AUTOMOTIVE - VINTAGE: Another Feast At Retromobile

French journalist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr once famously stated, ?Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.? Or in English, ?The more it changes, the more it stays the same.? This very much applies to the annual Retromobile show in Paris; subtle tweaks are made every year, but it nevertheless retains the same atmosphere and remains one of the must-visit events of the year.

In 2011, we saw one of the more substantial changes when the length of the event was cut from 10 to five days. Since the event is especially popular with exhibitors, this resulted in increased demand for floor space, so for 2012, the show was moved to halls 3 and 2.2 of the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre.

The Mullin Automotive Museum included the $30 million Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic among its collection of Art Deco masterpieces. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) But once inside, it felt like nothing had changed compared with last year. In addition to the familiar exhibitors, the 2012 Retromobile hosted a selection of cars from the Mullin Automotive Museum, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari 250 GTO and had displays for amphibious cars and French one-off sports cars.

Two auctions were also held in Paris during the same week: one by local company Artcurial Motorcars as part of Retromobile and another by Bonhams at La Halle Freyssinet.

Another thing that never changes is our arrival at the crack of dawn on the opening day to capture the show before the hordes arrive. This year the result is this 170-shot gallery, which also includes the two auctions.

Headlining the 2012 Retromobile show was a selection of 10 cars sent by the Mullin Automotive Museum from Oxnard, California. Opened in 2010, the fabulous museum is a tribute to the great Art Deco era dominated by French manufacturers and coachbuilders.

Although not officially part of the collection, the absolute star of the museum was the Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic that was acquired by an anonymous owner for more than $30 million at around the same time the museum opened.

The famed Delahaye Type 165 Figoni & Falaschi was another highlight of the Mullin Museum collector cars. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) The Atlantic was joined on a remarkably accessible stand by a fine selection of French and French-bodied machinery. Among them were no fewer than four V12 Delahayes of about a dozen built in period. Three were of the Type 145 racing variety, two of which were later converted to road-car specification by Chapron. The surviving racing car was the winner of the fabled Million Franc price awarded in 1938 by the French motorsport federation and industry for winning the French Grand Prix at Monthlery and, more importantly, beating the German rivals.

The fourth V12 Delahaye was a Type 165, which at the end of the 1930s was the manufacturer's top-of-the-range model. Clothed by Figoni & Falaschi, this curvaceous Cabriolet originally served to represent Delahaye at the 1939 New York World Fair. The Museum's Voisin C25 Aerodyne, fresh from its Best in Show win at Pebble Beach, was also on display.

Bonhams briefly was the official auctioneer of Retromobile after its takeover of the motoring department of rival Christie's. When French auction company Artcurial took over, the British auctioneers continued to host a sale in Paris.

This year, La Halle Freyssinet near Gare d'Austerlitz, a 1929 steel-and-concrete building previously used by the French railway for equipment maintenance, was chosen as the venue for the Bonhams sale. Bonhams brought 35 motorcycles and more than 100 cars, ranging from a Fiat support van to an exquisite Amilcar racer.

The sale also included a selection of unusual Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, which sold remarkably well. The same could not be said of a fabulous collection of Morgans, which struggled to find new owners.

Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/vintage-another-fantastic-retromobile/

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