7 Cars to Watch at Artcurial’s Retromobile Auction

Today it's often difficult to convey to a new generation of 4x4 enthusiasts just how important of an event the Camel Trophy was in the 1980s and 1990s for Land Rover and 4x4 off-roaders in general. And more than two decades later it's clear that its demise left a niche that hasn't quite been filled by anything else since.

This year Artcurial will offer a 1997 Land Rover Discovery 300 TDi from that same year of the event, which took place in Mongolia. This particular example is one of just 20 Discovery models prepped at the factory for the 1997 edition of the rally, and was crewed by a team from Romania.

The Disco comes with a lot of branded extras, including a kayak and two mountain bikes, as well as off-road gear including storage boxes, a winch, roof rack, rubber mats, and seat covers, among others. With 83,453 kilometers (51,855 miles) on the clock, this is said to be one of the lowest mileage Camel Trophy 4x4s in private hands and should attract no shortage of bidders. Artcurial estimates this Discovery to bring between 30,000 and 50,000 euros on auction day, or $32,714 to $54,524.

It wouldn't be a Retromobile auction without a few Citroen SMs on offer, with the futuristic coupe having finally broken into the collector car limelight about 10 years ago. Now, concours restorations of surviving examples are commonplace, but this is a relatively new phenomenon.

Artcurial will offer a restored European-market example from 1972 at its Retromobile auction this month, originally sourced from the south of Sweden. That's where this SM resided from 1977 until 1998, by which time it had acquired a condition the auction house calls "decrepit." A restoration by an SM specialist in Sweden in 2016 gave it a number of new body panels, sourced from unused new old stock, and repainted in the original Vert des Tropiques color. The mechanicals have been restored as well, while a new interior was sourced just for this car—an expensive undertaking considering just how few parts cars are left.

The auction house now estimates this SM to bring 80,000 to 120,000 euros ($87,235 to $130,857) which is near the top of the market, but perhaps only partially addresses the cost of the restoration itself.

A model rarely seen on this side of the Atlantic, the De Tomaso Longchamp paired a 5.7-liter Ford V8 with a styling Italian suit, offered in coupe and cabriolet form. The result was something that looked a lot like the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class of the era, and not by accident. This month Artcurial will offer one of these rare cabriolets, which is said to be one of just two examples that featured thin aluminum bumpers, as opposed to thicker ones with rubber elements.

This Longchamp cabrio was restored in 1997 and 1998 and repainted from a darker brown to a lighter metallic shade, in addition to gaining a Nardi steering wheel. The auction house estimates this example to bring between 150,000 and 200,000 euros, or $163,572 to $218,095, which is certainly toward the top end for this model that is quite rare even in Europe.

Artcurial regularly offers numerous artifacts from the Group B homologation era from just about every automaker, including the French marques. This year is no different, with the auction house gearing up to offer the four-wheel-drive Turbo Competition Citroën BX 4TC. This Group B fighter paired a turbocharged four-cylinder with all-wheel drive, with just 200 originally produced, and very few remaining.

The auction house indicates the consignor bought this car from a Citroen employee in 1988, and has only used it occasionally since, mostly in the Paris and Orleans regions. So unlike many of its contemporaries, it has not seen any competition, and currently shows just 37,115 kilometers (23,062 miles) from new. The car is said to be unrestored and original, including the paint.

Artcurial estimates this Group B homologation hatch to bring between 80,000 and 120,000 euros ($87,235 to $130,857) on auction day. It would be difficult to find another in this condition, to put it mildly, since so many of these were used up in various rallies over the years.

Peugeot and Citroen weren't the only French marques with executive sedans in the 1980s. Renault had the 25, which in turbocharged V6 flavor could take on the other fighters of the day in this segment. Artcurial will have just one such car on offer this month, when a 1992 example in Turbo V6 Baccara trim crosses the auction block at Retromobile, with this example showing just 3780 kilometers (2348 miles) on the clock.

The auction house reports this example hails from the Renault Management garage, with the Baccara trim offering grey leather with blue piping. This model hails from the last year of production, and was added to the Renault Classic collection on 15 November 1995. The auction house estimates this example to bring between 15,000 and 25,000 euros, or $16,357 to $27,262, on auction day, and should be one of the lowest mileage examples of this model and trim.

Clubsport versions of the Porsche 928 are exceptionally rare, with just 27 examples produced, four of which were prototypes. But this month Artcurial will offer one such example, featuring aluminum parts, thinner magnesium wheels, a lighter exhaust system, and fewer comfort features—all designed to shave 100 to 120 kilograms from the curb weight of the 928. Out of the 27 examples produced just 15 were offered to private buyers, and this is indeed one of them, and the only one in forest green metallic with a beige interior.

This example was bought new by Porsche engineer Bernd Kahnau, who worked on the 911 Speedster, the 924 GTS, and the 928 itself, having joined the automaker in 1979. The car now shows about 120,000 kms (74,564 miles), and received a respray in 2019 amid an otherwise original condition.

The auction house estimates this rare 928 Clubsport to bring between 320,000 and 400,000 euros this month, or $348,953 to $436,191, which should sound about right to Porsche enthusiasts. With so few examples having come up for auction in recent years, this Clubsport should inspire plenty of bidding.

AMG-tuned Mercedes models from the 1990s may seem easy enough to find stateside, but in reality North America only got a small selection of very mainstream models from Affalterbach. This month Artcurial will offer something far rarer from the tuner, when a 1994 Mercedes-Benz E60 rolls across the auction block. Based on the already aggressive E500, the E60 features a 6.0-liter AMG M119 V8 that, along with a reworked exhaust system and a host of other tweaks, has been tuned to produce 381 hp. The modifications include a bodykit of AMG's own design, in addition to 17-inch Oz Racing Aero III wheels, while the interior features two-tone Mercedes Code 958 special Limited Edition upholstery on the doors and dash.

This E60 is one of just 45 examples produced by AMG to E60 specification, which makes it far rarer than what was offered stateside in subsequent years, and features a number of custom details only present on AMG models from the early 1990s. The auction house indicates this sedan spent most of its life in Japan, between 1995 and 2020. Service over the past 10 years was not on the frugal side, with the car accumulating $30,000 in service bills. Artcurial estimates this E60 to bring between 145,000 and 165,000 euros, or $158,119 to $179,929 on auction day, which reflects the rarity of these early AMG cars.

Visit the auction website to view the full list of lots.