Travel: GALLERY: Journees d'Automne Is Vintage Paradise In Modern Times

GALLERY: Journees d’Automne Is Vintage Paradise In Modern Times

By Petrolicious
October 16, 2018

We’ve been keeping up with Journees d’Automne over the years as it’s grown from a get-together to an event that brings people across borders to attend, and the most recent edition of the weekend-long vintage driving tour showed more of the same, which in this case is only a good thing. There are plenty of classic car rallies to attend around the world in some guise or another, from the larger “take a week off work” stuff like the Tour Auto to the smaller stuff that isn’t publicized, like meeting up with a few friends on Sunday morning to catch up and go for a drive. There’s fun to be found in either form—the big country-crossing treks with hundreds of rare cars, or just keeping the local traditions going—but the sweet spot is probably somewhere in the middle.

Journees falls into this space, and while it brings out some serious metal in the form of cars like Bugatti 35s and Jaguar C-Types, there’s also a cadre of classics on the modern side of the equation, and it’s not everywhere that you’ll find a Ferrari 365GT4 BB flanking an Alfa Romeo Giulia SS in the parking area. The cars cover a lot of ground between pre-war open-wheel types and hot-rodded 911s, and they both fit the mission statement despite the spaces between their ages and purposes: the event is based not on one type or marque of car, and not just a passion for cars either, but a passion for using them. That’s why you’ll see people giving their old steeds the beans on the track portion of the weekend (which includes tours to historic locations outside of Paris, some time on track, and plenty of casual gatherings along the way), and you’re more likely to find owners adjusting carbs and wiping off bits of spent rubber rubbing specks of dust from freshly waxed paint for the tenth time of the day.

The event began with a group of friends and has since seen itself on a trajectory to rival the premiere European driving events thanks in large part to the mixture between high-quality sports cars and the attitudes possessed by the kinds of people who don’t mind adding miles to them. There’s no one correct way to enjoy your car of course, but if we had to put our chips down somewhere this is probably where we’d go: French countryside, brisk but sunny autumn air, an array of cars, and an excuse to drive them as intended.

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JoshuaCutts
JoshuaCutts
5 years ago

Could someone please tell me what the gorgeous black coupe is in the 20th picture. Thanks

Matthew Lange
Matthew Lange
5 years ago
Reply to  JoshuaCutts

TVR Vixen

Matthew Lange
Matthew Lange
5 years ago
Reply to  JoshuaCutts

Sorry TVR Grantura the slightly earlier version.

Matthew Lange
Matthew Lange
5 years ago

I’ve been going to Journees d’Automne for the last six years and this one IMHO was the best one yet. The weather (26C on Saturday and 25C on Sunday) certainly helped but most importantly what a great bunch of people and cars. I’m not sure there are many track events where you can see a Rolls Royce Ghost on the circuit!! Thanks to the organisers Etienne, Guillaume and the team for putting on such a great weekend.

P.S. the Blue Boxer flanking the Guilia SS is the rarer 365GT4 BB not a BB512 as stated in the text. It was a bit of a Boxer fest at the event as there were four examples there over the course of the weekend – none of them red too.

Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
5 years ago
Reply to  Matthew Lange

Hmm . Other than the ‘ Bug’ and the 365GTB4 it looks like a pretty mundane collection of cars lacking significance to me

Matthew Lange
Matthew Lange
5 years ago
Reply to  Matthew Lange

@Franz if you want to call an event that featured a Bugatti Type 35, a Type 39, A Tatra 87, Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, an ex works Mini Cooper that came third in Monte Carlo Rally, an Alfa Romeo 6C, TZ1 an SZ Coda Tronca and an ex Le Mans Deep Sanderson among others mundane that is your choice. I suspect 99.9% of gearheads would disagree with you though.

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