Key Points
- Rétromobile is launching its first New York classic-car show at Javits Center, November 19–22.
- The event will feature over 300 cars, 100 motorcycles, auctions, art cars, and automotive exhibits.
- Organizers aim to create an accessible, locally inspired celebration while expanding the show in future years.
We Come to This Place
Throughout the year, car enthusiasts have a plethora of events that they could attend where they can celebrate and express their love for cars with fellow enthusiasts. During warmer months, local cars and coffee events take place across America on any given Saturday or Sunday morning, gathering owners of cool vehicles and car nuts together. Thoughout the year, auto shows bring auto fans of all ages to gawk at the latest models in big city convention centers all over the country and all over the world. Meanwhile, destination events like Monterey Car Week and The Quail act as automotive pilgrimages that bring both budding car spotters and well-known collectors together.
While there are many automotive events that one may attend in their local area throughout the year, there are some big events that appeal to various interests and hobbies that one may see as a bucket-list event due to the travel needed to attend them. If you love geeky pop-culture stuff and superheroes, you might have the San Diego or New York Comic Con on your wish list. If you like anime and manga, it might be Anime Expo in Los Angeles, or the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Boston or Seattle if you like video games.
Although I have expressed an interest in attending some of the events I listed as examples, as a born and bred car enthusiast, there has been one show that I have had on my bucket list ever since I was a teenager perusing the internet. It’s called Rétromobile, a massive annual classic car show that turned 50 this year. Since 1976, classic car fanatics and automotive enthusiasts have flocked to Rétromobile to kick off the European classic car and auction season each winter. The last edition of the show earlier this year attracted over 181,500 visitors and played host to an auction that produced headline sales, like the Bugatti Chiron Profilée, which set a record for the most expensive new car ever sold.
There is only one thing about Retromobile that prevents me from going every year: it’s in Paris, a place that requires seeing airports and terminals in order to get to. However, all that is going to change this November, as Retromobile is expanding across the Atlantic with a new show in none other than my own stomping grounds: New York City. The first Rétromobile New York will take place at the Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan from November 19 to the 22nd, and will be highlighted with a Gooding Christie’s auction on the 20th and 21st. Earlier this month, I caught up with Gérard Neveu, the U.S. CEO of Rétromobile to find out what visitors should expect from the first edition, what drew Rétromobile to the US, and why he’s determined that for the New York show to be something unique from its French roots.
Retromobile
It Isn’t Paris in New York, but New York Inspired by Paris
If there is one thing that Neveu was quick to sidestep off the bat, it would be any comparisons of the upcoming New York show to the already-established Rétromobile that takes place in the winter in Paris.
“I always try to avoid any comparison between Paris and New York,” he said. “These are two different approaches, two different cultures.”
He likes the idea of being inspired by the Paris concept while adapting to the nuances of local culture — here, being the car cultures of New York City and the United States. He made clear that this was intentional, as a homogeneous Rétromobile experience would not be ideal.
“If it was the same around the world,” he said, “it would be sad.”
Still, the show shares plenty of DNA with its French parent. Visitors can anticipate the Javits floor filled with top brokers and dealers exhibiting some of the best classics in the world, alongside the kind of exhibitions that make Paris feel like more than a car show. They include a range of exhibitors that go beyond the cars and into the culture surrounding it. Craftspeople making and presenting driving gloves, clothing and other goods by hand, a gallery of automotive art, a classic watch gallery, and a private car gallery where owners bring their cars simply to show them. Neveau stressed that this show was for everyone; you don’t need to be a hardcore collector to walk the floor and enjoy it.
The floor of this year’s Rétromobile NYC is fully booked at roughly 400,000 square feet, with more than 300 cars and 100 motorcycles. Neveu already has the list in hand and doesn’t hide his confidence. “I know the floor,” he said, promising a catalogue that will be spectacular. He notes that he’ll have a floor of classics from private collectors; some of which had told him they’ll bring cars from as far away as California just to take part.
But, Why New York?
Neveu admits that before he committed to New York, people warned him it wasn’t a car city, but after some time in the city, he sees it differently. Unlike what he was told, he found that there was a sizable concentration of classic cars and collectors within a short distance of Manhattan. The other piece of the logic is a gap in the market. Manhattan has cars and coffee gatherings and large publicized events like the yearly auto show and Wheels of NYC, but Neveu says the city hasn’t had a true celebration of classic cars in decades.
Meanwhile, he argues, the city is more dynamic than it has been in a long time, with a large crowd of wealthy, culturally engaged people. Collectors have told him they’re delighted not to have to travel to Pebble Beach, Amelia Island or some other far-off destination to enjoy this kind of event. At the same time, Neveu was careful to describe where Rétromobile NYC sits relative to the more exclusive events on the American calendar in both timing and the people he wants to see.
