The show space had been truncated slightly this year, as there was no auction, replaced by a cars-for-sale area which included a Derby Bentley and a ’70 ’Cuda.

The fourth Geneva Classics celebrated 100 years of Audi, and 50 years since Aston Martin’s 1959 Le Mans win. In a slightly slimmed-down version of the quality show, which attracted a claimed 21,000 visitors, Audi was the only manufacturer to display, and so the slack was taken up by dealers and clubs. Roos Engineering, along with the JP Slavic Collection, pulled out the stops to display a superb Aston Martin line-up, including all the significant Le Mans runners since the DB 2/4 ‘VMF 64’ which finished third overall in 1951. This historic car is coming up for sale at RM in London on October 28.

Audi showed a step-by-step history of its cars from a 1911 A-type to the all-aluminium Spyder concept. This was headed by one of the V12 replicas on a road-race backdrop in front of period pictures, some from Donington in 1938 when both the Mercedes and Auto Union ‘silver arrows’ amazed British race fans.

Proving that retractable hardtops are nothing new, Peugeot showed a 1937 402 transformable Eclipse next to the latest 308. Boats are a regular feature of the show, and another centenary was that of Corsier Port, which has been looking after watercraft from the shores of Lac Leman since 1909.

Among the club displays were the Swisscar register with locally-bodied Porsches, Veteran Car Club Romand with a mixed line-up, seven Audi 100S coupés from Audi Club Schweiz, and a cute scooter/caravan combo from the Vespa Club. Even the Geneva police had a stand with a Saurer troop carrier and locally-made Motosacoche outfit. The show space had been truncated slightly this year, as there was no auction, replaced by a cars-for-sale area which included a Derby Bentley and a ’70 ’Cuda.

PalExpo is right on Geneva airport, and a feature of the show is the historic aircraft. This year, privately-owned ex-military craft were joined by both jets and helicopters from the Swiss army. Top prize in the tombola was a ride in the Mirage III as it left the airport on the Sunday afternoon.