When a car show is sponsored by the likes of Audemars Piguet, Pommery, Vertu and Boodles you just know that the event is unlikely to be held in the local field for boot-fairs.
Syon Park is the family home of the family of the Duke of Northumberland and has been for the past 400 years. It is also very elegant and the perfect setting for the annual Salon Privé event in London. So the stage was set for 2012 and the sun was shining on the beautiful people and some rather excellent motor cars.
So what was there? The Salon Privé and Concours d’Elégance was the venue chosen for the debut of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster, Rimac Concept_One electric hyper car, Renovatio T500 from Croatian super car maker Tushek, Bentley GT Speed, Carozerria Touring Supleggerra’s 2012 Disco Volante and Overfinch’s Range Rover Sport-inspired Limited Edition GTS-X. So there was plenty of new metal to gawp at.
If you are into your Classics then it was difficult to know where to look because there were some excellent old-timers at Syon House and plenty of them. How about 13 F40’s in celebration of 25 years since the car was born. A 1908 RR Silver Ghost, 1936 Jaguar SS Tourer, an Ogle SX 1000 (remember those?), a couple of Ferrari 250, 275 and 330’s including the ex-James Coburn/Chris Evans California Spyder, JK’s one-off Vignale 330 GT and no less than nine examples of various Bugattis dating from 1912. The Concours d’Elegance is being judged this Friday and it will be hard to pick the winners from such a high standard of entrants.
Our favourites at the Salon Privé this year? The 8C-based Carrozzeria Disco Volante, Rimac Concept_One, The ROFGO Gulf Collection including the GT40, the AM DBR9 (Chassis No 007), Maserati MC12 in black, Alvis ‘Super’ Cabriolet and the iconic green Miura S.
We took over 100 images of cars at the event so take a look at the slideshow below…..roll on Salon Privé 2013!
The Car Spy 