Salon Retromobile 2017 Paris Glamour
The 2017 Salon Retromobile in Paris is Europe’s most glamorous historic vehicle show. Held annually at the Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles.
Now I’ve been many times before but this year was different, we were press. Now this opens doors, literally, on the Tuesday night where the halls are quieter and there’s more space to see the exhibits. Well, except for the private parties on some stands and the bands playing.
The show seems to get bigger every year the main hall is massive and the mezzanine expanding into another two smaller halls. Apparently over 60,000 square feet and more than 500 cars. When you get in it’s a case of wondering where to start, we headed off to the press office to get our press card, which is valid every day.
One of the big draws this year was the collection of Sir David Brown Aston Martins, on show by The Classic Car Trust. They even managed to source the James Bond DB5 from Goldfinger, complete with ejector seat, bullet proof shield, machine guns and Boadicea style wheel spinners. This was the gadget car from Goldfinger, an incredible find to have displayed on an open stand.
It’s just like the toy version, if you ever had one…
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Another rather superb display was the celebration of 30 years of Group B Rallying. The mezzanine was packed with some of the best displays of rally cars you could ever hope to see, from the recreation Audi quattro Sport (looked pretty authentic to me) to the Ferrari 308.
The Audi quattro arrived and wiped the floor with cars like this. When a prestigious car manufacturer with a long racing heritage gets beaten by the volume manufacturers.
There was also a rare Lancia 037 next to a Ford RS200 and an Austin Metro 6R4. Group B was the most exciting era of rallying ever, but costs spiralled out of control and there seemed to be a win at any cost mentality. Safety wasn’t a primary concern, but that soon changed.
Just walking to the displays takes you past the lines of traders, which comprised of one with a Citroen Mehari hanging over the top of a stand to collections of steering wheels. But it’s the collections of model cars for sale that get me looking for ages. From older used examples to those brand new and produced specially for the show.
Minialuxe is a premium French manufacturer and produces wonderful 1/43 miniatures in the style of Dinky years gone by. The old company made plastic models and ceased production in 1978, but was brought back in 2012 by Marc Faujanet. Since they have been coming to Retromobile the lovely Manon Faujanet has been very helpful and took the time to show us round the collection and talk about the history of the company.
The major French manufacturers again were out in force, with Renault producing yet another superb display. I have always been amazed at the quality of the stand and the cars.
Some wonderful rarities on display, I wished they had made this Initiale from 1995. There are hints of the later Laguna in there though. The whole stand was made up of unique and rare cars, highlighting the best of Renault design.
This included the wonderful 1950 light commercial Juvaquatre presented in a period Nina Ricci style. It was drawing quite a crowd and It took a while to get the pictures. The simplicity of the decoration gave it an elegance, which you would expect with Nina Ricci.
Renault also featured, amongst others, a Floride (we know it in the UK as the Caravelle), a 5 Maxi Turbo, the 1911 Type CH and a 40CV. But they did have something much newer, the 2016 TREZOR, which is rather incredible.
There is simply too much to cover and a few hours in a press evening didn’t feel like enough. So guess what, we planned to go back again and this means another instalment.
Head to the Jalopy Magazine Facebook page for the Retromobile gallery where the best of the rest of the images will be shown.
Simon
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