Need a spare part for his vintage car?
A vintage magazine reviewing your old one, or a recent or out-of-print book about a model, make, or rider?
Want to treat yourself to a slice of golden history, enrich your collection of miniatures, decorate a room or take part in the retrospective of an emblematic event?
Or simply the pleasure of revisiting a (soon to be) bygone era when the automobile meant a lot of things?
Friendly Dollar
In any case, you have to run to Rétromobile.
For five days, the Parc des Expos at the Porte de Versailles was transformed into the most beautiful museum in the world.
We will not list here all the mechanical nuggets present but all eras, all genres are represented.
Proof of the wealth of automotive heritage, the Parisian exhibition hosts models never seen before.
Pierre PERUSSEAU
As with every edition for a few years now, the Musée des Blindés de Saumur gives an overview of its incredible collection.
This year, visitors can admire an AMX-30 tank and a Panhard armored reconnaissance vehicle.
The world of motorcycling is also represented.
Retromobile celebrates the centenary of the birth of the French brand Dollar, recognizable by its logo of an Indian head.
This year, Rétromobile is also the massive return of manufacturers and French and foreign merchants after a 2022 edition largely impacted by the Covid.
Lukas Huni's stand.
Sylvain Reisser
There are no less than eleven manufacturers: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Catheram, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Lancia, Morgan, Peugeot, Porsche, Renault, Volkswagen.
The Italian brands of the Stellantis group present their certification program along with an Alfa Romeo SZ from 1990, an Abarth 850 TC from 1961 and a Lancia 037 Group B which raced in the World Rally Championship.
On the side of the French brands of the Stellantis group, Citroën makes its cinema with the exhibition of the tank present in the last opus of Asterix and Obelix.
Peugeot is celebrating the 400 series models and DS is exhibiting a development concept for the SM called the Michelin prototype.
As for Renault, it blows out the thirty candles of the famous Twingo launched on the market in 1993 but unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October 1992.
Ferrari 250LM.
PERUSSEAU
For Volkswagen, it is a question of supporting the launch of the iD.Buzz with first-generation Combis.
Visitors can discover a good selection of vans on the footbridge which leads to pavilion 2.2 where Artcurial has installed the 227 cars for its sale.
The star is one of 32 Ferrari 250 LMs.
There is also a magnificent selection of sacred models from Maranello on the stand of the watchmaker Richard Mille.
Formula 1 alongside a 250 GTO and a 275 GTB/C as well as a 512 M.
The poster is just as incredible on the merchant side with the presence of European majors but also auction houses.
Let's say it: it's been a long time since we've seen such a riot of exceptional machines, all in remarkable condition.
The stand of watchmaker Richard Mille.
Sylvain Reisser
The 2023 edition of Rétromobile finally marks the start of the centenary festivities of the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June.
The opportunity to remember that this epic imagined under the nave of the Grand Palais on the occasion of the 1922 Motor Show, which began with a French success - the Chenard & Walcker by André Lagache and René Léonard.
Fourteen others have since spread out.
Not to mention countless class victories.
Some years count double.
After the hegemony of Bentley and Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and Delahaye sounded the Marseillaise three times between 1937 and 1939. In 1950, Louis Rosier triumphed almost alone, his son Jean-Louis having covered only two laps!
The performance seems unthinkable today, especially considering that his Talbot was stopped for half an hour to change a rocker arm ramp.
The exhibition on the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Sylvain Reisser
Then Renault-Alpine put its name on the list two years before Sarthe craftsman Jean Rondeau triumphed at the wheel of a car he designed.
The last three successes are the work of Peugeot.
The exhibition also shows that Le Mans has been a laboratory for new technologies from the start.
It should be noted that the National Gendarmerie is again present and that Rétromobile appears as the showcase for the preservation and transmission of motorized rolling heritage with the presence of a major part of the players in the sector.
Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles, Paris 15th, from February 1 to 5. Night openings until 10 p.m. on the 1st and 3rd. Free for children under 12 (Retromobile.fr).