CityMotoring Fox Enjoys Salon Privé


This year’s Salon Privé Concours d’Elégance was held at the beginning of September over a three day period at Syon Park. The Syon Park estate is a great venue and was hosting the Salon Privé for the eighth successive year.


Ronnie Fox, Past Master,


Motoring Correspondent


*Past Master Ronnie Fox is the Motoring Correspondent of City Solicitor.


My day started badly. The sun had shone brilliantly on the first two days. I attended on the third day, the Audemars Piguet British Super Car Day; it rained on and off throughout the day. That was just hard luck. Nonetheless I enjoyed the show enormously. There was an eclectic variety of cars, motorcycles and luxury goods on display. Perhaps it was my conspicuously displayed press pass:


fibre bodywork designed by the Dutch manufacturer, Spyker. Both models were beautifully finished but in neither case did the exaggerated and incoherent curves come together to form an attractive car.


generally the


exhibitors could not have been more welcoming whether I was admiring a rare and valuable lightweight Jaguar E-type – or a McLaren (a racing car pretending to be suitable for public roads).


The cars at Syon Park were there to be admired, to be viewed as works of art. To my eyes some of the pre-war cars were far more appealing than cars designed after the war. No car at the show came close to the 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom or the 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540 K.


Nonetheless amongst post-war cars, there were some beautiful cars in the Streamlining class. I rather liked the spacious 1947 Tatra T 87 built in Czechoslovakia and designed by Jaray (who also designed the Zeppelin airship). A drag coefficient of only 0.36 was remarkable for the time but handling at speed is said to have been unpredictable.


The contrast with two new supercar concepts which I watched being unveiled at Salon Privé could not be greater. One was the Vulcan developed by Icona. Turin-based coachbuilders; the other was the Venator featuring ultra-light carbon-


12 • Issue 83


Car enthusiasts will know that 2013 is a special year being the Aston Martin centenary and the 50th anniversary of the first Lamborghini. Naturally several rare and unusual Astons were on display together with a spectacular Miura and a stunning Countach. (Incidentally a magnificent collection of Astons is expected at this year’s Regent Street Motor Show, the U.K.’s largest free Motor Show, which will take place on Saturday, 2 November.)


The vehicles at Syon Park were not all supercars. I have never driven a motorcycle but I was fascinated by some rather odd motorbikes. City solicitors who enjoy cycling to the office would have enjoyed the Moustache stand. Moustache is a French company selling electrically powered traditionally-styled bicycles for between £2,000 and £3,000. Twisted is a company which modifies Land Rovers and Range Rovers to owners’ individual requirements. The workmanship of the cars on view was of a high standard but I could not help thinking of Overfinch, a long-established company in a very similar line of business, which sadly collapsed a few months after the launch of the Holland and Holland Range Rover (covered a little while ago in this column).


A disappointment was the chaos in the muddy car park at the end of the day. Staff seemed totally overwhelmed. Almost 45 minutes elapsed between my leaving the Lexus stand (the last stand I visited and certainly the stand showing the most realistically priced luxury cars) and my driving through the gates of Syon Park. But the lasting impression was of an enjoyable day out and an excellent lunch.


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