For Retromobile in 2002, it was the year of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of
Jaguar and also the return of Renault to F1, with a display of the 6 world
championship winning Renault engined Benetton and Williams cars, together with the
Renault RS11, winner of the 1979 French GP at Dijon. This was the first victory for
Renault in the F1 World Championship series, the driver on this momentous
occasion being Jean-Pierre Jabouille.
Some superb cars were brought together this year at the Porte de Versailles, however
the Ferrari enthusiast remained a little hungry, as there were only a limited number of
examples to satisfy his palate. The stand of Classic Cars Associates was probably
the most beautiful of the show with, an Alfa Romeo 8C, a Talbot Lago T26C 1948,
ex-Etancelin, s/n 110008, and a selection of three Pegaso models including a rare
1954 Racing Spider , s/n 0181. The Alfa Romeo Club France stand, was entirely
dedicated to competition models, with a Tipo 159 1950 s/n 159111, one of the two
Tipo 512 1940 s/n 00512, and a 1967 GTA "Autodelta", ex-Jean Rolland, s/n 10502/A.
The Galerie des Damiers offered an Osca MT4 1500, s/n 1117, the Osi Silver Fox the
twin boom project of Pierro.Taruffi, together with a pair sports racing Lotuses, an XI
without engine, and a 30 each one with ”a lot of patina”.
For Ferrari enthusiasts the Musee Nationale de l’Automobile had a promotional stand
featuring the Ferrari 212 F2, s/n 0110, from the museum, whilst on the Sport et
Collection stand we could admire the 1955 Ferrari 121 LM, s/n 0558LM, being used to
promote their feature event "200 Ferrari Contre le Cancer", to be held at the Val de
Vienne circuit between 24 - 26 May 2002. The organisers of Rally Story exhibited
another car owned by Antoine Midy, the 212 Export Motto spider, s/n 0094E, and the
375MM Pinin Farina berlinetta, s/n0 358AM, of Jean Sage was displayed on the large
Michelin stand just inside the main entrance.
Retromobile was also the theatre for the first auction sale by Christie's in France. Most
of the cars presented were pre-war models, with some interesting Bugattis, like a nice
1932 ex-Varzi T51, s/n 51150, which achieved the best sale price of the auction,
achieving 996.750 Euros. One of the most unusual cars on offer was the unique
Maserati Boomerang concept car by Giorgetto Giugiaro, which was displayed for the
first time at the Turin Salon in 1971, that was sold for 721.750 Euros, with the Ferrari
330GTC selling for 105.750 Euros. The Timossi Maserati powerboat, fitted with a
Maserati 450S engine #4515, didn’t sell, nor did the attractive Alfa Romeo TZ, s/n
750030.
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