Paris, Porte de Versailles 6.-10.February, 2013
This year's Retromobile was held on the second weekend of
February at the exhibition centre in the south-west periphery of
Paris. Already in its 38. edition the oldest classic car trade fair in
Europe gained a reputation that attracts visitors and collectors
from all over the world to the French capitol, but still after all those
years it retained a familiar ambience compared to some of its
competitors. With a self-imposed restriction in size the
Retromobile was able to keep its own character that seems to be
less commercial than the big shows in Germany with a balanced
selection of dealers, works displays, car clubs, automotive art
and scale models. Certainly the intention is also making business
but the absence of the “quantity dealers” trying to sell Mercedes,
Porsche or Austin Healey in large numbers keeps the focus on
the special cars like the French pre-war classics of Bugatti,
Delage, Delahaye or Talbot-Lago.
The Retromobile features some very interesting special displays
year by year, be it to a legendary driver like Fangio two years
ago, the museum of Peter Mullin last year or round anniversaries
of iconic models. This year Swiss dealer Lukas Hüni revived
the Salon de Paris of 1955, the birth of the goddess (“La
Déesse”) Citroen DS including period fashioned models. Back
then the innovative car caused a sensation and more than 12000
cars were ordered on the first day. Built for about 20 years the DS
has a huge fan base today and the display featured several
models reflecting the history including different body styles like
the break, the cabriolet or even rare coach built examples of
Chapron. Beside the special display Citroen itself and marque
specialists showed even more examples making the DS the car
of the show.
Just over the corridor Lukas Hüni had his own booth showing
some fine examples of the rarest machinery representing the
quality of his portfolio. On two podiums three Alfa Romeo and
Bugatti were lined up with a Grand Prix, a sports and a touring
example each. The two rivals of the late 1920s and the 1930s
fought on the international circuits in the hands of the most
talented drivers of its era, the Italian Marque with the iconic 8C
2300. The Monza (2111046) was an original works team car
before it was sold to its first private owner and is to be believed
one of the most original remaining Monza's in existence. It was
restored just prior to the Pebble Beach Concours in 2010 where
Alfa Romeo was featured marque. As in Pebble it was joined in
Paris by the Short Chassis Zagato Spider (2111006) that was
also part of the Alfa Works team both entered under the cloverleaf
and later the prancing horse when the Scuderia Ferrari took over
the race car program from the factory. Even more important this is
a proven Nuvolari driven car, the most famous of all Alfa works
drivers. The trio was rounded off by a late third series car with
continuous Swiss history, this gorgeous Pinin Farina bodied long
chassis (2311217) was restored for Hüni himself by marque
specialists to its original configuration.
Not less imposing was the set of Bugatti with a lovely patinated
T35 C that started life as a T51 (51128) and a Type 55 (55213).
The Type 55 was a true supercar of its era with a race proven
chassis and the double overhead camshaft engine of the Type 51
bodied to the design of Jean Bugatti. Unlike many other marques
Bugatti had some in-house designs available beside the special
coach build cars, this small elegant two seater roadster was one
of them. The ultimate touring car of the late 1930s was the Type
57 and the Type 57 S identifiable by the lower chassis and the
vee-shaped radiator. The car was available in several different
body forms named Stelvio, Ventoux or Aravis (after the alpine
passes) or the Atalante that might be the second exciting body
just surpassed by the famous Atlantic. This Atalante is even more
interesting as it was in period upgraded to the supercharged
version by the factory making this a very rare Type 57 SC. With
superb provenance of the late Dr. Peter Williamson (who also
owned one of two surviving Atlantic) this is one of the most
valuable Bugatti in today´s market.
One of the main rivals for the best dealer display at the
Retromobile is traditionally the booth of British sports car
specialist Hall&Hall. This year again the display featured some
of the most significant examples run in the sports car world
championship and certainly in Le Mans. The Jaguar D-Type
(XKD510) was extensively raced in period and was unfortunately
involved in some serious crashes including a fatal in Goodwood
1956 and later again in Johore (Singapore). Today the car is
restored to a high standard and nothing remembers of the afflicted
history.
At the end of the 1960s the dominant cars in the WSCC were
pure prototypes like the Ford GT40 or the Porsche 917. Matra's
competitor in that time was the Type MS650, the first open
prototype (after the closed predecessors) and the first of the
Matra prototypes to finish in LM. The displayed chassis 01
finished fourth behind the winning GT40 and Porsche 908. This
was the base for the later victories at La Sarthe with the MS670
when the regulation restricted the cars to 3 litre.
After the victories of the open prototypes the Porsche 956 started
the era of the famous Group C, the 956 and 962 were the
dominant cars in that period and the car on display (956-001) is
the very first example. It was only driven in two races and just a
restriction in the fuel consumption prevented a win in its first
outing at Silverstone as Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell came home
second after a pole position and reduced race speed. It won its
second race before it was retired, its sister models became
dominant in the years to come.
The Hall & Hall display also included a genuine Le Mans Winner,
the 1990 Jaguar XJR12, the last of Jaguars victories, almost 40
years after the first success with the XK120 C.
Just over the corridor London based Gregor Fisken had his
impressive selection. Three pre-war Bentley of the Cricklewood
era could be seen including the private entered (although with
factory support) 1926 3 Litre 100mph model with unique special
coachwork to correspond the regulations. After changing hands
more privately this is the first time this car is publically offered for
sale (according the description). More common is the 3 Litre that
was upgraded to 4 ½ Litre specification or the 4 ½ Litre Saloon on
display. Many of the 4 ½ Litre were delivered to their first owner in
rather “ordinary” Saloon body but as many of them were rebuilt
over the years to Vanden Plas tourer or even more often to fabric
body Le Mans configuration original Saloon become rare these
days.
