Rétromobile NYC Will Bring The Wonderful Emotions Of The World's Best Car Show To America

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Three years ago I took a weeklong vacation to Paris with a bunch of my friends, with the trip being centered around going to Rétromobile, the annual classic car show that had been on our bucket lists for ages. I had hyped up Rétromobile a lot in my head, and it was even more magical than I hoped, to the point that I still gush about it to anyone who will listen. Inside the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles was the best variety of cars I've ever seen at any sort of car event, the whole of Monterey Car Week included, all displayed in an accessible way to the public. (All the photos in this story are from that trip in 2023, just to give you a taste.) Beyond just the cars, though, Rétromobile was incredible because of the enthusiasm of the attendees, and the giant hall full of vendors selling art, books, models, memorabilia, and car parts — everything from vintage Citroën gauge clusters to a whole booth filled with just McLaren F1 parts.

Rétromobile has been held in Paris since 1976, traditionally kicking off classic car show season (and auction season), and now fifty years later, this November, it's expanding with a second event on a new continent. The inaugural Rétromobile New York will be held at the Javits Center in Manhattan from November 19-22, with Gooding Christie's hosting an auction on the 20th and 21st. I hopped on the phone to speak to Gérard Neveu, Rétromobile's U.S. CEO (and formerly the FIA WEC's CEO), who promised that while Rétromobile in NYC may not have the same scale or scope as its Parisian counterpart in its first year, there is a ton to look forward to.

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When the Rétromobile team first started thinking about another country to host an event in, the U.S. was the first and only place that came to mind, especially because of how ingrained car culture is here. "Where [do we want] to bring Rétromobile? In the place you can find the biggest community of fans, the place where you're sure that you will have a lot of people having interest and passion, where there are so many stories to tell," Neveu said. "You can have your driver's license before you have the right to vote. I mean, we consider you independent and free the day you have your car or your motorcycle."

"When I arrived to say 'OK, we would like to set up Rétromobile in America' it was just for a single reason: because we strongly believe that the biggest stage in the world for car collectors is the United States," Neveu said. Name recognition was immediately a problem, as aside from a limited number of real enthusiasts and experts, Americans hadn't really heard of the show before. "This is totally new for them, so we need to install the brand, we need to install the story. We need to make it happen."

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Rétromobile in Paris is already in the middle of winter, so they didn't want to host the U.S. one then, and the spring and summertime are dominated by other major industry events like Goodwood Festival of Speed and Monterey Car Week, so the fall was chosen. They quickly landed on an east coast city, partially because it's logistically a lot easier for people and brands from Europe to bring their cars and products over. Miami was considered, but Neveu said "it's more a car scene, but not a car culture place."

There are some great classic car events in New England and other parts of the east coast, but nothing in New York City, another reason to host the show there. "When I came to New York city, people told me, 'be careful, this is not a car city,' but as soon as you get out of the city, there is such an amazing number of car collectors and owners, and they really enjoy it. So I said, 'I'm sorry guys, this is really a car city. Manhattan is not a car district, but clearly in and around New York people have a real interest for the cars.'"

Just as the Paris show is an easy event to center a vacation around, like I did with my friends, Rétromobile NYC should be just as appealing, another reason the city was chosen. "Everybody's happy to spend a few days in New York because you can find so many different things to do at the same time," Neveu said. "If you have passion for the art, the fashion, the shopping, whatever you want. There is a connection between design, arts, culture, all together in the same place. This is what we call a real destination."

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In addition to the automakers, brokers, dealers, auction booths, car clubs, automotive associations and other official groups that will have stands, Neveu said there will be many special exhibitions, including one with art cars. Not only will the art cars be on display, but they'll be joined by other works of art from the artists. The Paris show has around 400 exhibitors; the first NYC show will have over 100, with the aim to have closer to 200 next year.

At the Javits Center, everything is on the same floor, instead of the Paris Expo where there are multiple floors and separate halls. Neveu said that organizing an event like this in America is quite different (and more difficult) because we have so many more laws and unions and regulations that must be followed. "Somebody wants to sit down in the alley and eat a sandwich, it's impossible. In France this is a different thing," Neveu joked.

