RETROMOBILE
Delwyn Mallett heads to Paris for France’s number one classic show
One of the good things about Retromobile is that it’s in Paris. Another is that there aren’t many Porsches on display. An odd thing to say in a Porsche magazine but you really can have too much of a good thing, as we’ve often felt on our annual trips to Techno Classica Essen. On our last visit I bemoaned the fact that in one hall alone I counted 200 Porsches before losing interest. I’m a firm believer in Modernist architect Mies van der Rohe’s adage that ‘Less is more’ and there were more than enough Porsches at Retromobile to satisfy.
After an absence of some years Porsche made a welcome return, showcasing their electric technology by presenting the world’s first hybrid drive car the Lohnerporsche ‘Semper Vivus’ alongside their all-electric Taycan. Coincidentally the first Lohner-porsche was debuted in Paris 120 years earlier at the 1900 Exposition Universelle and the improved ‘Sempur Vivus’ (which translates as ‘always alive’) a year later at the Paris Auto Salon. This magnificent beast which has been making the show rounds for several seasons is a faithful recreation by Porsche technician, Hubert Drescher, who had only photographs, a sketch and a single drawing as reference, and took three-years to complete.
Paris auction house Artcurial always has an eclectic collection of cars for sale ranging from Ferraris and Bugattis to a Golf GTI, amongst which nine Porsches passed under the hammer, although a rather fine looking Italian-registered Carrera RS ‘Lightweight’ was withdrawn at the last minute for reasons unknown.
A late production Speedster, German delivered in 1958, looked very sexy in black with a matching Glasspar hardtop sold for what seemed like a low-ish €274,160. A lovely 1954 ‘bent-screen’ 1500 S cabriolet in dark green with a white leather interior and one of only 20 ‘S’ versions delivered in that year changed hands for €214,560. It had, however, been fitted with a later 1600 engine. Top price achieved by a
trio of early 911s was €205,024 for a recently restored 1966 SWB model in one of the great Porsche colours, Bahama Yellow. Highlight of the Porsche sales had to be a gorgeous Carrera 6 with a well-documented continuous history which sold for €1,730,600. Delivered new and ‘in the white’ to Italy, it competed mainly in hillclimbs in the hands of its first two owners. At some point being painted red, a subsequent owner had the car repainted in its current white and red ‘works’ livery, and it looked stunning.
Elsewhere in the show there were several 356s sporting body mounted spotlights – the start of a trend perhaps? – including a fine looking Speedster in dark silver with matching hardtop.
Even Classic Porsche has to occasionally admit that ‘other marques are available’ and one of the pleasures of Retromobile is stumbling over some of the more obscure, on these shores at least, French cars. Amongst the French Racing Blue there was a brace of CD Panhard LM64S, super streamlined with perhaps the world’s tallest stabilising fins. A very pretty 1954 ex-mille Miglia Renault 4CV Barchetta with heavily louvred engine cover could at a quick glance have been mistaken for a Porsche spyder.
A timeline of ten Tatras, from first to last, occupied the elevated corridor that connects the main halls and provided a rare opportunity to see the 1933 V570 prototype – the car that every Czech believes Professor Porsche ripped off when designing the Beetle.
For those who went with money to spend the bargain of the show, relatively speaking, must have been Artcurial’s 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 fastback in Highland Green that sold for a mere €85,824 – a staggering €3.3 million less than the similar ‘Bullitt’ car achieved last year.