Meanwhile, not in Monaco... TWW brokers report from the world outside superyachting.

Yacht Broker Bart Obin has a passion for cars and a twinkle in his eye for the vintage beauties such as those on show at the Retromobile week long event in Paris every February.

"A real classic car week in Paris. Retromobile is now in it's 40th year, attracting an incredible array of collectible cars with some of the best cars and most known collectors from around the world. The show runs for five days during which various cars are auctioned by the most prestiguous auction houses across the beautiful city of Paris. RM Sothebys is at Hôtel des Invalides, Bonhams under the majestic Grand Palais and Artcurial at the Retromobile Porte de Versailles exhibition centre.

Highlights from this year's auction were the 1939 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 sold for more than 16 millions euros at Artcurial and an ex 24h of Le Mans Ferrari F40 in its infamous blue livery sold for 4.8 millions euros at RM Sothebys.

Every year the show somehow improves on the marvels on show with the quality and eclecticism of automobiles brought by the exhibitors from all over Europe even cross Atlantic being nothing short of mind-blowing for those of us with a penchant for these work of art machines.

This year showstoppers, in my humble opinion were; a Lancia themed stand by Lucas Huni with all the best models including seven multicolored Stratos, a Lamborghini Miura themed stand by Kidston with all variations of the first supercar model ever created, this year is also the 100 year anniversary of the Carrozzeria Zagato of which many cars were presented, then the Aston Martin DB4GTZ on Fiskens stand definitely one of the most valuable cars of the week in the middle of an exceptional selection of racing cars next to competitor Girardo displaying some more modern rarities like the Mercedes CLKGTR and Maserati MC12 corsa to name a few...

This year also marked the 60th anniversary of the Mini with a great exhibition of many of its special models, from the original Mini Moke to a Rally Monte Carlo race Mini.
A very popular attraction was the 50 tonnes Berliez truck, everybody wanted a photo with this impressive Giant. Another popular feature was the car market hall reserved for cars below the value of 25.000 euros, so everyone could leave the show driving a classic if desired, from cute Fiat 500, Citroën 2cv to no limits...

And as always anything related to classic cars could be found from historical books to rare car and bikes parts to vintage fashion, something for everyone, or at least everyone who likes classic cars...which is surely everyone?"