Four cars in one as show celebrates French design

Classic exhibition will be as interesting for the cars parked outside as the ones on display inside the halls

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Think of classic French cars and you may come up with a Citroën Traction Avant, a Bugatti T35 or a Delahaye 135... all singular cars, but what about a car that can be turned from a limousine to a truck, a shooting break or even a cabriolet?

The 1906 Sage Phaeton-limousine with its 24hp four-cylinder engine will be one of the stars of the show when the Salon Automédon opens in Paris next week.

The show features cars and motorcycles ‘de collection’ (meaning vintage and classic models) and will be as popular for the cars on display inside the halls at the Parc des Expositions at Le Bourget as for the thousand or so that will fill the display car park outside.

More than that, there is four hectares of parking space and much of that will be filled with collectors’ cars that will be worth a look.

Held on October 14 and 15, the show is expecting about 20,000 visitors and will have a special feature on French bodywork (carosserie) from Kellner, Labourdette, Rothschild and others. In all, about 20 cars will be on display.

There are also hotrods and customs, Italian motorbikes, the 50th anniversary of bike shop and race team Japauto and the 40th anniversary of the Porsche 928 – with a special appearance of round-the-world adventurer Philippe Delaporte and the 928 GT he used for his trip.

See how that Sage Phaeton was turned from a limousine into a cabriolet, shooting break and a truck in the following video…

And take a look back at last year’s show for a flavour of the action…

And here are just some of the classic cars that will be in the show…

Salon Automédon 2017

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