The 41st Salon Rétromobile had plenty
of headline-worthy moments. Enthusiasts
converged on Paris’s Parc des Expositions
between Wednesday, February 3 and
Sunday, February 7 and were welcomed
by over 500 cars, owners’ clubs and trade
stands.
Citroën, Peugeot and Renault were out in
force, all three makers heavily indebted to the
French capital during their rise to prominence.
Other Parisian car companies – among them
Darracq, De Dion-Bouton, Delage, Facel-Vega,
Panhard et Levassor, Hotchkiss, Salmson and
Talbot-Lago – were gone, but not forgotten,
appearing on club stands and in period
literature sold by traders.
Elsewhere, the work of pioneering
motorsport photographer Jacques Lartigue
was celebrated; underpinning its yearly
patronage, Rétromobile also looked back
on the career of industrial stylist Phillippe
Charbonneaux.
Four decades had passed since the
release of the Alfa Romeo Alfasud
Sprint, BMW E24 6-Series, Citroën CX
Safari/Familiale, Mercedes-Benz W123,
Renault 14, Renault-Alpine A310 V6 and
MkI Volkswagen Golf GTI. Youngtimers
magazine, showing immaculate examples
of each, lit the candles on the collective
birthday cake. Tellingly, Peugeot’s great hot
hatch riposte to Wolfsburg, its 205 GTi, was
similarly fêted. Three 1.9 variants (including
a limited edition Griffe) took pride of place
at Rétromobile; Peugeot Classic, the
firm’s in-house ‘Pieces D’Origine’ division,
RÉTROMOBILE 2016
Little known outside of France, Chappe et Gessalin (CG) produced cars
between 1956 and 1974. Amicales CG celebrated 50 years of its later Simca-
engined cars, built from 1966 onwards.
Phillippe Charbonneux’s massive ‘Le Super Car’ mobile studio proved an
undoubted draw for the Rétromobile crowds. It was built in the by Carrosserie
Antem on a Panhard truck chassis.
A bare E-Type fixed-head shell was among the star attractions on the Jaguar
Heritage stand, shared with sister firm Land Rover.
‘A Woman, A Collection’ exhibited ‘women’s cars’ – vehicles owned and raced
by female enthusiasts.
Dynamic Club Panhard et Levassor presented a sterling example of a Dyna X. A superb display of classic Mercedes-Benz will always draw the crowds.
20 Classic Car Mart Spring 2016