Half a century of pure passion

Every few months, my father would bring home a big stack of car brochures from work. He couldn't have made me happier. For hours, if not days, I sat flicking through them. Over and over again. I dreamed of being able to drive a car myself. On the street, I could name the make and type of every car parked or passing by. At that time, I had not yet developed a brand preference. Until the winter of 1972. There was a Renault advertisement in the regional newspaper. It printed a coupon that people who were interested could fill in and send in. I asked my father for a pen, envelope and a stamp.

Two days later, the great miracle happened. There was post from Renault in our letterbox. The contents: a small booklet showing all Renault models of the 1973 model year. That small gesture from Renault changed my life forever. I not only developed a brand preference in a short time, it went much further. When I look back over the past 50 years, I cannot help but conclude that a lot of things that have happened in my life or choices I have made are largely linked to Renault.

From my high school age, I sent dozens of letters around the world every year to collect brochures of Renault and affiliated brands in every corner of the world. In large quantities, these often came to me from the most exotic regions. I still have them all and the collection has grown tremendously over the years.

It went the same way with miniature models. Around birthday or Christmas, I would look in advance for the latest models that had come out. A preference grew into a passion and that finally turned into several books and, of course, for 16 years already into Losange Magazine. And although 50 years is a nice milestone, I just want to keep going with it for now....

Tony Vos, editor-in-chief/publisher Losange Magazine