Royal Party at the Palace of Versailles

 Sunday 18^th April 2004 was a very special day for 70 lucky traction owners.  At the invitation of Eric Massiet du Biest they attended a 70^th Anniversary meeting within the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.  Eric is well known for his memorable Globe-Driver and Tracbar events, and to get permission to organise this special day was a considerable achievement.  News of the event spread quickly, and applications to attend soon flooded in.  A strict limit of 70 cars was set, and Eric selected tractions of virtually every model and every year, and which represented as many clubs and countries as possible.  However there was a reserve list and several cars were on standby in case any cars dropped out.

Three “équipages” and their cars went from England - Graham Pitcher & John Gillard in Graham’s 1954 Normale, Allan & Jan Reece with their 1955 Normale and Robin & Sue Dyke with their 1953 Light 15.  We met at the Channel Tunnel early on the Saturday morning and drove in convoy to Versailles in fine weather.  Three Belgian crews were just ahead of us and we all stayed at the same hotel - just 100 metres from the Palace.  Walter & Noëlla Callens (also TOC members) took their 1934 7B on a trailer, and their convoy included a 1955 Légère and a 1952 15-Six.  Most of the cars came from France, but there were other tractions from Italy, Germany, Holland, Luxembourg and two more from Belgium.  One of these being the splendid 1940 Big 15 roadster that Fred Annells had restored so well.  This and Robin’s Light 15 were the only right-hand drive Slough built cars.

On the Sunday the 70 tractions were lined up in a chevron format in the cobbled Place des Armes in front of the main Palace gates.  To say that it rained would be something of an understatement.  The crews were treated to breakfast and tours of the Palace and the Coach Museum.  Then wearing security badges all 70 tractions drove in convoy into the Palace grounds via the Sailor’s gate.  A main feature of the gardens is the Grand Canal - laid out like an enormous plus sign.  We parked in a long line at the side of one arm, and had a very Gallic lunch at La Flotille restaurant.  Jonathan Howard joined us for the day, but his Commerciale stayed parked outside with the reserves.

It was around the canals that original publicity photos were taken in 1934.  So in the afternoon we drove in a very slow procession around the whole canal complex, stopping for photos.  For most of us a quick snapshot was all that was required, but the crews with the oldest cars wanted to replicate the photos at the exact places.  Some crews had dressed in 1934 costumes, and the ladies looked especially attractive.  The stars of the day were the four musqueteers - Pietro Turchi’s 1934 7A, Walter Callens’ 1934 7B, Roger Brosselin’s 1934 7C, and Guy Loos’ 1934 7S.  You can see the original and new photos on Jérome Collignon’s website, and other reports and photos are available on the websites listed below.  The final photo was of all 70 cars arranged in curved ranks around the Horseshoe Basin near the Grand Trianon.  Finally we were treated to a reception in the Orangerie.  The weather was against us throughout the day, and so it was hard to take good photos.

But it certainly was a day to remember, and our thanks go to Eric and his team of helpers.  On Monday the weather was fine and we drove back in convoy to the Channel Tunnel.

http://tractionavant1934.site.voila.fr/traction_avant_versailles_1.html

http://www.globe-driver.com/versailles2004/indexGB.htm

http://www.sctel-france.com/traction-universelle/

http://www.tractionavant7a.net/main_eng.htm