The Mondial de Paris, the Genesis
The Mondial de Paris, as it has been known since 1988, opens to the public October 4. Besides the hundreds of exciting world premieres and more than one million visitors, what makes it still so important? Consider this, the Mondial de Paris was the first recognized automobile show and... It is still very much alive!
On June 15, 1898, l’Exposition internationale d’automobile, du cycle et des sports, as it was called by its sponsor the Automobile-Club de France (ACF), was inaugurated by a markedly indifferent President of the republic. But, the first real automobile show was about to make waves...!
The 1898 show received 140,000 visitors (by contrast Montreal hosts approximately 230,000) jostling to see 269 exhibitors and 230 vehicles from 77 car builders, mostly French, such as Peugeot, Daimler, Benz, Delahaye, De Dion Bouton, Decauville, Mors, Panhard et Levassor, etc. In only three weeks the show and automobilism conquered Parisians. In fact, the Figaro of July 4, 1898, a Parisian daily reporting on the closing banquet, enthusiastically wrote, albeit on the last page: The banquet, a warm-hearted and cordial affair, included numerous toasts gratifying the future of this new found locomotion who in mere days found its rightful place in keeping with previous manifestations and efforts put forth bby the Automobile-Club of France . The success of what became the following year a tradition, was assured.
By allowing participation only by those manufacturers whose vehicles had successfully completed the return trip to Versailles, about 40 kilometres, the ACF, the first automobile club born in 1895, was right on target. The public could now admire vehicles that had proven their worth, not merely noisy and smelly mechanical contraptions. The seed was planted; it was now possible to dream of exciting journeys onboard vehicles that were no longer simple curiosities.
But why Paris, or even France for that matter? At the time, France was the leader in the world of automobiles. The first recognized automobile competition, a reliability trial between Paris and Rouen, took place in 1894. The winner of the event was a certain Albert De Dion, one of the founding members of the prestigious Automobile-Club de France. Shortly after this event, France organized the first great race, the Paris – Bordeaux – Paris of 1895. Peugeot won the event after the first place car was disqualified. The craze for automobilism and auto racing was growing. And, France was a virtual bee hive of automobile activity at the end of the century.
More than 80 editions later, from the jardin des Tuileries, location of the first shows, to the famous Grand Palais, its home from 1901 to 1961 and on to its present location, the Parc des expositions, where it became biennial in 1976, the passion and the dream are still intact.
And for that, automobile show aficionados everywhere owe it an homage. So, in this period of the Mondial de Paris, have a little thought for the eldest member of a very prestigious and select club of traditional international automobile shows.
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