The tenth annual SAH dinner in Paris coincided with the 30th year of France’s most extravagant, exuberant display of automobiles and automobilia. “Better than Hershey” in the opinion of Dave Brownell.

On the evening of February 10, the eve of Rétromobile, 43 SAH members and guests gathered in the Concorde Room of the 18th century building that is home to the Automobile Club de France, an honorary member of the Society of Automotive Historians. Across the Place de la Concorde and the Seine, we could see the jaunty multi-colored neon sign “Paris2012” on the facade of the Assemblée Nationale, reflecting the city’s hopes that it will be chosen later this year for the summer Olympic games seven years hence.

After drinks and dinner, president Joe Freeman thanked Laurent Friry for his efforts in arranging the evening with the ACF, and presented the Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot Awards for books published in 2003 in a language other than English to Stanislaw Szelochowski for Sto Lat Polskiej Motoryzacji and Halwart Schrader for BMW Automobile. The publishers of these books also received awards. Frank Gump presented an Award of Distinction to Marie-Christine Rouxel and her publisher for Renault en Afrique, and Taylor Vinson the Richard and Grace Brigham Award to Marc-Antoine Colin for the magazine Automobilia.

For a number of us, the ten days of Rétromobile kicked off the next morning with the press conference of Paul Berliet, president of the Fondation de l’Automobile Marius Berliet, which is observing the 100th anniversary of the licensing of the American Locomotive Company to produce Berliet cars in the USA. A handsome, impressive 1912 Alco dominated the stand and drew many admirers.

Rétromobile moved this year to quarters larger by 400 square meters some said, all agreeing that the increased aisle width, floor maps with location indicators and more clearly designated rest rooms made this the most comfortable Rétromobile ever.

The primary attraction this year was a display of prototypes such as the Socéma-Grégoire turbine car of 1952, the Wimilles of 1943 and 1949, the early postwar Mathis 333 and 666, the 1948 Panhard Dynavia, and the limited production 1933 Crossley Burney. Each of the major French manufacturers was celebrating an important anniversary: Citroen the 50th of the introduction of the DS; Peugeot the Golden Anniversary of the 403; and Renault the 40th of the 16.

A distinctive feature of the show are the stands of the “Amicales,” or clubs. Thus, for example, the Citroen marque might be represented by Amicales for the Traction, 2CV, DS/IS, SM, Mehari, and so on.. The cost of a stand is such that smaller marques such as Voisin, Rolland Pilain and Lorraine make infrequent appearances, but somehow Amicales for De Dion Bouton, Grégoire, Bugatti, Hispano Suiza, Panhard, Delahaye, Delage, Facel Vega, Salmson, Hotchkiss, Darl’mat, and Amilcar always seem to be able to scrape enough together to be present.

Restoration shops and classic car dealers can always be counted on to have interesting machines. A silver and black 1932 Nash Eight 1071 convertible, a 1931 Talbot (London) 105, and a 1939 Lagonda Rapide come to mind this year. Americans were also represented by a 1941 Chrysler Town and Country, a 1935 Ford V-8 fordor, and a 1937 Ford converted to racing on dirt tracks in Uruguay. The Circuit of Ardennes can always be counted on to have an interesting display. Conspicuous this year were the builders of “new” classics such as Bugattis. One Argentine company had put together an immense racer powered by a Fiat aircraft engine, looking as if it would give Mefistofeles or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a run for their money. A most interesting display was a demonstration model of a sleeve-valve engine (not a Knight) that Peugeot used in its 1921-23 Type 156, of which only 180 were made.

Ancillary displays included antique luggage and camping equipment, posters, mascots, literature, books, and the most comprehensive selection of scale model cars imaginable, with prices in some instances over 300 euros.

For the third year, Christie’s conducted an auction on the floor. The gem of the sale was a blue Castagna-bodied 1929 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A roadster with white body molding, but the crowd favorite seemed to be a 1955 O.S.C.A. MT4-2AD Berlinetta by Vignale. However, on another stand was a car I kept returning to – loved it then, love it now: the Pinin Farina Ferrari 250 GT coupe of the late 1950s. Its classic proportions and clean lines find no descendants in the steroid grotesqueries that snort out of Maranello today.