This year’s edition of Retromobile opened its gates to the public a few days ago and awaits visitors until Sunday. After a year of hiatus, our expectations were quite high: the 2020 edition was the best car show of the year we attended. That show was nearly unaffected by the pandemic, even if we had already scanned the news for risks about a distant pandemic that wreaked havoc on China.
For this year, a lot of things changed compared to 2020. Due to the event’s reschedule to March, Bonhams and Sotheby’s auctions are no longer coinciding with the event, and even the premises changed to a new hall.
The 2022 edition takes place in the more modern 7th hall of the Paris Expo area, which does not have the same gigantic height, but the exhibitor space is similar. The new premises ensure a more modern yet discrete styling furnished with brand new infrastructure.
Nevertheless, there is much less to see, with quite a few familiar faces reporting an absence, including traders like Girardo and brands that were central pillars of the old Hall 1. Even without considering the unavailability of the Paris Auction Week, the show itself offers about half the content of the 2020 event.
We have to stress here, our point of reference was the best show of the 2020 and one of the best Retromobiles we ever attended. There was so much to see that Egzostive had enough to publish until the summer.
This year’s show still offers plenty of sights, with Museums, factory stages and posh traders. We spent about 8 hours in the Expo area, and we could barely finish photographing everything. Given the immense variety of the stages, everybody will find their love interest.
“If we don’t have it, you don’t want it.” This is more true than ever.
Retromobile’s preferred auctioneer, Artcurial filled about a quarter of the second floor with cars of all epochs, countries and purposes.
From pre-war prestige to modern hypercars, everybody will find its preference but expect hefty prices north of 100.000.
The post-war cars at Artcurial added to an unforgettable car spotting experience
For those looking for more affordable options, the show reserved a parking space for cheaper entries. The prices sometimes went under 10.000 euros, but asking prices might seem awkward in the classic car world, and this show was no exception.
Factory stages are a distinct feature of the best classic cars shows, and this has always been a particular strength of Retromobile. This year, many factories remained absent, though a few new ones joined the game.
Factory stages at Retromobile brought back the flair of the pre-pandemic era
Nissan was undoubtedly a surprise guest, and also Morgan, proving that it’s not impossible to showcase after Brexit.
Still, the biggest losses are from the UK, with Jaguar Land Rover and some of the best traders and major museum exhibitors.
Among recurring brands, Maserati also upped its game with a new factory stage, and Gordini presented a selection of race cars from its several decades of racing success.
Germans gradually left Paris, and this year, even Porsche decided to stay away.
Nevertheless, Lamborghini represented the VW Group, and the Mercedes and Porsche brands are more than well-represented by traders and specialists.
We could not see any traces of Peugeot’s factory museum, which we found particularly strange.
PSA was well represented with DS, Citroen, and its Mehari model had a dedicated stage.
Renault, of course, had to attend, as its classic division do not operate a factory museum. They honoured the 50th anniversary of its iconic Renault 5 model.
The biggest blow was dealt by the absence of traders, traditionally the greatest strength of Retromobile. Kidston illustrated this, one of the leading traders. They built one of the best stages in the past, playing in a different league than all the others.
They dedicated their 2022 show to a unique selection of McLaren F1 specimens, paired with the iconic British rock band Beetles. We could see 5-6 stages like that in previous years, but not this year.
In the past, the best high-end traders were mainly coming from the UK. This year, Girardo and Fiskens stayed away, as did Swiss broker Lukas Hüni and German trader Axel Schuette.
These constitute heavy blows on the content, as we often dedicated standalone articles to their stages. There is hardly anything comparable to the 2020 Alfa stage of Lukas Hüni or Girardo that showcased an incredible selection with a distinct style.
The last central pillar of the show is delivered by car museums which bring their expositions closer to the audience, many of whom would never bother to look them up.
This is their chance to make a lasting impression, and quite a few made a brilliant elevator pitch with exciting specimens, live shows and impressive decoration.
The oldest vehicle was arguably the 18th-century steam car designed by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, but there were several pre-world war I cars.
As in previous years, the car museum located in the Compiegne Castle is represented as the tank museum in Saumur.
Others only contributed to special exhibitions, like the stage with the craziest pre-war cars or the already-mentioned Gordini Exhibition with specimens from Mulhouse and other places.
This year’s big catch was the museum of the Gendarmerie with all sorts of vehicles from snowmobiles to helicopters and a few cool cars.
Again a few recurring British participants stayed away, like the Bugatti Trust and the British national motor museum from Beaulieu (or the Big Five, the alliance of five major national car museums).
Going through our first impressions, you might get the feeling that we left disappointed. This is far from the truth. This was the first major European classic car show, bringing back the old feelings. It offered everything we were looking for and so much more. If you have a chance to pay a visit, make good use of it.
These are the first impressions in a concise article. Our detailed reports will arrive later this month and will be linked to this landing article. I advise you to check back regularly. If you click the second page, you will reach the gallery with our first selection of photos.
For an overview of this years car events, check Egzostive’s ultimate European automotive bucket list!
The ultimate 2022 car show and events list: in highest gear after a prolonged start
