for any reason, I also believe that the antidote to offensive speech (perhaps more accurately in this case, “disagreeable speech”) is always more speech, not less. Frankly, I believe that a lot of what GS posted was amusing and probably self-parody to some degree, a nuance apparently lost on some….

I like contrarians, offensive or otherwise. I’ll miss him a bit.

Paul Ipolito
Paul Ipolito
7 years ago

de Cadenet for GS. Good trade. And a huge boost to an ego requiring no further boosting. You should have ignored any references to him. He gets the last laugh.

Dennis Cavallino
Dennis Cavallino
7 years ago

Alain de Cadenet is a hero! Well done and I’m looking forward to see Petrolicious films with Alain as a host, interviewer or test driver. Whatever he’s going to do, it will be pretty darn good! And it’s also good to know that Alain can keep an eye on the crew, even at 230mph. 😉

Ben Ratliff
7 years ago

This is amazing! So happy to see you all taking major steps forward. I feel like I am watching a company grow that will impact the Automotive world for generations. Congrats to all of you at Petrolicious!

PDXBryan
PDXBryan
7 years ago

Old GS was entertaining and infuriating at the same time. It’s probably a good move on Petro’s part to no longer risk alienating all the sane folks that would like to comment without being insulted. I do feel he had a heart… but unfortunately zero filter. Good roads man.

Sam N
Sam N
7 years ago

Fantastic!

Michael Squeo
Michael Squeo
7 years ago

What great news. We bought his Victory by Design DVD’s on Alfa, Maserati and Ferrari and have watched each several times. Mr. de Cadenet is fantastic – he knows the subject and he is a great story teller. Well done Petrolicious and welcome Mr. de Cadenet.

Jack B
Jack B
7 years ago

DeCad is fantastic.

His “Renaissance Man” series was wonderful and all-too-short-lived. I hope his contributions here will be similar.

Well played, Petrolicious.

Jack B
Jack B
6 years ago
Reply to  Jack B

I have to say I’m disappointed and a bit confused that in six months we’ve seen no contributions from de Cad, and radio silence from the site administrators. I hope Alain is still on board.

donna
donna
7 years ago

Excellent! Victory by Design was/is incredible.

Harv Falkenstine
Harv Falkenstine
7 years ago

Afshin, the addition of Alain de Cadenet to the Petrolicious team provides just more reason to visit this site early in the morning as the work day gets started. His enthusiasm and passion for classic automobiles coupled with his many years of experience will add more fuel to the “Drive Tastefully” moniker.

Afshin Behnia
Afshin Behnia
7 years ago

Thanks Harv! I couldn’t agree more!

PDXBryan
PDXBryan
7 years ago

Yes indeed! I’m looking forward to it! Oh wait, is GS cool with this?……..

B Bop
B Bop
7 years ago
Reply to  PDXBryan

I have a feeling that the removal of GS from the site was part of the deal

Afshin Behnia
Afshin Behnia
7 years ago
Reply to  PDXBryan

GS is history!

Sam N
Sam N
7 years ago
Reply to  PDXBryan

GS coached him, he also directed and produced the V by D series.

José Ricardo Xavier
José Ricardo Xavier
6 years ago
Reply to  PDXBryan

my dear god, i hope that will bring a new era for comments here in petrolicious, thanks everybody at the admin team that decided for that!

Dan Graff
Dan Graff
7 years ago

Looking forward to his contributions.
Keep it up.

nis1973
nis1973
7 years ago

Terrific news! As much as I love petrolicious, I have to say that some of the writing has at times been lacking – big on enthusiasm but short on basic knowledge (the use of “rally” and “Group B” interchangeably, for example). Alan’s depth of knowledge of all things motorsports and his breadth of experiences could be invaluable. Awesome!

Douglas Anderson
Douglas Anderson
7 years ago

Gawd I love to listen and watch everything he touches and has to say. I have been a fan of his and was totally over the moon when I found Victory by Design on my cable channel. Kudo’s to Petrolicious for adding him to the mix.

Michael Hammonds
Michael Hammonds
7 years ago

Welcome Mr. de Cadenet. Have been a fan for many years and watch the Victory by Design shows often. Your contributions will be greatly anticipated!

B Bop
B Bop
7 years ago

What with the world slowly descending into madness, finally something to cheer and feel good about. Hearty congratulations to Petrolicious and Mr de Cadenet.
Perfect !!

Dennis White
Dennis White
7 years ago

First, Afshin this is such a fun site and part of my every day viewing, but I guess like anything it can be better? Terrific that Mr. de Cadenet will be contributing. The Victory by Design series is superb and the Sicilian Dream film is an absolute delight. Congrats to all, and like those little Italian cars surrounding the two of you!

Afshin Behnia
Afshin Behnia
7 years ago
Reply to  Dennis White

Thanks for making us part of your daily routine, Dennis. I wish you could all spend some time with Alain. He’s a master storyteller!

Bill Meyer
Bill Meyer
7 years ago

Afshin, you guys aren’t messin’ around here. Mr. de Cadenet is an amazing addition. I can’t wait to see what he brings to Petrolicious.

Afshin Behnia
Afshin Behnia
7 years ago
Reply to  Bill Meyer

Thanks Bill! We’re giddy as you might imagine.

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