"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
02/06/2016 at 13:40 • Filed to: CLASSIC CARS
10
14|
"Clemsie McKenzie" (thestirringcolumn)
02/06/2016 at 13:40 • Filed to: CLASSIC CARS | 10
| 14 |
I left a few hours later, with my repertoire of curse words completely emptied, both in French and in English. And a good load of pictures for you guys! WARNING: can cause weird reactions if you have any inclination towards old and weird cars. Also, pretty long post!
I was only just in the salon itself, and got assaulted by that massive thing:
A few meters after that were the amazing Alpine and Renault stands.
Some of Renault’s record cars, including one of my favorite things ever, the Etoile Filante (shooting star):
Renault proudly displayed some of its F1 heritage, in line with its comeback in 2016. Too bad the new car wasn’t here, or at least a show car with the new livery.
In comparison, I found Peugeot and Citroen’s stands to be a bit smaller. Nothing to be sneezed at though!
The Porsche stand was predictably bonkers:
Jaguar’s or Aston Martin’s official stands were more subdued, but still offered some surprises:
Then it was time for me to dive into the see of private stands, always full of incredible stuff. Cars are presented by insurance companies, magazines, restoration shops, owners clubs, and so on. After this will come the real party-piece: the auctions stands. So hang on! These are mental.
Intermission: the weirdest cars. With no enough wheels, or in the wrong place, this is the stuff that makes its way into another of those Jason Drives videos:
Ok, now take a deep breath, we’re going for the big boys.
I guess there’s some irony to be found in the fact that the rarer and most expensive cars were the one that were put for sale. I have more of these, but I fear I would lose even the most dedicated jalop.
In a dark alley, the ACO was exposing some cars from its 110-years-long history:
After that was a big hall almost entirely dedicated to the cars auctionned by Artcurials, who were busy cashing on around $40 millions from a Ferrari 335 Scaglietti. Sadly, when I was there, the cars were being sold downstairs and so weren’t on the stand. Some were left behind though:
Pictured: people spending almost a million bucks on a 959:
BONUS ROUND:
Now that I’ve ha a bit of time to reflect back on all of that madness, I must confess that I think it was a bit too much. I mean, I can’t complain, really. But because there was always something awesome somewhere else, I never could spend long minutes with one of my personal favorites. Say, there was “only” one of these massive auction stands, well that’d be enough for a day for me. Well, first world problems I guess! Also, it gives me excuses for the loooong post.
2016 is already pretty awesome, and
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
for the rest of the year.
pitstop_pitowski
> Clemsie McKenzie
02/06/2016 at 13:56 |
|
Beautiful collection, thanks for sharing. That must have been a fun show. I love the older stuff like the “shooting star”, those type of cars always make concours and car shows great. The Silk Cut Jaguar was an awesome Group C car!
|
Clemsie McKenzie
> pitstop_pitowski
02/06/2016 at 14:02 |
|
Thanks!
Yeah there was a lot of quircky and unusual stuff, that you would never get to see otherwise! There also was the Beast of Turin, running! Sadly I couldn’t shoot it before it disappeared in to the crowd. But damn, what a noise!
CALUSA
> Clemsie McKenzie
02/06/2016 at 14:06 |
|
Impressive collection, and I know the feeling when you think it’s just too much!
Berang
> Clemsie McKenzie
02/06/2016 at 14:10 |
|
I wonder how much that steam bus would bring if auctioned.
|
Clemsie McKenzie
> Berang
02/06/2016 at 14:19 |
|
That’s a very good question, because I doubt it’s running. It’d probably be bought by a museum. Or Jay Leno.
|
Clemsie McKenzie
> CALUSA
02/06/2016 at 14:21 |
|
Yeah! When selecting the photos to put here, sometimes I had forgotten I even had seen that car. Buy hey, can’t really complain!
|
CALUSA
> Clemsie McKenzie
02/06/2016 at 14:24 |
|
Better too much, than too little of course :)
Spoon II
> Clemsie McKenzie
02/06/2016 at 14:40 |
|
NASA has a new version of that little yellow thing.
Cé hé sin
> Clemsie McKenzie
02/06/2016 at 15:20 |
|
I was there last year and now I’m getting withdrawal symptoms!
BaconSandwich is tasty.
> Spoon II
02/06/2016 at 15:22 |
|
I’d daily drive one, provided it wasn’t horrifically slow. Then again, I’m a fan of the weird stuff.
|
Clemsie McKenzie
> Cé hé sin
02/06/2016 at 15:27 |
|
Haha sorry!
Flavien Vidal
> Clemsie McKenzie
02/07/2016 at 02:30 |
|
Ah Retromobile... If only it wasn’t so crowded all the time... Last time I went, and that was a long time ago, I could barely walk...
|
Clemsie McKenzie
> Flavien Vidal
02/07/2016 at 04:05 |
|
Yeah I managed to go on a Friday afternoon and it was still pretty crowded. But I guess it’s a good thing, even though it can make it hard to take some pictures.
Noodles
> Clemsie McKenzie
11/25/2016 at 17:43 |
|
This post is awesome. All that automotive greatness, and I stared at the navy blue F355 for longer than anything else. That Automodule looks freakin crazy