If you were traveling through L.A.’s San Fernando Valley on the first Sunday in November and experienced a sudden craving for a scoop of gelato, a double espresso, and a few puffs on a Gitanes, chances are you passed within spitting distance of the 2009 edition of the Best of France and Italy car show. With sunny skies above and a soundtrack which included French versions of Disney movie songs and the wail of fire engine sirens responding to a nearby brush fire purportedly sparked by a radio control aircraft mishap, hundreds upon hundreds of people jammed the lawn to gawk at row after gleaming (and not-so-gleaming) row of voitures and automobili, as well as cars that didn’t hail from France or Italy, but did have significant connections to one or both of the two nations. There were plenty of parts and automobilia dealers on hand, along with a dual citizenship’s worth of gastronomic delights. What could be more delightful than a car show with no less than five Facel Vegas?
Get ready for next year now. Find the Best of France and Italy here, and a molte bene gallery of event photos courtesy of Andy Takakjian and the SoCal Citroen Club.
Bumbeck, you are doing a hell of a job with this site. I look at it often and enjoy all that you put up on it. Give me a call sometime you loser….WJ
It makes me happy that it’s a new Multiplia instead of an O.G. – someone decided they needed one that badly that they were willing to go to all of the work to get one now, instead of waiting for it to be 25 years old.
Editor’s note: The France and Italy report was filed by man on the scene Tom Anderson, with additional imagery from Andy Takakjian and his hydro-pneumatic capstan drive camera.
I’ve seen the Giardina in Italy years ago. Neat to see one again…The Autobianchi I’ve seen before too.
Great looking D.B.! As the owner of several D.B.’s and several 356’s, I would disagree that the French car is the anti-Porsche. They were both “giant killers” in their era, just with a little different attitude.