Always displaying quality rather than quantity, for the Feb. 11–20, 2005 edition of Retromobile, a change was made to a new hall, and under the direction of new organizers, this slightly quirky but high quality show was once again well worth a visit.
Whilst competition cars have never been its true raison d’etre—and this year was no exception—there was plenty to make the trip worthwhile. The features mainly involved concept cars and France’s own motor industry with Citroen, Peugeot and Renault to the fore letting the clubs and dealers display fascinating rare sights. For example, the Matra 640 Prototype reconstruction and teardrop CDs from 1960s Le Mans races with meter-high stabilizers on their tails—just how did they get 200 km/h out of 1300-cc? On Axel Schutte’s stand was a scarce Interim 250 GT Ferrari, for instance, and no one could miss Tecnostoria from Turin with a Cevert Tecno F2, a Jaussaud Tecno F3 and the recently restored Goral Tecno F1 car.
As always, the trade stands had everything from rare photographs—a friend picked up an apparently very rare period shot of an Alfa 1900 with original bumpers—to a pedal-powered Alfetta Grand Prix car. You could also fill your shelves with the models available, but at a price.
It always seems small but it’s easy to spend many hours browsing and searching this show. It’s highly recommended for your diary in 2006.
Submitted by Peter Collins
