French Dressing

If we were car breeders, we might describe this vehicle as out of Austin Seven by 1938 Ford. It's neither British nor American, though, and it has nothing to do with Ford. It's a 1940 Rosengart Supercinq, seen at Rétromobile last month in Paris. Lucien Rosengart was a French industrialist whose first car was a licensed version of the Austin Seven (check out the Austin Seven Owners Club). By the end of the thirties, he was building larger models like the front wheel drive Supertraction. The Supercinq was made in small numbers as war came to France.

Rétromobile, France's premier old car show, returns every year to the Parc des Exhibitions at Paris's Porte de Versailles. The 30th edition took place from 11th to 20th February 2005, centerpiece of which was a display of prototype automobiles from the 1930s and 40s. Among them, looking from the rear much like a '35 Ford coupe, was the 1941 STELA (Service de la Traction Electrique Légère et Agricole). An electric vehicle built to counter wartime fuel shortages, it is the sole example built. French engineer Jean Albert Grégoire was a pioneer of front wheel drive and a proponent of aluminum chassis. One of his designs was adopted by Hotchkiss as the Hotchkiss-Grégoire; another, more radical exercise was the SOCEMA (Société de Constructions et d'Equipements Méchaniques pour l'Aviation) Grégoire turbo coupe, powered by a gas turbine engine and claimed to be the world's first.

The Mathis 666 (6 seats, 6 cylinders, 6 speeds) was shown at France's 1948 motor show. Strikingly modern, even for the French, it was judged too radical for its times, when the nation was still recovering from wartime deprivation.

Retromobile exhibitors include vintage car dealers, auction houses like Bonhams and Christie's (the latter staging a sale on Saturday), marque clubs, and sellers of parts and literature. Automobiles as diverse as the Lagonda Rapide and 1932 Nash 1070 abound. Think of Hershey indoors, moved upscale with a French accent.

A faithful Rétromobilist for the last four years, I was unable to make the trip in 2005. Roving correspondent Taylor Vinson was on hand, though, and we have him to thank for these photos and his impressions of the event.