It was the Retromobile show in Paris last week, it’s a very good kick of to the year and usually has a good selection of exotica that you would never see in the UK. The French have a very civilised approach to putting on a car show, there's no warm lager and cheese sandwiches everything stops for lunch - Jarret de jambon or some steak and a few glasses of wine, plus the show lasts for ten days so it is not rushed and it’s easy to get around.
This year was a bit smaller than previous years but we still got the usual overdose of Bugatti and BMW, Peugeot and Citroen put in a great effort. It was Citroen’s 90th anniversary and they had pulled out all the stops. Unfortunately there was no Michelin stand which was a bit of a shock.
The Bonhams auction was a big attraction with the ex-Earl Howe Bugatti Type 57S and the ex-Roland Garros Type 18 ‘Black Bess’ on show. There were some interesting Tour d’France funny cars for sale and a fabulous Citroen DS Décapotable that went for an incredible £295k.
It was good to see Johnny Hallyday’s favourite car was a TR3! But even so there was not much in the way of English cars, or Mercedes, on show. Retromobile is quite different to Essen it’s small and perfectly formed and very French. All the better that you can travel on the great new improved train service from St. Panceas and get a great lunch. What more could you ask...