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Because the rules and culture are different, they aren't trying to exactly copy the Paris show. "But what we want to do, which for me is essential, very important, is to make sure that you don't have to be a millionaire to enjoy automobiles," Neveu said, mentioning how events like Pebble Beach are extraordinarily hard to get into for regular people. "If you are not a specialist or if you are not a rich person, you can't go there. It's too difficult. In Rétromobile that's exactly the opposite. We try to go in front of the people and say, 'come on, this is accessible for you.'" To that end, general admission tickets are $70, which really isn't bad considering what you'll get to see. For comparison's sake, general admission Pebble Beach tickets were $495-$650 this year, depending on when you bought them.

"You will discover amazing cars, amazing things that you can't see in the corner of your street every morning. But not only very expensive cars — it has to be a car or a motorcycle or a truck that has a story to tell," Neveu said. "This is the most important thing for me. It's not only a question of money." Some people come to shows like this looking to buy cars or make investments, but Rétromobile is more about the passion.

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That's not to say there won't be a lot of cars for sale. Neveu said top brokers like Fiskens, Mark Hyman, Girardo & Co, and Joe Macari are all signed up to bring some of their best offerings. "These people, they are looking for the good clients, and the fact is that in New York, you have a concentration of rich people that you can't find anywhere else in America, except probably California and Miami."

As far as the Gooding auction goes, Neveu said he already knows what will be presented, and it will be very impressive. Other auction houses are already primed for future years, too. Artcurial, Bring A Trailer, Broad Arrow, Mecum and RM Sotheby's will all have booths displaying cars that will be sold at each houses' upcoming auctions in other places, and Neveu said his dream is for them all to host auctions in the city during Rétromobile week. "The community of people having interest to buy or sell a car, they will be in the same place around the same time. If that happens, it will just be a reinforcement of the long-term visibility for Rétromobile."

Rétromobile Paris' auctions have seen some absolutely mega sales, from coachbuilt classics and 1960s racers to modern things like the Bugatti Chiron Profilée that set the at-the-time record for the most expensive new car ever sold the year I went. I'm sure NYC could see even rarer and more valuable cars eventually cross the block.

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There won't be a flea market hall this year, but Neveu said it's something he wants the show to feature next year. That's partially why Javits was chosen as the location, because it's gigantic enough that the show can easily expand its footprint in subsequent years. Neveu didn't want to have to find a new location a few years down the line, so they needed an indoor place that could host such a logistically challenging event. "It's a very difficult show to set up, to be honest," Neveu said, "when you have to enter 300 cars in two days, especially these types of cars, this is very tricky."

"We are starting to learn how the American process is, how Javits is running, how it works with the unions, the contractors, the people, the regulations. It's very fascinating. So we develop, we develop, we develop." Neveu said they're working with American partners to help put on the show, like the Revs Institute. "We need to go step by step and grow up. Year one was not to do the quantity, but to do the quality."

One big difference between planning the U.S. event and the French one is that Americans are much more eager to put their cars on display. "We found a lot of big collectors who said 'Gérard, if you want, I'm very happy to bring my car and to share my car for the people to see,' and I say 'Wow, it's so cool!'" Neveu talked about how in France, collectors and people who own more expensive cars are typically very quiet and shy, and they don't usually want to put their cars on display at events. Us loud Americans, meanwhile, want to show off our cool stuff even if there's nothing to gain from it, like awards at a Concours d'Elegance.

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Neveu said not to expect Rétromobile NYC to be quite as spectacular as the Paris event, at least not at first. "The baby is just born. Don't ask him to make a record in the 100 meters, he is just learning to walk," he said. "The idea is to grow up year after year, to cook, but with the American taste, not the French taste."

That doesn't mean it won't still be incredible. "I think that Rétromobile is more than a car show. It's a celebration of the beauty of automotive. We are not speaking only about the value of the car, but the life and beauty of the car. There are many cars that you can find in Rétromobile that would not be a problem for me to put in the middle of my house," Neveu said. I have to agree — more than anything else, cars really are art.

"The only thing we try to do is capture the same emotion. And emotion is the most important. I'm not doing a car show; a car show is to buy your car that you will use with your family in the street. What I'm trying to do is find a place that you enter and you feel an emotion," Neveu said as he mimicked gasping upon seeing an amazing car. I did the exact same thing truly hundreds of times during my two days at Rétromobile Paris, so if the NYC edition is even a fraction as good, there will be emotion in spades.