2015 Retromobile Vintage and Classic Car Show report

  • Feb 12, 2015
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The 40th anniversary of the Retromobile Vintage and Classic car show saw an unmatched collection of Bugattis, Ferraris and the likes taking centre stage. Get more news for Vintage and Classic Cars on ZigWheels.com

2015 Retromobile

If the line-up of the cars and the number of footfalls for the five days of the show – totaling over 100,000 – is anything to go by, then the recent Retromobile was the best ever classic car show in a long while. Not only were the 59 cars of the Baillon collection a fascinating treasure trove tucked away in a dark barn-like hall (number 2.1), but even the more brightly-lit 120 properly restored cars on showcase at Artcurial’s main auction section in Retromobile’s main hall (the huge and cavernous 1) had to compete for ‘stardom’ with dozen amazing Pegasos (almost half of the lot that are known to survive), three Bugatti Royales (out of a total of seven!), scores of Mercedes-Benz 300 gullwings and dime-a-dozen (Ferrari) Daytonas...

Yet each car present at the 40th edition of Retromobile had its own story to tell. Like the 1915 Ford Model T of Dirk and Trudy Regter, a couple of Dutch pensioners who are on a world tour that began in June 2012 – with Retromobile as the mid-way break facilitated by yours truly – that has not only lasted two years, but whose plans are to come by to India by early next year. 80,000 miles in a 100-year-old car! Or the story that the Bugatti Royale Coupe Napoleon from 1929 could tell having been the personal car of the legendary Ettore Bugatti.  And what stories could the sister cars – the Limousine and the Esders Roadster versions of the Royale – get to tell if they could speak? For the matter the stories from the other royal, a Tiger Royal tank from 1944, with its awe-inspiring 70 tons of presence and its mighty 88mm gun, on loan from the Musée des Blindés de Saumur.

Retromobile is also an occasion to celebrate birthdays: 80 candles for Peugeot’s path-breaking 402, whilst for the legendary Citroen DS, it was time to celebrate its 60th birthday. It was also the 60th year since the French sports car brand Alpine came into existence, and as owner Renault gets ready to re-launch Alpine with a concept car at Retromobile, the French giant also used the opportunity to celebrate the 50th year for the Renault R16 hatchback. But it wasn’t strictly a French show, what with the Americans showing off several Ford GT 40s, Shelby Cobras and hotted-up Mustangs, the German counter-attacking with a stunning recreation of a 540 K Streamliner at the Mercedes stand, whilst Porsche showed up with a 936 that had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1977, other than a bunch of 356s and 911s. But the most fascinating was the collection of Italian enthusiast Corrado Lopresto – a dozen cars, all one-offs – that Retromobile organizer Francois Melcion had personally curated for this very special edition of Paris’ most exciting classic car happening.  

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