Monday 7 February 2011

Retromobile 2011 part 1 (no doubt)

Last Friday Susan and I were in Paris to go to Retromobile. (See how casually I say that? Makes us look windswept and interesting...).

There were, unsurprisingly, lots of cars to look at and covet: an exhibition and sale of ex-presidental cars and a lot more besides (if you start clicking on the photos on that link , any car lover will find that they lose a week of their life), plenty of legendary names, and some iconic cars having birthdays.

The ex-presidential car that most caught the eye
was De-Gaulle's 1960 Simca Presidence V8 Cabriolet
The cars having birthdays were the Renault 4L and the E-Type Jaguar, both first built in 1961. One is British and a sports coupe, the other is French and an everyday driver. Both are much loved and desired by certain parts of the population, but only one is truly affordable.


Over the next couple of weeks we will put up some of the other cars we saw and covet and/or appreciate on aesthetic grounds. This year we didn't buy anything, whereas last year I bought some headlight bulbs. The last of the big spenders, I am!

Simon

7 comments:

Jean said...

Although the E-type is beautiful, it's the Renault 4 that is the car of my dreams.

Diane said...

I am still a porsche fan, how much fun we used to have in our 356 roadster. Sadly it had to be sold to help finance our move back to the UK :( Diane

Simon said...

Jean - They had plenty to chose from, all in concourse condition. The are many on teh roads in Preuilly, but strangely none in this condition, I believe the tradespeak term is "original condition".

Diane. That's sad. was it an priginal?

Autolycus said...

I adored my Renault 4 while it lasted, funny old umbrella-handle-back-to-front gearshift and all. In those days I was involved in a rowing club, and it was possible to pack a couple of sculling boats (with oars) on the roofrack, all the other associated bits and pieces (including oarsmen) inside. Mind, they nearly had to get out and push to go uphill...

Leon Sims said...

I need to join you there one year.

Simon said...

Autolycus. If it wasn't impolite, I would post a photo of our neighbour's father's 4L - parked using her garage wall as a handbrake.

Leon. You would be most welcome, although next year we are thinking of giving it a miss. We think evey 2 years might be enough

Unknown said...

Oh, what beautiful cars. Don't they just make you dream?

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