{"id":12904,"date":"2024-11-12T08:55:07","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=12904"},"modified":"2024-11-12T08:55:10","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T08:55:10","slug":"there-was-no-indoor-classic-event-like-retromobile-in-the-usa-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=12904","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThere was no indoor classic event like R\u00e9tromobile in the USA\u2026 yet\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was surprising news, a couple of weeks ago, when R\u00e9tromobile and duPont Registry announced there would be a USA edition of the classic Paris show in 2025 as well. \u2018Why?\u2019, we asked R\u00e9tromobile chief Romain Grabowski.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe answer is relatively simple to explain,\u201d says Grabowski (40), who took the reins at the head of R\u00e9tromobile<\/a> three years ago after a stint with the French oil company Motul. \u201cIf you look at the totality of classic cars, you will find 50 per cent are situated in the USA. 35 to 40 per cent are in Europe, with the rest spread across the rest of the Globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Romain Grabowski. Photo Matthieu Bonneville<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe quality is there\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the last three years, I made many visits to the United States to events. Collectors kept telling me about how the US has a number of great quality outdoor classic car events, but indoor, that same quality just isn\u2019t here. As such, bringing R\u00e9tromobile to the US is a logical thing to do. The quality of cars is there, which is essential for a show in order to be successful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“R\u00e9tromobile isn\u2019t elitist, but you need to have good quality in the exposition if you want to be able to draw an audience with your show. There is a true passion for European cars in the US. With duPont Registry Group, we found the perfect partner. Its CEO G\u00e9rard Neveu used to be the boss of the Le Castellet circuit (and CEO of the WEC series until 2020), we are completely aligned on what we want from this new chapter for R\u00e9tromobile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo R\u00e9tromobile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

70 years of Citro\u00ebn DS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Date and venue for the American R\u00e9tromobile edition are kept under wraps, all to be announced at a later date, presumably coinciding with the Paris event (5-9 February). Which brings us to R\u00e9tromobile\u2019s Paris programme. Again, there are still quite a lot of elements to be released at a later date \u2013 especially the motorsport side of things \u2013 but already Grabowski and his team have revealed the Citro\u00ebn DS<\/a> will be in the spotlights to celebrate its 70th<\/sup> birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Wikipedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

K\u00e9gresse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just as spectacular are the \u2018K\u00e9gresse\u2019 half track pre-war vehicles. Andr\u00e9 K\u00e9gresse was a passionate French mechanic who found himself working in the workshops of Russian Czar Nicolas II in St Petersburg. To allow the Czar to continue hunting wolves in the snow, K\u00e9gresse altered one of the royal\u2019s cars with skis at the front, and a chain-driven traction system at the rear. A system he patents, and later \u2013 forced to flee Russia after the 1917 communist revolution \u2013 he strikes up a collaboration with Andr\u00e9 Citro\u00ebn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Wikipedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Expeditions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1920, Citro\u00ebn shows three Type A Citro\u00ebns equipped with K\u00e9gresse\u2019s halftrack system for the first time. Unstoppable, these vehicles form the basis for the famous \u2018Black\u2019 and \u2018Yellow<\/a>\u2019 expeditions through Africa and Asia in the 1920s and 1930s. When Michelin takes over Citro\u00ebn in the early thirties, the rubber tyre manufacturer halts the halftrack programme. Nonetheless, the myth persists, and we for one are eager to see these magnificent monsters exhibited at R\u00e9tromobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Dirk de Jager<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Youngtimers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Grabowski, stories like the K\u00e9gresse remain an integral part of R\u00e9tromobile, even if by his own admission he notices that interest for \u201cthese very old stories is waning. But for us, these are passionate stories to tell, and that is what captivates the audience; a good story. And the slightly dialled-back interest for the very old cars is entirely compensated by an ever-increasing interest in the youngtimers. Once again, we will have plenty on offer from that era as well. It is our job to understand what the audience wants, and to reach out to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We keep doing our part to attract a younger audience to R\u00e9tromobile. Under 12 years get in free; under 16 years is half-price entry. We distribute around 300 to 400 entry tickets at schools for mechanic\u2019s studies. Also, a group of 30 students will recreate the 2025 poster for R\u00e9tromobile: the DS concept with balloon wheels, a forgotten project that will be brought back to life in Paris. We keep the younger generation implicated in the stories of the old cars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R\u00e9tromobile attracted over 130,000 visitors from all over the world this year in the expo halls at the Porte de Versailles. Tickets for R\u00e9tromobile 2025 are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was surprising news, a couple of weeks ago, when R\u00e9tromobile and duPont Registry announced there would be a USA edition of the classic Paris show in 2025 as well. \u2018Why?\u2019, we asked R\u00e9tromobile chief Romain Grabowski.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,109,104],"tags":[278,1672,1670,1671,1673,1674,388,1669],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-12904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historic-racing","category-historic-rallies","category-news-pictures-videos","tag-citroen","tag-citroen-ds","tag-dupont-registry","tag-gerard-neveu","tag-kegresse","tag-michelin","tag-retromobile","tag-romain-grabowski","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/53500212371_3164428aab_k-kopie.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12913,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12904\/revisions\/12913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12904"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fthb-sponsors&post=12904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}