The greatest show on earth
CAR SHOWS tend to polarise opinion, with enthusiasts tending to either love or hate them and very few people falling in between.
I’m one of the inbetweeners. In reality, I much prefer to see cars being used and enjoyed than parked and polished, but were it not for the Tatton Park Classic and Sports Car show in Cheshire, which I first attended as an eight-year-old in 1986, I’m not sure my passion for old cars would be quite as developed as it is.
It was there that I first saw a Jaguar XJ-C – a car that would only have been a decade or so old at the time, but which completely enraptured me. It was the beginning of a love affair with Jaguar XJs that continues to this day, and an XJ12-C remains my ‘one day’ car.
IF THAT’S NOT ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CARS EVER MADE, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS
Jaguars, then, like Tatton have become a tradition. It’s one of the few shows I still attend for fun rather than work purposes, despite it being 150 miles away from my current home.
But much as I enjoy my previously local show, and use it as an excuse to get together with some very dear old friends every year, it’s still not my favourite. As I write this, I’m aboard a Eurostar service to London St Pancras, having just made my annual pilgrimage to Rétromobile in Paris – an event that is head and shoulders above any other classic car show in the entire world. I mean no ill to the NEC Classic Car Show here in the UK, but Rétromobile is truly something else.
At no other car event would you find a Lamborghini Miura rubbing fenders with a Renault 30 Turbo Diesel, or a complete reconstruction of the 1993 Geneva Motor Show stand set up by a major car manufacturer – in this case Renault, celebrating 30 years of the wonderful little Twingo.
If you love cars, you’ll love Rétromobile. And if you love Jaguars, which presumably you do, then you’ll love it even more. This year, among the assorted European exotica, were an incredible delivery mileage XJ220 and a truly stunning SS Airline, which took pride of place on the Jaguar Drivers’ Club de France stand. If that’s not one of the most beautiful cars ever made, I don’t know what is. There were more affordable Jaguars, too, including a few lovely MK 2s, X
