For middle-class Americans attending Retromobile 2005 (February 11-20), wintry Paris proved unusually expensive this year. The not-so-almighty dollar crashed when translated into Euros, a blow worsened by hotel and restaurant prices that had escalated 10 to 15 percent. Retromobile followed suit, not only for exhibitors. Entrance tickets for the public increased from 11 to 12 Euros per day. Books, artwork, memorabilia, and other merchandise were even pricier than they were last year. For example, a slim Bugatti book that I passed up in 2004 for 34 Euros this year cost 42 Euros. There were no bargains or barn finds among car parts, used books, and sales literature. But the window-shopping was still delectable. Food and wine were affordable and scrumptious, the "café" seating infinitely more comfortable and available than last year's. The champagne bar, tended by pourers in immaculate white jackets, was positively elegant.
OK, so I didn't buy the Bugatti book but splurged on a glass of champagne after admiring the Type 41 Royale Eders Roadster. I was in Paris, after all!
Retromobile was a very polished performance--in more ways than one. Discarding the fashion of previous years, when many exhibitors strove to affect the patina of age on their carefully restored vintage and classic cars, authentic or replica, most Retro 2005 automobiles gleamed with an ultra-concours shine. Indeed, Meguiar's, Inc., was so prominent an exposant of its car-care products, that its competitors installed signs to identify automobiles they had polished. Such rivalry aside, the starburst of marvelous automobiles, radiating from the central platforms of home-based Renault and Citröen, delighted the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Retro’s spacious, brightly lit, and well-mapped new quarters in the Paris Expo at Porte de Versailles.
As if to highlight its own thirtieth anniversary, Retro emphasized the anniversary celebrations of several automobiles: primarily, the fiftieth anniversary of the famous Citröen DS19, which French intellectual Roland Barthes described as a "goddess" (punning on déesse), and the fortieth anniversary of the Renault 16. Other featured cars celebrating golden anniversaries were the Mercedes 190 SL, the BMW 507, the stalwart little BMW L'Isetta, and the Peugeot 403 (Pininfarina). Not so featured, but undaunted nonetheless, the American Car Club of France honored the fiftieth birthday of the Ford Thunderbird.
Bugatti was well represented this year, chronologically starting with the Bugatti Club of France's presentation of the Bugatti Trust's reconstructed Type 5, the four-cylinder car designed by Ettore Bugatti for de Dietrich and participation in the infamous 1903 Paris-Madrid race. Lucky for Ettore and auto history, perhaps, that the car was disqualified, as officials aborted the Paris-Madrid at Bordeaux, after a number of deaths and serious injuries, including the death of Marcel Renault.
Author of "The Bugatti Queen" Miranda Seymour stands next to the Type 50. Photo by Patricia Lee Yongue.
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Lucky, as well, for British author Miranda Seymour, who graced the Horton's Books stand, signing copies of the British paperback edition of The Bugatti Queen (2004) her highly successful biography of 1920s-1930s French cabaret star-turned-racer, Helle Nice. First in Bugatti T35Cs and later in her Alfa Romeo 8C Monza, Helle Nice put together one of the longest and most consistent racing careers among pre-World War II women drivers. Miranda currently awaits film production of this stunning biography. (A review of her book will be featured in VeloceToday in the next few weeks).
My mission to scope the Italian influence had its ups and downs. As I prowled the luxury stands of Renault, I was disappointed not to find an Amédée Gordini-tuned R8 or a Dauphine-Gordini, but elsewhere I located two beaming Alpine A110s, powered by Gordini. One was an original rally car, the other a replica of that car produced by one of several auto res-toration/reconstruction companies very much in evidence at Retro.
Extremely visible Italian cars were the Alfas, Fiats, Lancias, and, of course, Ferraris to the left and Ferraris to the right. I was so overwhelmed by buffed Ferraris and Ferrari merchandise on the first day of my visit that I fled to my beloved Giro di Sicilia/Targa Florio stand for some relief. Surely there would be an Alfa or a Maserati or even a Porsche. What did I find there on exhibit but a Ferrari! This car, however, was neither red nor overly polished and it was one of the most photographed cars at Retro. It was a 1951 Ferrari 212 Barchetta, one of the two Motto-bodied Ferraris
ever made.