Back in September, he attended The Bridge in the Hamptons; which he called an amazing event but a very selective one. It’s a niche gathering, he said, aimed at people who already own cars, not necessarily classics, and tickets aren’t cheap — that is, if you can get one at all. He sees it as a lovely way to close out the summer season, and many of the people he met there told him they plan to come to Rétromobile NYC as well. The show, in his words, is “multi-community.” General admission is $70, which puts it within reach of people who would never get into, or afford high-end concours shows like The Quail or The Bridge. Many people who love cars, he said, simply don’t get the chance to attend a collector event because the tickets are too expensive.
Retromobile
What’s on the Floor
Neveu walked me through several of the exhibitions, and they suggest the show is playing to its location. Rétromobile is collaborating with New York City’s own CART Department for an exhibition of art cars built entirely around New York artists at Rétromobile NYC. The cars on display will be unique artwork from the likes of Keith Haring, Basquiat and even the Maybach from the “Otis” video by Jay-Z and Kanye West. Then there’s the exclusive car gallery, a showcase of 20 cars from top American collectors, split across five automotive nations: the US, Germany, the UK, France and Italy. He describes these vehicles as cars you “can’t see on the corner of your street,” but, the kind you would normally have to travel to Pebble Beach, Amelia Island or The Bridge to see.
In addition, a partnership with the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles will bring four Fast & Furious cars to the city for the first time at Rétromobile NYC; an experience that would save a flight and trip to LA. Local collectors will round things out, including New Jersey owner Rob Ida, who is bringing out his GM Futurliner, along with other vehicles from motorcycle and car collectors from around the New York and New Jersey area.
Neveu says one of the biggest differences from Europe is how willing American collectors are to share their cars. European collectors and enthusiasts tend to be protective of their cars, he said, and owners of important collections “stay very shy, very quiet, very discreet.” However, in America, major collectors were not only accessible, immediately offered to bring one or two cars to the show. His reasoning is almost philosophical. Collectors are holding a car today, but before them it belonged to someone else, and after them it will belong to another.
Retromobile
“These cars have their own story,” he said. He likened it to art collecting. You can wake up every day, walk into your garage and enjoy your car, but other people can come and enjoy the pleasure of seeing it too.
One collector that reached out to Neveu and Rétromobile NYC was Jerry Seinfeld; one of America’s most prolific Porsche collectors. He said that he was ready to roll out the red carpet for the comedian and TV star, but he was shocked to find out that he wanted to showcase some of his cars. Seinfeld will be bringing three of his personal Porsches to the show, as well as a 1958 Volkswagen T1 Single Cab Pick-Up that he uses to transport some of the collection; a generous gesture he is doing because he’s “so happy to celebrate and share the moment with people who love cars.”
Neveu described American car collectors as “more collective, less individualist;” a mindset he traces back to how Americans grow up with cars. In Europe, when he was young, the first thing you did as an adult was buy a car, because it was the symbol of independence. “If I have my car, nobody can stop me.” In America, he said, that’s still the case, with people getting their driver’s licenses at 16. He conceded that in Manhattan, it’s more efficient to take the subway, but on weekends, “he doesn’t know any American who says they don’t like to drive.”
Retromobile
Room to Grow, and More
While there is a lot jam-packed into this year’s edition of Rétromobile NYC, Neveu notes that there are some things notably absent from the inaugural event. While the roots of American car culture is steeped in the tradition of fire-spitting V8 engines and Detroit power, there aren’t many hot rods, muscle cars or tuner cars on the show floor. He defends that he simply lacks the space this year, though he plans something to appeal to younger enthusiasts and wants to try a showcase of muscle cars next year. He isn’t opposed to it, he finds that many modern enthusiasts have the same passion for horsepower as the next person, no matter their vehicular interests.
However, Neveu is careful about expectations. Year one, he said, is about getting the foundation right, with the right buzz, the right excitement, and the right emotion for people who walk in. Next year, he wants to grow. He’s looking at around 500 cars, with roughly 25 percent more floor space, and says the show will keep growing at a similar rate the year after. Javits is big enough to handle it. Beyond that, he floated a dedicated floor for manufacturers’ heritage departments, which are growing, and a parts-and-memorabilia market in the spirit of the flea market at the Rétromobile in Paris.
Retromobile
But first, he said, comes learning. “Even if we believe that we know, we don’t know. We will know after the event.” That means learning from Javits and the local contractors, from exhibitors about how happy they were, and from visitors about what they wished for. In his view, he sees growing Rétromobile in New York as a long game, comparing it to another well-attended “must-see” event that takes place in New York City every year: the US Open, which he says “is probably the most beautiful tennis tournament in the world today, but wasn’t 25 years ago.”
“It took time,” he says, to get the tournament in Flushing Meadows from what it was when it started in a private Forest Hills tennis club, to a sporting event that commands sky-high resale prices.
As for the cars themselves, he says that there are so many collections, cars and stories in America, he has enough to fill the halls of the Javits Center for the next 10 years. “The challenge is to build it very well,” he said, so that exhibitors, visitors, sponsors and partners all walk away saying “wow” and can’t wait for next year.
About the author
James Ochoa
Senior Editor, Autoblog