Another British icon is the Aston Martin DB3S, the car on display
is one of the clients car with American race history and was
recently restored after long term ownership to the original colour
scheme. One of its rivals back in these days was the Ferrari 250
TR, the displayed model (0716TR) has some early South
American race history before it was rebodied by Drogo. Today the
car is back to its original body style and was the centre piece of
the display, joined by one of the competition 275 GTB/C. The
second to last of a total production of 12 cars, chassis 09079 was
entered three times in the original Le Mans race (including a
class win in the GT class 1967) and is today both welcomed on
the concours and the race circuit.
Two Maserati 250 F were shown at the Retromobile, chassis
2521 at Fiskens, 2533 at Tradex. Both cars started life as a
works entered racer but were just recently repainted in the livery
of their second racing career showing the trend to personalize
cars with unique race paint schemes.
Another trend is the still increasing value of blue chip cars.
In times where many buyers are coming into the market it is
difficult for the dealers and even more for the auction houses to
get suitable cars as some owners seem to be afraid of selling to
early. Most of these cars are in wealthy hands today (unlike the
last high at the end of the 1980s when enthusiasts became afraid
of the value of their long-termed owned cars and had to sale due
to the insurance rates), so for them there is no need to sell.
Nevertheless the Canadian auction house RM Auctions proudly
announced a star lot for the forthcoming sale at the Concorso
d´Eleganza at the Villa d´Este later in May just a few days before
the Retromobile and the Ferrari 375 MM (0320AM) could be
displayed in Paris. The car was entered in 1953 at Le Mans in the
hands of Mike Hawthorn and Guiseppe Farina before it was
reworked with a different nose for the later season (including the
Carrera Panamericana). Just a few years later the nose was
altered again (but this time because of a road accident) and the
car stayed in that shape for many years. In the late 1990s the car
was re-painted in the Carrera Panamericana livery before it was
restored for the present owner in the Le Mans configuration with
the higher nose and the open headlights. After a “hybrid”
appearance with Le Mans body style and Carrera Panamericana
livery at Goodwood in 2010 the car is now in proper Le Mans
livery to headline the auction in Como.
Beside the dealer displays several manufacturers displays could
be seen in Paris. Certainly all the French marque were present at
their home game but also some German marques were
prominently represented. The oldest manufacturer Daimler-Benz
has a long history to choose from and after a celebration of the
300 SL last year this year's display featured some early
examples before Daimler and Benz merged, the Benz GP cars
including a 1908 example and the famous Blitzen-Benz with 200
hp out of 21,5 litre displacement giving the chain driven racer a
top speed of more than 220 km/h.
The two only remaining Benz entered in the 1910 Prince Heinrich
race across Germany and France could be seen as well, one
displayed by Daimler-Benz themselves, one by the Louwman
Collection. The Dutch museum joined forces with the factory for
the restoration of these cars and has a close relationship ever
since as could be seen at the last Silver Arrow display at
museum in Den Haag.
After a rather small display last year Porsche celebrates 50 years
of their main model, the 911. The display featured some rare
examples ranging from an early study (Type 754), a 2.7 RS
lightweight, a 911 Rally car and the turbo-charged 935, one of
only a handful of works cars.
BMW showed two of their most iconic models, the 328 and M1
plus two design studies referring to these two models.
Finally the Volkswagen AG had a small display for two of their
premium marques, Bentley and Bugatti. With one model each the
display was very selected, the famous Embiricos Bentley and the
Bugatti T59 were certainly some of the highlights of the show.
Especially the T59 is rarely seen, this might be the most beautiful
GP car ever. Ettore Bugatti was known for the beauty of its
mechanics, the sleek riveted body and the piano wire wheels are
unique to this model. Few original cars survived, one in the
collection of Ralph Lauren, this one in the possession of the
former Bugatti CEO himself.
As mentioned earlier the quality of the cars at the Retromobile
was again second to no other show but Paris is also known for
the scale model and art display. At many other fairs these two
parts of the classic car hobby have a shadowy existence, not so
in Paris. Several years ago the automotive artists formed a club
that reserves a good place in the middle of the show, named the
“Galerie des Artistes” to avoid being pushed to a corner of the
hall. Concentrated at one spot all the artists can be found easily
by those interested in and for most of the artists this is the most
important show with a lot of good customer contacts. Traditionally
Paris is also a must for all scale model collectors. Several of the
best craftsmen exhibit highly detailed models in various sizes,
most of them making their only appearance here during the year.
A few year ago the concept of the Retromobile changed from a full
10 day show to a more practical 5 days. Soon after the change it
became clear that the number of visitors was not affected by this
step as the figures were the same as before. This year one had
the impression that the stream of visitors was even higher than in
previous year, on the first day (Wednesday) even in the evening
people still came in and the main hall was still very well visited
after 9 pm. It would not be a surprise if the number of visitors hit
an all-time high, the official figures will show.
Certainly all visitors saw a great show with many highlights and
the exhibitors should be happy with the very international
clientele. Even if the dealers had less cars for sale than in Essen
a lot of good contacts might come to fruition in the next months
when some of the blue chip cars change hands privately. For all
those less fortunate this is a great opportunity to see some
superb cars in the cold season and we are looking forward to next
year's show, the 39th of its kind.
Text & images ... Peter & Wolfgang Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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