Salon Prive - a Good Do

Salon Prive 2009 - a verygood 'do'

If ever I took my Dad out to an event and he enjoyed himself, he always said the same thing – “That was a good do. Thanks”. And so it is with Salon Prive – a ‘Good Do’, thanks.

And it really is. Yes, the price of entry is a somewhat eye-watering £125-200 (depending on when you go). Which does seem a hell of a lot of money for a car show. But you don’t get a car show in the normal sense. You don’t have a big, sweaty hanger crammed to the hilt with kids and dreamers, punctuated with huge queues to see the most prosaic of Hyundais. It’s more of a Garden Party that just happens to have some of the most expensive cars on the planet littered around the sumptious grounds.

But no one is precious about the cars. You can walk up to the new Rolls Royce Ghost or Aston Martin One-77 or new Jaguar XJ or the Morgan Aero or any of the cars on show; open up the door and climb in. No one minds. It really is as if you’re at friend’s garden party and he’s laid on a bit of entertainment. Not only that, but he’s laid on some tasty barbequed lobster and an endless supply of Champagne. And let’s face it, if you popped up the road to Chelse for a lobster lunch and a bottle or two of Champagne, you wouldn’t see much change out of a few hundred quid. So suddenly, the ticket price looks a bargain.

It is true that some of the more exotic car makers have given Salon Prive a miss. Which is a shame – more for them than us. No Ferrari; no Lamborghini; no Pagani. But you did get Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Maserati, Lotus, Maybach SLR, Tesla and Morgan. You also got to see a host of spectacular machinery from some of the more niche exotica like Veritas, Invicta, Aspid, Eagle and Vulca. The sort of cars you just don’t get at a ‘Regular’ car show. And of course you also get a mouth-watering display of Classic Cars at Salon Prive.

We’ll be doing a few more pieces on some of the less common exotica from Salon Prive in the next few days, but for now the gallery below has pictures of just some of the cars at this year’s Show. Pictures include the Aston Martin One-77, DBS Volante ,V12 Vantage, Aspid, Invicta S1, Lotus Evora, Maybach Zeppelin, Morgan Aero Supersport, Rolls Royce EX200, Tesla Roadster and the Veritas RSIII.