Mercedes Celebrates 60 Years of Le Mans Success at Retromobile

Retromobile is an automotive exhibition that takes place each year in Paris to celebrate all things about classic cars. It is split into a variety of activities including: an auction, vendors and exhibitions by manufacturers.

This year one of the major exhibits will be by Mercedes-Benz looking back on 60 years of success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1952, the famous Mercedes gullwing 300SL won the race and jump-started Mercedes's post-war motorsports competition.

“At the Rétromobile in Paris we are showing three original vehicles from our collection, cars that achieved success at Le Mans” said Michael Bock, head of Mercedes-Benz Classic and manager of Mercedes-Benz Museum GmbH. 

Other cars at Mercedes's exhibition will be a 1931 SSK and 1989 Sauber-Mercedes C9. 

Retromobile will also have a host of other unique cars and events. Citroen will show a collection of automotive art. This collection includes posters from the earliest days of Citroen, art installations that Citroen created and a collection of cars that Citroen had artists personalize. 

The French MG Club will be at Retromobile displaying over 50 classic MGs

There will be an exhibit of Group B rally cars together with the road cars that inspired them. This exhibit will include the Audi Quattro, Ford RS 200, Lancia Rally 037, Delta S4, Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 and Renault 5 Maxi Turbo.

The other exhibits include a look back on the Monica luxury car and a display by Porsche Classic. Honda will look back on the history of the Civic. There will also be a look a the Peugeot 200-series from the original  201 to the 205. 

The Mullin Automotive Musuem is displaying a group of classic French cars including: a Bugatti Atlantic,  Bugatti Type 46, Delahaye V12 Type 165, Delahaye Type 145, Hispano-Suiza H6, Voisin C25 and Talbot Lago T26.

A large portion of the Retromobile is the classic car auction that takes place there. This year the auction has a collection of special-bodied Delahayes and many other cars. 

The Retromobile runs from February 1-5 at the Porte de Versailles in Paris. You can visit its web site here, if you would like more information