Style and More Style - Salon Privé 2020, by Philip Porter

There was no shortage of stunning cars at Salon Privé this year. With a heady cocktail of supercar launches, historic racers and serious classics, Salon Privé is rather different from other motoring events. It was also unusual, in 2020, in that it actually took place.

For me, the line-up of McLaren F1 GTRs stood out, and in particular the Gulf-liveried example. Obviously it is a complete coincidence that such cars feature in our ROFGO Collection and Ultimate GTR books!

Neville Swailes, who produces an evocation of the unique Jaguar XJ13, had not only an example on display but also his impressive quad-cam tera®️ V12 engine. I always remember the great Bill Heynes, legendary Engineering Director of Jaguar, saying to me, ‘They ruined my V12 engine’. It had been designed originally as a four overhead cam power unit for the XJ13 but went to single cams per bank for the production engines. 

One of the most striking cars on show was Touring’s Aero 3 which had its world debut at the event. With its tail fin, the design is very reminiscent of the fabulous Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B Le Mans Speciale, which is one of the stars, if not the star, of the SuperFinds book.

I must admit I was very worried for the organisers that Salon Privé would have to be cancelled at the last moment due to Covid 19 but, with the necessary precautions in place, it went ahead and was deemed to be a great success.