In front of the Chateau at Chantilly
From Carmel to Chantilly in under ten days! Last week I was in Carmel for the Pebble Beach car show and now Sarah and I are in Chantilly France for yet more car gazing. We are graciously being hosted by Sports Car Market publisher Keith Martin. We arrived yesterday and met up with Keith at the Paris airport. We all got some post-flight rest and then took the train into the city for a fabulous dinner at Le Sergeant Recruteur—our favorite restaurant in Paris. As always it did not disappoint.
We spent today visiting Sarah’s mares and foals in Lille. We got up early and went to the Chantilly Hertz location and picked up a Dacia Duster. I had never seen or heard of this car model or manufacturer before. We later learned that this jalopy is the product of a joint venture between Renault and a Romanian company. The diesel SUV feels as if it’s built out of cardboard and has a single-cylinder engine. Despite its build quality and lack of power, the little Dacia got us to Lille in under two hours. Sarah’s two retired jumpers are living the good life over here in France. LaBelle is 23 years old and is still generously giving embryos that surrogate mares ultimately carry. We currently have three more foals from her on the way! LaBelle is a baby machine at the ripe age of 23! We also got to visit her four-month-old foal that is named “For Kicks.” This young baby was aptly named after his two-time Hanoverian Olympic goal medal winning father “For Pleasure.”
Tonight we made it back in time for the opening cocktail reception and dinner at Bonham’s. The wine list was over the top and the dinner could have held its own against New York City’s finest French restaurants. We are off to a great start!
This is a car show setting like no other. Coming from Pebble I scratched my head and wondered how on earth it could get any better. While this is a very different show than Pebble it just might be an even more dramatic location than the Monterey Peninsula.
Bonham’s has a wonderful section of cars for sale tomorrow. Tonight there were three rare Horch’s on display as well as a 500K Mercedes. Two cars really caught my eye—A low-mileage 1994 Porsche 928 GTS 5-speed and a pristine Renault R5 Turbo. We will be attending the auction tomorrow afternoon.
Tomorrow we get up early for the classic car tour. We hope to bum a ride and tour Chantilly and the surrounding area in a fabulous classic car. Tomorrow night is the gala at the stables and then Sunday is the big show where Keith will be judging. See below for photos and a short video of Keith and Sarah discussing a rare Zagato that will be going on the block tomorrow. Check back for updates and photos.
The view from the Bonham’s tent
Credentials and other invites for the weekend. The Gold Cards for the show.
Rare Porsche 928 GTS 5-speed to be auctioned tomorrow.
Sarah with her two girls in Lille.
One Horch of three that will be auctioned off tomorrow (Photo by Sarah Willeman).
How often today can you rent a car and have never heard of the brand? Well it happened to us today! The Romanian Dacia!
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