The Hurlingham Club, London, 21 - 23 July 2010
The fifth annual Salon Privé gathering was held at its regular
venue, the exclusive Hurlingham Club, on the banks of the River
Thames in South West London. The event is a high end outdoor
motor show, with the addition of a classic car concours, “Beautiful
People”, headed this year by Miss Great Britain, plus lifestyle
brands like Audemars Piguet, Boodles, Six Senses Resorts &
Spas, Ventura (UK) agents for Riva powerboats, Vertu and
Vranken-Pommery Monopole, whose Pommery Champagne
flowed freely for the duration of the event.
This year the major manufacturers present were headed by
Jaguar, who in celebration of their 75th Anniversary had an
expansive array of cars on display, not only from their current
range, but also of iconic models from their glorious history. There
was also a strong presence from Aston Martin, whose display
included the 4 door Rapide model, first shown a t the Geneva
Salon earlier this year, whilst Audi displayed an R8 V10 Spyder
amonst there offerings, Bugatti showed the Veron 16.4 Grand
Sport, Lamborghini had the LP570-4 Superleggera on display
through their British importer H.R. Owen, whilst Bentley, Lexus,
Lotus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Morgan and Rolls Royce were
other major names in attendance. There were also international
niche and low volume specialists like Atomik Cars from France,
with a Fiat 500 based concept, the Atomik 500, Sportec from
Switzerland with their Porsche based SPR1R, Vermot AG from
Germany with their Veritas RS III, Techart with a modified
Porsche Panamera Turbo, and the better known Tesla electric
powered roadster.
In the concours there was quite naturally a class for Jaguars to
celebrate the anniversary, and within this group there was a fine
selection of the company’s products over the years, which ranged
from a 1938 SS 100, through the groundbreaking XK 120, which
really put the Jaguar name on the world map, which spawned the
legendary “C” and “D” Type sports racing models from the fifties,
examples of which were also entered, which led to the XK SS,
then into the iconic sixties sports car the “E” Type. Another class
was for Maseratis from the Orsi era, with a nice selection of
predominantly road cars, mainly from the sixties, whilst in
celebration of Alfa Romeo’s centenary there was a class for
pre-1940 Race cars, with other classes featuring Bugatti pre-war
Touring Cars, Hypercars: 200mph pre-2000, The Hollywood Era:
Big Fins from the Fifties, and a special motorcycle class. The
Overall Best of Show Award went to the spectacular blue and
white 1932 Alfa Romeo Monza of Hugh Taylor, which is a regular
Mille Miglia contender, and gets regular exercise in many other
events during the course of the season.
Keith Bluemel
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