French specialties (at the Rétromobile)
02/07/2025
The Rétromobile in Paris has been open since Tuesday (February 4) and is once again attracting crowds of classic car enthusiasts from near and far. Of course, there will once again be super-expensive and super-rare classics on display in 2025, but we also noticed some very French specialties when we first walked through the halls.
Yes, you have to look twice, but the car pictured above is not a normal Peugeot 504 Coupé. It is in fact a station wagon, called the 504 Break Riviera. And this Pininfarina creation was presented at the Paris Motor Show in 1971. The sports estate did not make it into series production, which was a shame.
The Simca 936, also known as the "Isabelle", was even less successful. The super-compact city car with a transverse front engine remained a prototype and surprises today with its super-compact body.
Would Simca still exist if the car had gone into production?
At least the brand, whose early work we are showing here as a third specialty, has survived. The Alpine A106 actually already had many of the features on board that we later came to appreciate in the Berlinette A110. However, success only came with the later models.
Of course, we also saw and photographed many other interesting cars. We have compiled some photos in an exclusive photo series . Just take a look ...
P.S. And, of course, we will be submitting a comprehensive visit report at the end of the fair, as we do every year.
