cazalea
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Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 1
Hello Purists,
I feel a need to do another series of articles to follow the comments in an earlier post about Mr. Bibendum.
Many of you, certainly the French among us, know about the Michelin company whose history includes the invention/development of the dismountable pneumatic tubular bicycle tire (tyre) around 1890, the invention and development of the radial tire, its growth to become the largest tire company in the world for many years, publisher of maps & travel guides, dispenser of stars to fine restaurants, etc.
At an exhibition in 1894 Michelin introduced a company spokesperson (to use today's politically-correct term) who came to be known as Bibendum. This nickname was extracted from the company's new slogan "Nunc est bibendum" a phrase (thanks to Wikipedia's list of famous Latin phrases) taken from the Odes of Horace,
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus (Now is the time to drink, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth)
Mr Bib was then obviously composed of a stack of bicycle tires. He often smoke, drank to excess and partied the night away (as a Purist does).
The first posters depicted him holding a glass full of nails and shards of glass, and merrily drinking them down without becoming punctured. I'm not a poster collector but I have acquired a few vintage Michelin guidebooks. Once in a collector's frenzy I sorted through the books and scanned in hundreds of vintage images that pleased me. Bibendum is always once was politically incorrect, as shown in the Gallic shrug "Who Me?" and the resentment towards paying taxes (now who do we know like that today?).
Sadly in the last decade or so he was emasculated, forced to give up smoking, and turned into a grinning, child-friendly buffoon and squeaky toy / boy racer. AND put on a diet for his health (and so they could sell tires to women and millennials).
Here he is running cheerfully along the ceramic tile, as the tires which bear his name run down the road.
Once you could only get Michelin memorabilia from a cooperative tyre dealer who wanted to thank you for your patronage. Collecting was tough, and expensive. But somewhere in the late 80's early 90's Michelin caught on and began to sell the stuff everywhere, through dealers, website, boutiques, etc. Some of the collecting appeal was lost, because all you needed was an endless supply of money to collect.
I like my trucks though. It seems like there are about 20-25. If this continues I'll have to go count them and give them an article of their own.
Here are a few miniatures of Bib himself. I'm most proud of the cast metal one in the front center which inexplicably appeared in the Windsor Castle gift shop. I remember nothing about the castle but I brought this guy home.
Always helpful, our Mr. Bib. I did not steal this sign from the Shepperton tire store, my friend did.
Of course I have Michelin timepieces!
Here are a few miniatures of Bib himself. I'm most proud of the cast metal one in the front center which inexplicably appeared in the Windsor Castle gift shop. I remember nothing about the castle but I brought this guy home.
Always helpful, our Mr. Bib. I did not steal this sign from the Shepperton tire store, my friend did.
Of course I have Michelin timepieces!
This clock is made of real "tree rubber" and was sold in the Paris boutique. I might have gotten it in the late 80's. The rubber has suffered over the years, but you can still see the little Bibs in every other quadrant.
Can't you just imagine this character's thinking "OK, I can be a French chef, no problem, but holding a dispenser of hand lotion? merde! Reading a book to a dog? Fais chier!"
I'll leave you with a survey of my scans while I go prepare Part 2 of this series. Thanks for reading.
Cazalea
Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 1
Hello Purists, I feel a need to do another series of articles to follow the comments in an earlier post about Mr. Bibendum. Many of you, certainly the French among us, know about the Michelin company whose history includes the invention/development of the...
Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 2
Why was the invention of demountable tires a good thing? Why did it catapult Michelin into global fame as a tire company? Let's imagine we are back in the 1880's riding a bone-shaker bicycle with the first-generation pneumatic tires to cushion our family ...
Thank you for your well documented and very interesting post
As you know, I am a true fan of the Bibendum too and I am always nostalgic of my native town when I see such pictures. I like to see how the Bibendum evolved through ages and how he sticks to his time. Thank you again. Best wishes Alkiro
Cool stuff, thanks for sharing.
I always have had lots of sympathy for him, both of us have been a bit overweight. Cheers. Vte
This reminds me of my childhood and ...
