When it comes to the world’s greatest classic car shows, everybody has its personal preferences, but rest assured, you are well served with Rétromobile. Whether you are interested in rare exotics of private collectors or gems from the treasure chest of factory museums, you will find your favourites. If you are fortunate to bid for crazy expensive high-end cars or a just a die-cast in 1:24, you will lose hours at the Rétromobile. In addition to collectors and factories, major car events and brilliant museums contribute to the show with their favourite vehicles and decorations.
Rétromobile opened its doors yesterday and awaits visitors until Sunday afternoon. This post shall provide a short introduction to those who wish to experience it this week (for more info, see their website). The event is open until Sunday, with generous opening hours (e.g. long hours closing at 22.00 on Wednesday and Friday).
The exhibition is located at the same venue as the Paris Motor Show, in the Expo Area at Porte de Versailles (1 place de la Porte de Versailles 75015 Paris). As usual, Rétromobile fills the vast space of Palais 1, with three additional halls, at about 2/3 of the exhibitor area of the Paris Car Show.
The comparison is not entirely accurate however, as the stages are often filled with cars or even smaller details like memorabilia or paintings, the details make the show much more intensive than a traditional car shows.
Private collectors outshine factory museums
Rétromobile is the grand arena of the real players. Classic car collectors from around the world gather to showcase their best cars that often surpass factory museums with rarities and exquisite pieces.
The best stages like the one of Kidston, Fiskens, or Girardo offer a collection of unmatched rarities, like a Ferrari race car of Jacky Ickx, an almost complete line-up of Ferrari Hypercars from 288GTO to Enzo paired with the Formula 1 car of Michael Schumacher, or a Ferrari 275, that I could find on all three stages.
The auctions attract the attention of the classic car world. Still, even that could not explain some of the brilliant stages that are loaded with cars that are just there to admire, without any mandate to sell.
Lukas Hüni brings an unfathomable fortune to the show to honour a particular brand, model or era year after year. This year, the key topic is Alfa Romeo, and the cars will leave you speechless, like the insane twin-engined 16c Bimotore monster that is staffed with two inline 8 cylinder engines, one in the front and one in the back, care to guess its weight distribution? : )
Others are specialised in a single brand, like the Citroen specialist showcasing an insane SM transporter that carried a unique SMS concept car from the ’70s.
Other specialise on even a single model like HK engineering, that creates the spot with the world’s highest Gullwing-density at any event.
The Auction capital of the world
One of the highlights of Rétromobile is the auction of high-end luxury cars at the stage of auctioneer Artcurial. For the summary on this year’s show, visit this article:
At my first visit in 2016, one of their cars aimed to break the world record, and last year, a pre-war Alfa 8c was sold for a whopping 16 million euro (plus the change).
The most awesome carspotting experience at Rétromobile is the Auction
Other renowned auctioneers also join Rétromobile with a small outlet stage, but in recent years they also organise their own auction for the same week, in the heart of Paris.
Bonhams fills the Grand Palais near the Champs Elysée with astonishing rarities and exotics like the new Stratos, a Maserati Mostro or a Toyota Formula-1 car.
RM Sotheby’s builds a tent on the other side of the river Seine, with another incredible set of cars like a Veneno Roadster or a pre-war Delahaye.
One of these places could already outperform classic car meets most of us ever visited.
RM Sotheby’s Paris Auction offered a diverse selection of exquisites
Factory stages with crazy concepts and legendary past – French, German or Czech style!
Factory stages are an import part of every major classic car shows. These stages bring together the cherished specimen of the factory museums with the corporate identity and design aspirations of the present and future.
Home territory guarantees active participation from the French manufacturers. Peugeot, Citroen, DS or Bugatti brings incredible cars that are the best-kept secrets of their warehouses.
Prom pre-war desert tanks to asymmetric DS concept cars, from a Porsche hybrid from 1904 to a futurist Skoda Concept car, the variety is endless.
Another special case is Tatra, that was honoured by a special exhibition in collaboration by a diverse range of contributions from the Kopřivnice Tatra Museum, the Brittany-based Manoir de l’Automobile and the Ecorra workshop.
Museums and events
Aspiring and established events and significant national museum rent space at Rétromobile just to put themselves to the map or to widen their audience. In fact, the early timing of the event and its 45 years of history also helps.
In some cases, Museums contribute to thematic exhibitions or join forces to pool their resources to assemble a joint exhibition.
I got brochures and ideas for visits all around Europe, from major upcoming events to new pilgrimage sites, like the Italian ASI Autoclub that is reopening the Bertone Museum in Turin.
Peterauto announcing its 2020 calendar, or the Alfa Museum presenting its anniversary year celebrations (there will be a lot, as you can see above already).
In the coming days, I plan to publish a series of detailed posts on the individual stages I recommend to revisit this article in a few days.
FOR AN OVERVIEW OF EVENTS, CHECK OUT MY ULTIMATE AUTOMOTIVE EVENTS CALENDAR:
The ultimate car show and automotive events calendar 2020 – The Coronavirus update December
