For this year’s Salon Privé, I decided to split my content into two parts. In the first part I spoke about the new cars for sale at the show – which you can read about here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2023/04/21/the-new-cars-of-salon-prive-2023/ Today I will be talking about the classic cars of the show.
Salon Privé London is quite unique. It contains a ‘Concours de Vente’, which is similiar to a traditional Concours d’Elegance (or Competition of Elegance) but all the cars entered have to be for sale.
There were lots of cars on display, offered for sale by both dealerships and private owners.
We’ll start with the dealerships. Several of these dealerships bring cars out to different shows, so I recognised some of the names.
Joe Macari Performance Cars of Merton Road, London, brought along a lovely variety of cars including this Porsche Carrera GT.
This Maserati MC12 won The People’s Choice award.
The MC12 is an really rare super car based on the Ferrari Enzo platform. 50 road cars were produced and 12 race cars.
I’ve only ever seen one other in person, and a few online, but whenever I’ve seen them they’ve always been white and blue. It was an incredibly rare opportunity for someone to buy one in this colour scheme.
A pair of beautiful Alfa Romeos, a Ferrari Daytona, a Dino and a classic 911 rounded off the cars obtainable through Joe Macari.
Graeme Hunt of Battersea had a lovely selection of cars including this very photogenic two tone Bentley.
This would be a fabulous car for me. It would be great to take for a day out at a heritage railway, or maybe one of the country’s many manor houses or even events like Goodwood Revival. It just looks like one of those cars that would look at home at that sort of occasion.
I dare say I’d have to do a lot of overtime to afford it though haha!
A bold specification for a Rolls Royce – white with red interior and a red pinstripe. 1980s cool!
This Maserati Sebring 3700 GTI won its class in the Concours.
DD Classics from Richmond had a Citroen DS Majesty. Between 25 and 27 (reports vary) Majestys were built between 1965 and 1969. They were built as luxury cars for chauffeur driven clients, they had a slightly extneded wheel base compared to the standard DS and the revised rear end gave the car more headroom in the back.
1957 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country Station Wagon. 1950s American cars will always be cool to me. I’d love to own one but in the States, to use on the roads it was designed for.
Rounding off the collection was another beautiful Bentley coupe.
Essex based JD Classics were displaying a lovely pair of Jaguar XK sports cars.
The Bensport La Sarthe – a coachbuilt Bentley R-Type, built as a ‘what if’ Bentley had wanted to take a car to LeMans in the 1950s.
They also had what was my personal favourite car at the show: a 1937 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante. An absolutely stunning, and incredibly rare, art deco era coupe.
Only 12 Atalantes were built and this was the only one in ‘duo-tone red’.
If you’re into your aviation history, this car was originally purchased by Marcel Doret who was a fighter pilot in both world wars and a test pilot and aerobatic pilot in the interwar period.
The guys at JD Classics very kindly opened the car up for me to take some in-depth pictures.
Another car that was a very close contender for car of the day for me was this 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Supercharged Super Sport.
This little Alfa Romeo racing car on matching recovery truck was a cool set up.
Richard Hammond’s new restoration business ‘The Smallest Cog’ was there with a 1947 Delahaye 135 MS Sport Coupe.
I’ve seen this Koenigsegg Agera S at a number of shows including Salon Privé last year. I was quite surprised to see it for sale again so soon!
Of course at this sort of event there were a few classic Ferraris available.
Of particular note were this matching pair. An F40 and an F50 both in Rosso Corsa and wearing the number plates ‘F40 SF’ and ‘F50 SF’ respectively.
In 1960 Swiss brothers Georges and Claude Gachnang, founders of Scuderia Cegga, took a wrecked 1958 Ferrari 250 Testarossa and substantially modified it into a bespoke hill-climb and race car.
In 1967 that car was sold to a Ferrari collector who restored the car back to how it was from the factory.
Fast forward to 2016 and rugby player turned racer David Cooke heard the story of Scuderia Cegga and approached the brothers (now in their 80s) to help him recreate their old car. This is the machine.
There weren’t many classic Lamborghinis. There was, however, this lovely red Miura.
It reminds me very much of the Miura from the opening sequence of The Italian Job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgJuVOrXv68
Charlie Croker, the lead character in that film, drove an Aston Martin DB4. There were lots of Astons on display at Salon Privé.
Here we have a beautiful Jaguar XK140. I love the rear wheel spats on these. It really finishes the car off!
Plenty of E-Types as one would expect.
Coming forward to 1991 and we have the XJR-15 raced by Juan Manual Fangio II (nephew of the famous Argentinian Formula One driver).
Finally we have a selection of classic Porsche 911s. Anyone who has followed this blog for a while knows that it’s no secret that I do like a Porsche!
I think this one maybe a 912, which was a 911 body with a 1.6 liter flat four as opposed to the 911s 2.0 flat six. They were made to be an entry level 911.
Thanks for reading! Salon Privé London is definately a highlight of my automotive calendar. I’m already looking forward to next years!
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By Richard Francis
