Salon Retromobile – The best bits..
Twenty four hours at the Salon Retromobile Show last week, was just enough time to take in the plethora of exotic classics, soak up the atmosphere and report on what’s hot and what’s not.
It was a painless journey from London to Paris on the Eurostar – just 2 hrs city to city – a short metro ride and I was popping out of the ground right outside Hall 1 of the Parc des expositions de la Porte de Versailles.
Hall 1 – for those who have not been to this show before – is where is all happens. Key exhibits are in the middle of hall 1 – including major exhibitions by Richard Mille, showing us the diversity of Formula 1 design; Renault showing off a rare 1939 Viva Grand Sport Coupe and modern concepts ; a mouth watering private collection of Bugatti and Bentley pre-war cars presented by Lukas Huni, a tribute to David Brown and an exhibition of Aston Martin and an exhibition of early Ferrari F1 to make your jaw drop.
Alex Schultz showed off an incredible selection of pre-war beauties including a real head turning 1929 Packard. British dealers were also out in force; Ascott Collection and William I’anson, JD Classics, and Fiskens all congregated around centre stage with a mixture of racing and touring classics.
Even the autojumble was impressive, row upon row of dusty bygone automotive body parts – clocks, dials, headlights, chrome trim and switches – all waiting to be rediscovered and resurrected back into life.
Pavillons 2 & 3 housed the fabulous collection of ancient Motorcycles gathered from Museums and collectors far and wide. As well as an incredible Ferrari collection assembled for the 70 years celebration and the rather delightful new Chausson prototype car looking a bit like an overgrown childs toy!
The bridge walkway between the Pavillions housed the amazing Group B rally car collection staged by Le Grandes Heures Automobiles to promote their Classic event at Autodrome De Linas – Montlhery on September 23 & 24.
Amongst the racing community, David Hinton of HSR was present promoting his series of Historic Sportscar races in the US, and the feature endurance events Classic 12hrs of Daytona and Classic 12 hrs of Sebring. Adjacent, was Peter Auto and his team with a Theatre style exhibition to promote their extensive calendar of classic race events throughout Europe.
As a keen amateur artist, I was particularly impressed with the selection of motoring art on offer and the quality of the exhibits.
But the car which peaked my interest the most was a Bentley Special Speed 8 – recreation. This iconic early 30’s racer, had been assembled on a solid Bentley MKVI , with a period engine. The bodywork follows the construction of the original Le Mans cars to offer a brand new build – period racing machine. The detail and standard of finish was high but what really amazed me was the price. Just €219.500 + 21% vat. Great value for a recreation built on a period chassis and to such a high standard. Sitting alongside it was a DBR1 replica (not built on an original chassis) and much less impressive but also half the price tag. Both cars were from the Hector Classic Mobiles stable in Belgium.
Photos and Words by SBB
