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Cassette-reliure
place
Nov 30, 2008 12:21
15 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

fins de race

French to English Tech/Engineering Automotive / Cars & Trucks
I understand what the author is trying to mean but I'm having a difficult time to render it with an English term:

il ne fait plus des voitures, ce ne sont plus que des...fins de race
Proposed translations (English)
3 +4 a dying breed
4 aged (old-fashioned) specimens
2 collection cars
References
fin de race: from an article originally published in "L'Humanité" newspaper

Discussion

elodieusa (asker) Nov 30, 2008:
no no I'm sure, I checked again in the original document which is a scanned document (jpeg) and I have not altered it...the sentence is as I wrote it.
Bourth (X) Nov 30, 2008:
Are you sure you haven't done any text replacements, and that this might not originally have been "fins de course"? Where "course" means "race", of course, but also "être en fin de course" means to be exhausted, to have gone as far as one possibly can.
elodieusa (asker) Nov 30, 2008:
Basically the text is about somebody who used to make racing cars of quality and after awhile, he doesn't provide the same quality anymore compared to the concurrents...Therefore "il ne fait plus des voitures, ce ne sont plus que des ...fins de race"
Bourth (X) Nov 30, 2008:
Can you fill in the general background? You say you understand what the author is "trying to mean". I don't. "deS voitures" is odd and apparently means more than just "He no longer makes cars". Who is "he"?

Proposed translations

+4
9 mins
Selected

a dying breed

you might try this

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Note added at 5 hrs (2008-11-30 17:27:46 GMT)
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the last of the mohicans
Peer comment(s):
agree Veronique Haour
3 hrs
agree chris collister : "Fin" is, as it were, "final", so maybe "now an extinct species", rather than in the process of becoming extinct
3 hrs
agree sueaberwoman : Certainly not extinct IMO; my feeling is that he continues to turn out a few cars for the beauty of it, high-quality by bygone standards, lacking something to make the grade in the modern world. (See reference)
6 hrs
agree nore
2 days 21 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "I ended up using dying breed...but by adding obsolete to it. Thanks :-)"
47 mins

collection cars

-
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1 hr

aged (old-fashioned) specimens

This appears to fit in with the context (nothing offending for human beings).

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Note added at 3 hrs (2008-11-30 15:57:16 GMT)
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Now this may mean end-line, obsolete cars, having reached their (extreme) technical limits. Otherwise, I shall give up...

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Note added at 3 hrs (2008-11-30 16:14:10 GMT)
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"Models" may be better than "specimens" in fact.

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Note added at 9 hrs (2008-11-30 21:32:33 GMT)
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As you probably know, this is a rather insulting expression sometimes used in French to speak of aristocrats. No offence is meant here of course, but the cars are obviously not described as being top-grade.
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Reference comments

6 hrs
Reference:

fin de race: from an article originally published in "L'Humanité" newspaper

Comment l’argent fait le bonheur (4/4)
Michel Pinçon et Monique Pinçon-Charlot
Le savetier plutôt que le financier
L'Humanité 17.8.2007

"...On est alors toujours surpris d’entendre parler, y compris par des sociologues, de « fin de race » à propos de nobles ou de grands bourgeois. L’expression de leur rejet de ce monde d’héritiers passe par la dépréciation de leurs corps, ce que recouvre l’usage du mot « race ». Il est même étonnant que ce mot soit utilisé alors qu’il est proscrit du langage sociologiquement ou politiquement correct.
La « fin de race », c’est à la fois la reconnaissance d’un passé d’excellence sociale et l’affirmation, consolatrice, d’un présent de décadence. Le sarcasme et la plaisanterie sont des armes dérisoires face aux positions occupées dans la société par ceux dont, en fait, on reconnaît le pouvoir en essayant de les tourner en dérision..."
http://www.france-mail-forum.de/fmf48/neuf/48pinc4-4.htm
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