Amongst these sat the 1968 Matra 530 art car by Sonia Delaunay as well as the brutally pragmatic Citroën Méhari, 2CV and a Renault 4L. It’s easy to see why these utilitarian cars became icons of the fashion world — the latter presented as the 1963 ‘Parisienne’ example and the 2CV decked out by Hermes — but we’re curious as to why the VW Beetle was interestingly absent…
A 1971 example of Bertone’s Alfa Romeo Montreal, a 1970 Fiat 130 Coupe and 1977 Peugeot 504 Cabriolet (both by Pininfarina) and a 1970 Toyota 2000GT marked a return to graceful elegance, but the surprise of the show was seeing the incredible concept cars from Bertone, Italdesign and Mercedes-Benz occupying a corner spot beside the cafe.
The 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo, 1971 Maserati Boomerang and 1970 C111 prototype are not vehicles often seen, let along in one place and at one time. The three different interpretations of ’70s supercar experimentation presented side-by-side was nothing short of a thing of beauty, an experience only enhanced by the apparition of their own bespoke helmet designs created by Paris-based brand Ruby.
The ‘performance years’ of the ’80s and ’90s were represented by the Peugeot 205 GTi and Citroën CX GTi 25 Turbo, both cars that would become icons for different reasons — the 205 because it was quite simply a compact rocket and the CX because of its myriad technologies and svelte design.
