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Syon Park, West London, 6th September 2012

This week saw the annual edition of the prestigious Salon Privé in London. For the second time the event was held in the Syon Park after previous years at the Hurlington Club, the most exclusive private club in London. Whereas the last edition was in June the organizers moved to a later date in September and together with this weekend's Windsor Castle Concours this is well worth a visit the British Capitol after the Olympics and just one week before this year's Goodwood Revival meeting.

Presumable the best of the 3 days is the Thursday, the Boodles Ladies Day where many female visitors are dressed up in the style of the 1930s or 1950s making the ambience very noble when wandering between the cars with a glass of champagne from the sponsors. Another ritual is the lobster that is served fresh from the grill in one of the tents or outside as this year the event was blessed with superb weather so far.

But just like the Quail in Monterey a few weeks earlier the food, drinking and luxurious ambience is not the only reason to visit the Salon Privé as it is still a car event interesting both for fans of the new Supercars and classic cars.

When entering the lawn the visitors see the latest sports and luxury cars from the various manufacturers including Aston Martin with the new Zagato, McLaren or Bentley but also smaller companies like Fisker or Rimac. In front of the Syon house another special display led from the modern to the classic cars. After last year's spectacular Porsche Group C display classic car dealer Adrian Hamilton brought the Rofgo Collection featuring several cars wearing the Gulf-Logo or painted in the famous light-blue and orange livery. The collection ranges from the late 1960s with the iconic Ford GT40 and Mirage to the new McLaren run in the Blancpain GT trophy. The most famous of the Gulf Cars, the 1971 Porsche 917 as seen earlier this year at the Villa d´Este was parked at the back of the house together with a Porsche 908/3 and the original race transporter making its post-restoration debut in London.

The park behind the house is reserved for the classic car concours that is judged by racing drivers like Derek Bell, designers like Marek Reichman (Aston Martin) or historians like Julius Kruta (Bugatti) or Keith Bluemel and Marcel Massini for the Ferrari.

In ten classes the cars and bikes are judged, special classes included the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing who´s prototypes were introduced 60 years ago and the Ferrari F40 in its 25th anniversary year. Other special classes featured the work of Carrozzeria Touring including two Ferrari 166, one 166 MM Touring Barchetta and a 166 S Touring Berlinetta. Other cars of special interest in this class were the Pegaso Thrill and the Lamborghini Flying Star II. This also leads to the class of station wagons showing that not every station wagon has to look boring with some exciting examples from Ferrari (330 by Vignale) or the “new” 2010 Maserati Bellagio combining this class with the Touring class.

The Bugatti class was dominated by the sportive versions of the straight 4 and straight 8 models including Type 37 and Type 35/51 but also rarer Type 73 and Type 59. The sport car from the post-war era included a pair of rare Aston Martin Volantes and the Ferrari 250 GT SWB that became famous for being top seller at RM Auctions Maranello sale a few years ago at a price that was even gazed by some of the stock market trader spoiled by success at the London market.

The pre-war class included one of the Aston Martin Ulsters entered at Le Mans still in British Racing Green before the colour was changed from the unlucky green to Bertellis Italian red. Star of the class was the very shiny Rolls-Royce Silver ghost, perfectly restored and plated.

At the end of the day a people choice award was given to a Maserati Mistral and the best dressed lady was awarded with a brilliant ring after the parade lap in front of Syon house.
Friday will be the final day when the Best of Show will be announced and just the next day the Windsor Concours honouring the diamond jubilee of the Queen will start on Saturday.
We have now put together a few impressions of the Salon Privé, a more detailed gallery will follow at a later date after all the forthcoming events at the great final of the season.

Text & Images Peter Singhof www.ClassicCarPhotography.de <http://www.classiccarphotography.de>


 <http://www.classiccarphotography.de>Salon Prive (2012-11-18)

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