Everybody has heard about the sale of the Baillon collection of nearly 60 cars in desperate state for most of them. Here on the same picture, the most well preserved cars, the Maserati A6 G 2000 Frua coupé in the background, and the Ferrari 250 GT SWB California once owned by French actor Alain Delon, sold for an incredible $18.5 million.
Story and photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Click on pics to enlarge
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Retromobile show in Paris. Over the years it became a must-see event that starts the classic car season on the European continent and it continues to grow in size and quality. The sale of the well-publicized Baillon collection attracted even more spectators, who had to queue for some time to access the hall where the barn finds were exposed.
The Maserati, which went to an American buyer for $2.2 million, is one of only four A6G 2000 bodied by Frua. It was the 1956 Paris Motor Show car and in the Baillon family since 1959.
Apart from the usual manufacturers and dealers displays, many themes were developed with a retrospective of the production of Spanish manufacturer Pegaso, a selection of cars from the collection of Corrado Lopresto from Italy, a gathering of Bugatti Royales, the production cars of Matra, etc.
Yes, there were Pegasos, but you missed them. Fortunately Hugues did not, and we'l present Hugues' Pegaso pics in depth in another issue of VT.
But first take a look to the sale that made the headlines and to some French rarities.
The Baillon collection was presented in a very dark environment, giving an ambiance of mystery to these cars coming to light for the first time since decades. Another highlight was this Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport by Saoutchik, already featured here in VT ( Baillon barnfind part 3). It went for $1.9 million.
This Talbot-Lago T150C was also a car owned by Baillon until 1979 when a first batch of cars went on public sale due to his transport business bankruptcy. 1936 French ACF Grand Prix, 1937 Mille Miglia, 1938 Le Mans 24 hours are just some of the races in which this car took part with various bodies.