.. the dozens of tires me and my dad or brother changed on my bycicle. Filip
Reminds me of working in a bike shop
and changing hundreds of tires, if not a thousand or more. My thumbs have always been sore since then!
This one is a brilliant post....
I always loved Bibendum and the fact that Michelin's advertising was historically created heavily around him . Having worked in advertising one of my favorite ads is a Michelin one for the American market which I embedded below. Aside of that one there is...
What a brilliant post!
He seems to have been so very French before - brilliantly evolved over time Thanks for this magnificent post and you have quite a collection, I have to say
You know the answer ;)
The one with the much better test results. If you can wait till November, I can arrange them for you here
Who here works for a Company that Creates tires sold on many Continents ...
Just to avoid an Confusion, this is only a Cultural, not a business thread.
I was not naming any names :)
And I truly appreciate what they are doing and even more your collecting of it There\'s nothing even close that the other manufacturer you may be referring to ( ) does in that space
Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 3
Welcome back to a series of posts about Mr. Bibendum, the Michelin Man. I promised that this one would focus on models of the man himself. So I took all of them out of the cabinet (thus creating a new cleaning project for myself). Here they are smiling at...
That is an incredible collection.
I'm taking a wild guess here but you buy Michelin tires for your cars?
Mostly yes. Since I have weird cars, I have to buy what fits.
It looks like 1/2 my cars are on Michelins.
Never seen colourful ones before!
The red and blue ones add a whole new dimension And some of the older ones on the first picture, look very intriguing - showing the evolution very well. Thanks for sharing!
Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 4
Model Cars and Trucks! What watch lover doesn't appreciate tiny machines that amuse and brighten one's day? Because Michelin is a French company, of course it has long had a relationship with Citroen, but not excluding Renault and other local brands of ca...
As Michelin used to be...
A major shareholder of Citroen for a long time and closely related even before, that connection is very strong - likewise with Renault (even if no ownership). And the picture with the pencil truck shows two more cool things - a better view of the older Bi...
Does this mean...
That they are meant for carrying in a vehicle - nodding heads? Even cooler
Yes, and they have adhesive on the bottom
so they don't fly off the dashboard on sudden maneuvers. Cazalea PDS - Hmmm ... Hoosier Tires and Zonar both, eh?
Well...
There was some money about, so... Hoosier was not a surprise, since they\'ve been making race tires for us for a while
Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 5
As I have been considering the Bibendum character and his role in Michelin marketing, I realized the company had a dilemma. While Michelin is a very secretive company (oh yes, quite reclusive in many ways), they do need to promote themselves. So they work...
What a post !!!
I enloyed it a lot Mike ! I must have a Michelin Guide somewhere .. 1996 i think ... . Bim
card 'Grimaud'
Can see Grimaud from my chair in Restaurant. See foto Sun goes down in Grimaud. ...
Now I'm really getting jealous :)
Need to talk to our marketing department ASAP Those playing cards are a real hoot!
Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 6
Thanks for coming along on this review of Mr. Bibendum, the Michelin Man. I thought I had almost finished with the last post, but my wife came in proudly from the garage with an entire crate of flat material - stickers, cards, booklets, brochures, bags, e...
Bravo!
Again, a thoroughly informative and entertaining read! Thank you very much for the effort. Cheers, Filip
Did I hear you mention Russians?
Michelin has had a very interesting role to play in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. It was often the only Western brand available behind the Iron Curtain, albeit not to the common people. Only top level party officials and captains of the industry (us...
Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 7
The Travel Guides and Maps I have a few Michelin guides which I have purchased just to get the little images of Mr. Bibendum. A side benefit is being able to see what things were like in the motoring trade 105 years ago in Great Britain. I'm going to repr...
Bibendum - The Michelin Man, Part 8
I swear I do not know who bought all these fine Michelin collectible items and left them around my house. But I keep finding new things, and I'm going to wear this to my Cardiologist's office on my next visit! Cazalea ...
Apologies for being so late to the party...
...this has hung on my wall (in various locales) for about 15 years now, and I absolutely love it. I've been told that the tax stamp makes my poster a little more desirable than those without it. Cheers and thank you for sharing your collection and knowle...