At the Giro/Targa stand I met the Veteran Car Club Panoramus' Paris representative, Annie France Tayssedre, daughter of Ettore Bugatti's longtime secretary and a fierce Resistance member, Stella Tayssedre. Annie France races cars and has participated in such vintage events as the Rallye des Belles, in which she piloted a 1968 Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider. But Annie also races trucks. "The bigger the truck the better," petite Annie France declares. Her ambition is to drive an American eighteen-wheeler.
One of the more interesting Alfas was a 1932 8C that raced as #40 in the 1932 24-hours race at Spa-Francorchamps. The car has the original chassis, but its original Zagati body was discarded and finally successfully recreated by the Dutch Ferrari restorer and recreator, Hietbrenk. The Alfa was Hietbrenk's first recreation of a pre-WWII car.
Not to be forgotten is De Tomaso, a manufacturer routinely invisible at Retro. Every year I search through piles of auto literature looking particularly for material on the Pantera. Every year sellers tell me they have little to nothing to offer. This year, Christies auctioned a 1974 Pantera racer, and I stretched to get a photo of the little beggar stuck between a vintage Alfa and two 1983 Lancia Martini race cars. But, with inevitable and welcome serendipity, as I lost my way en route to the coat check room and the Retro exit, I backed into a lonely little corner occupied by Stephane Poux Automobiles and the De Tomaso Automobile Club of France, presided over by Stephane Poux. Waiting there were a Longchamps sedan and, looking very muscle-car-ish, a 1990 silver and black Pantera GT5 S, one of four (of the 187 produced) residing in France.
And, speaking of muscle cars, the strictly American variety, I have to speak finally of another serendipitous discovery: a 1971 Mustang Boss 351, the only Boss 351 in France. Lacking the racing history of the Boss 302 and 429, the 351 is still a gorgeous and powerful machine. I have one in my garage, but I was astonished to find one at Retro.
Abarth Simca 2000.
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Alfa Type 33-2 with special one off body by Pininfarina, first shown at the Turin Auto Show in 1969. |
Vittorio Jano's first production Alfa Romeo, the 6C1500 of 1927.
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The 6C1500 engine was a SOHC four cylinder. Later a DOHC version was available.
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In 1948, this Tourning bodied 6C 2500 Alfa Romeo was recognized as one of the most beautiful cars in Italy, if not the world. It was called the Villa d'Este.
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The resemblance to of the new Alfa "Nivola" to the Villa d'Este is not accidental.
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Group 3 Pantera was a favorite of Patricia Lee Yongue, who has a Pantera in her garage.
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Side quarter window marks this as a 250 LWB "Interim".
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The later production SWB Ferraris did away with the side quarter window.
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The predecessor to the SWB, the TDF.
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The pleasant but not exciting Pininfarina "Europa" body was used on the 375 AM, the 250GT
and the Europa series of Ferraris in from 1953-1955. This is a 375 AM.
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The Motto bodied 212 Ferrari, serial number 0094E, which placed third overall in the 1951 Mille Miglia driven by owner Piero Scotti.
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Ferrari 712, as
designed for the 1969 Can Am series. It was not a success.
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Lamborghini's 400 GT, in many respects superior to the Ferraris of the era. Ferrucio had
accomplished his goal.
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Underpowered but charming and practical, the Fiat Multipla preceeded the Mini Van mania
by some thirty years.
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Vittorio Jano again, this time his last effort for Lancia, the D-50 GP car of 1954.
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Amazingly ugly or fascinatingly fun, the Lancia Flavia Zagato. Wheels and mirrors are incorrect here.
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Lancia LC2 sports prototype.
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Ferrari engined Lancia Stratos.
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Another rare one off show car, the Maserati Boomerang.
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Maserati 4CLT/48 Grand Prix car, circa 1948.
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The brothers Morelli did most of the famous OSCA bodies from about 1952-1960. This is one of the classic OSCA designs.
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In our mind, the most beautiful OSCA ever made, a 1955 Vignale coupe, serial number 1153, never restored and in excellent original condition.
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