Retromobile 2012
Held at the Portes de Versailles convention centre in (a very chilly) Paris from 1st to 5th February, the focus of those of us from CPUK was, of course, the stand of L`Aventure Peugeot which this year marked the upcoming launch of the 208 with an exhibition of 2 series cars from 201 onwards including a 201 decouvrable, a 202 decouvrable, a 203 Commerciale, a 204 Coupe and a 205 GTI
201 Decouvrable 
202 Decouvrable 
203 Commerciale, 204 Coupe and 205 GTI
The stand was massive with several Amicale/Clubs exhibiting vehicles alongside the Museum.
There was a fantastic (mid restoration) 202 Break 
which is such a rare car and which, for me, was the star of the show! You can see more at www.youtube.com
The other Amicale/ Clubs had on show; a 402 Darl'mat (my favourite car of all time!), a 204 Saloon, a 203 decouvrable, a 104 5 door, a 205 Roland Garros convertible, a fantastic 403 Saloon, a 404 Estate, a 504 Saloon and a 604 GTI.
The Peugeot Museum also had their shop in place where various Peugeot goodies could be bought and there was a massive exhibition of Peugeot miniature models from Club Autos Miniatures Peugeot.
At the show, I met up with Peugeotist Editor, Alastair Inglis and CPUK member Charlie Chisholm from Grass Valley, California who owns a very rare 202 Canadienne (Woody) Estate. Charlie bought the car several months ago and was over in France doing research into its history, looking for parts suppliers and of course enjoying the show. In fact, I heard numerous American accents around the halls, obviously taking advantage of the strength of the dollar versus the euro!
Of course the show is not all about Peugeot and always provides visitors with the opportunity to see some of the rarest and most stunning cars in the world from major museums, manufacturers (Skoda had some great cars on their stand) and classic car clubs as well as having a motoring themed artist gallery, a massive auction held by Artcurial, an amphibious vehicle themed stand, autojumble/parts suppliers and miniatures. There is a thriving industry in France remanufacturing parts for older Peugeots from 01, 02 and 03 series.
The next day I took in the showrooms of Peugeot, Citroen, Renault and Mercedes Benz on the Champs Elysees as well as Peugeot HQ on Avenue de la Grande Armee.
Once again the changes made by the organisers have further improved the show and I would encourage all CPUK members to put a visit to Retromobile on their 'to-do list' for 2013.
Ian Kirkwood
