Every year, we return from Rétromobile with jaw-dropping memories. We used to offer a more comprehensive review, but for now, we can give you a selection of our favourite cars from the show. We planned to make this a Top 10 list but lost counting after a while. This year’s Rétromobile was simply too overwhelming…
With 200 photos, we had to realise this would not fit into a single article either. We aim to assemble a well-balanced selection, bringing together prewar, postwar and modern cars from every continent.
The 2003 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish is a perfect entry to the world of British nobility .
The Vanquish arrived as a new top-of-the-line model with styling from iconic British car designer Ian Callum.
This specimen in British racing green is a perfect entrance to the world of British nobility with its elegant beige interior. In fact, we were surprised to see a sales price under 100.000 euros.
Toyota experimented with hybrids even in the wild seventies!
This 1965 Toyota GT800 seems like an authentic classic, but actually, it is a prototype transformed into a hybrid car in 1977. Unlike Toyota’s signature hybrid synergy drive, this car is propelled by a gas turbine, while the battery-powered electric motor is driving the rear wheels.
Spoiler Alert! The 1978 Schnitzer BMW E21 1.4-litre Turbocharged Group 5 Turbo
The BMW turbo race car earned a German National Championship title, and its extraordinary racing career extended over eleven seasons, from 1978 to 1988. This is one of only two 1.4-litre turbocharged examples of the 32 BMW E21s originally built by BMW Motorsport to Group 5 regulations.
Any of the half-tracks designed by Adolphe Kégresse
One of Rétromobile’s major thematic exhibitions honoured the brilliance of French constructor Adolphe Kégresse, with his typical half-track vehicles filling the passerelle to Hall 1. We could include any of the cars here, but we stick to this one for its aesthetics.
The Tatra 77 is still one hell of a car.
Prewar specialists AVC Prague showcased the absolute pride from Czechia, an enormous 1935 Tatra T77 with shark-tail back and a V8 under the hood.
This car is considered among the world’s first serially produced aerodynamic limousines and steals the show everywhere. In fact, a similar car won the car of the show at this year’s InterClassics.
The Skoda Ferat is a Czechoslovakian movie star.
The most exuberant car on the Skoda stage was a star from an ‘80s Czechoslovakian horror film, “Dangerous”. The 110 Super Sport Ferat fed on the blood of its driver to transform itself into an unbeatable racing machine.
The Citroen DS on balloons
This 1959 Citroen DS19 was one of the centrepieces of the DS exhibition and the show’s poster boy. This iconic showpiece was originally designed in 1959 by Claude Puech, then advertising director for Citroën.
The showcased statue is a faithful reconstruction at GARAC (the National School of Automotive and Mobility Professions). This artefact is essentially a DS 19 resting on four balloons instead of the wheels (visually doubled by a stand mirroring them). These spheres wish to represent the famous hydropneumatic suspension. At the time, photos of this visionary concept circled around the world, reinforcing the DS’s status as a work of art.
The Dakar Winning Pajero recalls the golden age of Mitsubishi
We saw several rally icons in the Mitsubishi corner, but our absolute favourite was a factory Pajero race car, entered in the 2001 Paris-Dakar rally raid, taking the victory with Jutta Kleinschmidt behind the wheel.
She remains the only woman to have won the renowned desert race, especially since the 2001 edition was the last Paris-Dakar to actually leave from Paris and arrive in Dakar.
The Audi 200 Quattro Trans-Am is the living proof that all-wheel-drive is king.
With the 200 Quattro Trans-Am, Audi aimed to prove the advantages of the Quattro system on asphalt with its participation in the American Trans-Am races in 1988.
The race version of the Audi 200 has a 2,1-litre five-cylinder turbo that delivers 510 hp at 6.000 RPMs. Despite the intense American competition, the Audi team with pilots Hurley Haywood, Walter Röhrl and Hans-Joachim Stuck secured victory over 8 out of 13 races, winning the constructor title.
The Ferrari 340 375MM Competizione is a classic on full steroids.
The 375 MM Competizione was an evolution of the 375 MM, with a 4.5-litre V12 and reduced weight. In 1953, the car competed in the Carrera Panamericana, along with a few sister cars that were showcased on the stage of Girardo & Co.
Kimera revived one of the most iconic rally cars.s
The Kimera EVO37 is a restomod vehicle combining the style of the iconic Lancia 037, one of the most legendary rally cars of the eighties, with the qualities of a modern car, in terms of performance, usability and comfort. And the car is new indeed, featuring a bespoke carbon chassis that guarantees a lightweight and agile vehicle. It is powered by a 505 hp four-cylinder petrol engine reaching 250kmph. The company brought four specimens to illustrate their offering, each paying tribute to a particular version of the original 037.
The Stratos has a stable place on our list.
The Lancia Stratos HF is a true automotive legend. It is one of the first purpose-built Rallye cars, built to win, with road presence as a mere by-product. The layout is nothing like the Rallye cars of the past: the rear mid-engined sports car was designed specifically for rallying. It proved to be highly successful in competition, winning the World Rally Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976, as well as winning the 1974 Targa Florio, and the Tour de France Automobile five times and the Giro dItalia Automobilistico three times.
There were several specimens at Rétromobile, we chose this for its condition and good posture.
The Aston Martin One-77 is an automotive athlete.
The One-77 is the first modern hypercar effort from the noble British brand, followed by the dramatic Valkyrie and Valhalla. The production of the One-77 was limited to 77 cars, positioned well beyond the V12 grand turismo bloodline (DB9 during the years when the One-77 was built) and even beyond the top-of-the-line exotic models (DBS and later Vanquish II).
The Delage D12 is a worthy successor to a French automotive legend.
The Delage D12 is a road-legal hybrid race car produced by the French manufacturer Delage. You may be wondering why you never heard of this car brand in the past decades. Delage was renowned for its successful luxury coupés from the prewar era, and its cars are still welcomed guests at classic car shows. In fact, the Delage company ceased to exist in 1953, but in 2019, French entrepreneur Laurent Tapie revived the brand to produce the D12 Hypercar.
The car is not yet in production but has been touring several events (like the 2023 Le Mans Classic and last year’s Paris Motor Show), and the specs are promising. Delage’s technical team is located at the Magny-Cours race track, and the team includes several world champions, including F1 and Indycar World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. The D12 prototype is powered by a massive 7.6 L V12 Engine peaking at 1,010 HP, with the help of a 110 HP electric engine.
Here, we have to take a rhetorical break, but stick around! We will come back with more in the coming days.
