Our review of the unique 2023 Salon Prive London

Salon Privé London 2023 took place from Thursday 20th to Saturday 22nd April. The event is now in it’s second year, and was once again held at the wonderful and beautiful Royal Hospital Chelsea. We attended on the Thursday, a day for media and VIPs.

All our photos from this wonderful car show can been seen on our Facebook Album, and we also took a lot of video content, which you can see on our YouTube channel in the coming weeks and months ahead, including our walk around the show if you did not have the chance to attend.

We’ve also published Top 10s from the show, which you can see here.

Anyway Salon Privé London is back and it was as great a show, as it was last year.  A lovely day out, at a lovely and historic venue (the beautiful lawns of Royal Hospital Chelsea), the weather again was glorious, beautifully sunny, if not the warmest, but then it is April and not July, so just pleased it was dry.  20 luxury brands and 24 classic car dealers were in attendance.  There were nine new car reveals.  The Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato (below) was sadly stuck on the wrong side of the channel so was a no show.  The Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato  (if you did not know) is a crazy mad Max off-road supercar that will be the last petrol engine Lamborghini that we see before they go hybrid.

Hats have to be tilted to the event organisers who always do a great job and get a great collection of cars on display and lots of premium brands to show their products.

Alongside the latest and greatest supercars on display, was the Concours de Vente – where over 70+ stunning classic cars were for sale, if you have very deep pockets, it has to be said. You can check out our favourite 10 cars from the Concours de Vente here. Here are a few of those beautiful cars that were on show, and for sale (see below).

This year’s Concours de Vente Prix d’Honneur winner was a 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 Vignale from Aston Workshop. It was commissioned by King Baudouin of Belgium and built by Italian coachbuilder Vignale. It also made my top 10. What a beautiful and unique looking car. It gripped my attention for sue.

The Class 1 winner, for cars up to £250,000, was a 1966 Maserati Sebring 3700 GTI from Graeme Hunt (below). Stunning, and we also loved it.

The Class 2 winner, for cars between £250,000 and £1 million, was a 1961 Maserati 3500 GT Vignale Spyder from Classic Motor Hub. Beautiful.

Meanwhile, Dylan Miles’ 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental (below) was the Pensioners Trophy winner.

The 2005 Maserati MC12 from Joe Macari was named the People’s Choice winner (below).

What ultimately stole this year’s show for me though was the beautiful 1960 Cegga 250 TR Sanction. Just look at it (below), beautiful.

More than 18,287 visitors throughout the three days, celebrity guests including F1 World Champion Jenson Button, TV star Richard Hammond and Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony Hamilton.

The Grand Tour star Richard Hammond bought real celebrity status to Salon Privé London, as he showcased the latest creation from his The Smallest Cog restoration business, a Chapron-bodied Delahaye. The firm is fresh from restoring it to its original colours, as chosen by 1930s motor racing hero Louis Chiron. “The event has been brilliant, full of stunning cars, stunning venue, and a stunning experience,” said The Smallest Cog team.

There was an unmissable gathering of the world’s finest cars and luxury brands – many cars debuting products in the UK for the first time. The debut cars that caught my eye were:

The new Maserati GranTurismo kicked off the new model launches on a sunny opening day at Salon Privé London 2023. The new car lined up alongside other models from the Italian premium brand’s range, including the new Maserati Grecale SUV and the Maserati MC20.

Super-luxury icon Rolls-Royce Motor Cars presented the new Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended for the first time, and the exciting electric Abarth 500e Scorpionissima (below) made its UK debut. An electric Abarth? Not for me personally, but cool nonetheless.

American hypercar and high-performance brand Hennessey revealed the new Venom F5 Roadster. Founder and CEO John Hennessey also flew in to announce a new partnership with H.R. Owen, with the new Hennessey London store officially launched at Salon Privé London. What a beast of a car. Just 30 Venom F5 Roadsters will be made, each priced at $3 million (£2.5m), and they’re already sold out. The coupé, also sold out, was priced from £2.1m (£1.7m). 

The Wiesmann Project Thunderball (below)was a thrilling new model that drew attention as the world’s first pure electric roadster. The 680bhp, €300,000 car already has a growing waiting list ahead of deliveries beginning in 2024 – with CEO and owner Roheen Berry describing Salon Privé London as “the perfect event for our UK public debut”.

Theon Design Co-Founder Adam Hawley pulled the covers off the new ITA001, a bespoke Porsche-based commission powered by a 400bhp 4.0-litre air-cooled flat-six engine.

The Porsche 911 964 Carrera 4-derived model (below) was seen for the first time at Royal Hospital Chelsea before imminently being shipped to Italy for its new owner to enjoy.

Also there was the Delage D12. 70 years after the last Delage car was produced (in 1953), the brand has been revived by a group of French billionaires, cars enthusiasts, and a technical team with an impressive background of 16 FIA World Titles (among which is F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve). After 5 years of work and development, this group has produced their first new Delage, a hypercar that compares to no other, named “D12” (keeping with the Delage tradition of using the “D” letter followed by the number of cylinders).

Its objective: providing the closest experience ever to driving a Formula 1 car on open road. The similarity to F1 cars, the D12 has been pushed beyond any other car before, with a carbon monocoque & crashbox (F1 technology), the F1 contractive suspensions (a world exclusivity), carbon wheels with brake cooling effect (a world premiere), a central position of driving (with passenger in tandem), a fighter-jet style opening canopy, and a tailor-made interior for each client.

With more than 1,000hp coming from its 7.6L naturally aspirated V12 coupled with a small electric engine, and a dry weight inferior to 3,000 lbs, active aerodynamics providing twice more downforce than the best current supercars ; performance and sensations reach an unseen level on a street-legal car. The D12 can also be easily converted by its owner into a Speedster or an “F1” (no windshield).

Only 30 of these ground-breaking cars will be produced.

For me I don’t see the point of this vehicle, it’s not really a car is it. What do you think?

One of the unique features of Salon Privé is the relaxed atmosphere, combined with an exclusive and intimate ambience. The organisers pride themselves on creating an event that is as much about the people as it is about the cars.

Lovers of luxury won’t be disappointed with their Luxury Shopping Village – featuring boats, helicopters, jewellery, perfumes, hats, fashion, motorcycles and more.

Tickets were on for sale at £50, with half-price entry for under 16s and free admission for under 4s. Family ticket £130, which I think is reasonable, for a wonderful and relaxed day out. We cannot wait for next year’s event.

As well as our walk about video we took man y more videos on the day, so please do check out our YouTube channel and subscribe, to see more from this event and more car related shows and stuff. If you did not make it this years Salon Privé London, then do try to make it to Salon Privé in September or next years Salon Prive London.

Event Director David Bagley said: “The atmosphere has been unforgettable throughout the event, and everyone has agreed that it’s great to be back in the capital for our second year at Royal Hospital Chelsea. Salon Privé London has delivered everything that you’d expect – superb cars, first-class hospitality and a prestigious location – and the unique Concours de Vente once again proved to be a huge success. With many new cars and luxury products being shown for the first time at Salon Privé London, there were no end of delights for our record-breaking attendance to enjoy.”

Attention now turns to the Salon Privé Concours d’Elegance at Blenheim Palace. Now in its 18th year, the globally renowned classic is a second-to-none experience and this year is held from 30 August to 2 September at Britain’s greatest palace. One of my very favourite car shows and I cannot wait.

Watch the quick Salon Prive London event highlights below put together by Salon Privé.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures and videos. Have you entered our competitions (like the below competition).

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