40 éme Salon de Retro Mobile 2015

Although this was the 40th edition of Retro Mobile in Paris, I had never been before.  Exhibitions and crowds are not really my thing.   However, the lure of the Le Mans Pegaso was enough for me.  Plus, I went on Wednesday night when the crowds weren't to bad.

 PEGASO

Pegaso was a Spanish marque of the nineteen fifties who tried to emulate and beat Ferrari.  They failed  after seven years between 1951 and 1958 but left a beautiful legacy of eight four cars.  Quite a number of them were exhibited at Retro Mobile this year.

Pegaso Z 102 Touring Super Leggera Spider Le Mans 1953

I became interested in the Pegaso maque from a South African book on automobiles of the world that I got given when I was young.   I then read that one had entered the 1953 Le Mans 24 hours.  Unfortunately that entry did not end well. During practice the car crashed at speed causing the driver Juan Jover some serious injuries. The car also entered the 1954 Carrera Pan America but again crashed out.  However, in 1953 it did prove its speed when the 2.8 litre supercharged barchetta used at Le Mans broke the World Record for the flying kilometre at 151mph.  It is also certainly a beautiful car and a rare Spanish sport car of that era.  Although the sports car production was brief the marque produced trucks and coaches before and after the fifties.

Pegaso Z 102 Spider Le Mans

Note the exhaust pipes that look like the rear bumpers on this Pegaso

SPORTS RACING CARS

1968 Porsche 908/2

1968 2 litre Alfa Romeo T33/2 Daytona Coupe that finished 4th, 5th and 6th at Le Mans.  The Autodelta No.39 car finished fourth driven by Ignazio Giunti and Nanni Galli and won the two litre class.

1971 Porsche 917 as driven at Le Mans by Vic Elford

1990 IMSA Jaguar XJR12 IMSA as driven by Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace

Porsche Carrera 6

1971/2 3 litre Alfa Romeo T33 TT

Porsche 936 in the colours that it won the Le Mans 24 hours in 1977 driven by Ickx, Barth and Haywood

Ford GT 40

CLASSIC CARS

Rare Jaguar XKSS

1938 Mercedes 540K Stromlinienwagen

The 1955 Alpine A106 that started the Alpine Renault story.  Alpine Renault is 60 years old this year.  The car was based on the Renault 4CV and was built by a Dieppe based Renault dealer.

Bugatti Royale - you really appreciate the 21 foot length of this car when you see it in the flesh

1930 Bentley Speed Six

1955 Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spyder Bertone

1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS Zagato / Aprile

ODDS AND ENDS

Around the World for charity in a 1915 Model T Ford

Petrol Pump Americana

SOMETHING OLD

Early fifties Skoda 966 Supersport.  I seem to remember from the Briggs Cunningham photos that there was a Skoda sports car at the 1950 Le Mans 24 hours.

1959 Porsche 718 RS

SOMETHING NEW

New Renault Alpine Vision GT concept car designed for a computer game Gran Tourismo 6

New Alpine concept car

SOMETHING BLUE

1959 DB Panhard HBR5 Coupé

Shelby Daytona Cobra

I only had a brief two hours at the 2015 Retro Mobile but I enjoyed it and it left me wanting more. Great to see the Pegasos and also some rather nice Alfa Romeos as well.

A link to the Retro Mobile web site:

http://en.retromobile.com/

The photographer John Etherton asserts his copyright on the photographs on this blog post. However, you may republish them elsewhere on the web as long as you provide a link to this blogsite and reference the name of the blogsite and the photographer under the photo.