+57 Rétromobile Paris; the greatest show on Earth
Honestly, we don’t even know where to begin. Rétromobile in Paris was back to how it was before Covid-19. And perhaps it’s because we need some time to readjust to the days of old, but we found it mindblowing.
Rétromobile was once more its old glamourous, pompous self. In large part, that was due to the return of the British classic car companies – Girardo & Co., Fiskens, etc. – but if we are being fair, everyone had done their best to just put on the finest cars imaginable on their stands. Be it Bugatti, Porsche 917 or a stand with Ferrari, your mouth just kept dropping to the floor.
Two faces
This certainly makes for a Rétromobile that has two, almost physically divided sides. On the one hand, you have all the classic clubs creating a cordial ambience of old. On the other hand, ‘Palais 1’ is now an elitist show-off area, displaying what are the crown jewels in the classic car world. As long as they coexist in one event, there is nothing wrong with that.
Le Mans
On the racing front, the big news was of course the first festivities for 100 Years Le Mans, with a spectacular trophy for this year’s 24 Hours race taking a prominent place. Nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen was at hand to do the honours.
On a personal note, we were more than happy to meet up with our artist-in-residence Rafael Varela and to admire some of the covers he has created for us, for the first time in real life. We are now even bigger fans than we were before.
At the auctions
Over at the auction houses, there were some big results to report. RM Sotheby’s find a new buyer for a 1991 Ferrari 643 F1 – ex Prost and Alesi – for 3.25 million euros (excluding premiums), but also sold a beautifully original, slightly rough looking 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ for 1.14 million euros. The 2000 Mercedes CLK DTM went for a not-so-expensive 420,000 euros.
Over at Bonhams, the 1991 Jordan 191 Michael Schumacher practised in his F1 debut at Spa, sold for 1.3 million euros (excluding premiums) and a 1937 Maserati 4CM single-seater made 690,000 euros. Artcurial sold a 1929 Bugatti Type 35 for 1.9 million euros. However, the star lot, a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM, remained unsold, despite a 20-million euro high bid.
