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Photography
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Saturday, October 4, 2008 – Nuit Blanche Plus
Our Man in Paris, Ric Erickson, editor of MetropoleParis, shows us around the Paris Automobile Salon – the annual car show there – which coincided this year with Nuit Blanche (literally "white night" or colloquially "all-nighter" or used to mean insomnia, the annual all-night cultural festival.
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Paris, Saturday, October 4 - Everybody is freaking about the economy and the melting poles and poison food and the disappearing squiggly spider and the wars here, there, and everywhere, and I must not forget the pirates - the real ones, who go out on the high seas and hijack passing zillionaire sailors to hold for ransom just like in the old days of the Barbary Coast. Where are those Marines when Montezuma needs them?
In this town our supreme leader is having a meet with the other European economic honchos, to try and come up with a rescue plan that will make him as popular as John McCain. My hearing went off as they were saying what Angela Merkel had decided that they should do. The Germans may not have those hard Deutsche Marks any more but the European Bank sits in their country. Disinflation is not, is never, on their menu.
Meanwhile the folks, worried, are going about their business of enjoying the Circus of the Week, with a bonus this week of having a twofer - the opening of the Automobile Salon this morning and Nuit Blanche tonight. What better way to waste Saturday than to ride the métro to Paris Expo to see the world's latest tin on wheels?
We have already seen a lot on the TV-news. For example, Ford is threatening to close one of their plants here - one that makes auto transmissions for big North American Fords - so the first thing new I heard in the big number one hall, near the Fords in fact, was some weird chanting. It sounded like rugby fans. For all I know the game of the century is on tonight. The opera in the Stade de France was last weekend.
Ford has been making some clean-looking cars in Europe for the past several years. When the Ka first came out it reminded me of a '36 Ford coupe, considerably shrunk, and without a V-8. Europe is smaller than America. Ford still makes the Ka - in Poland I think, at the same factory that makes the new Fiat 500. In fact the Fiat 500 might be a Ka, made with Italian PR. Then the Italians will put some Abarth speed shit on them and everything will be okay again. Arriba Italia!
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The big news this year is not about the electric cars and the normal cars that go 200 kph on a thimble of gas - they are a dime a dozen - but Alfa Romeo. This company has got a copyright on the color red, and the world's exclusive right to make sporty cars for everybody who can't afford a Ferrari. It's a lucky thing they are the same company because the Ferraris look like expensive trickshit and the Alfas look like cars that can get you arrested even when they are parked.
In other words, they are kind of old fashioned. All the other sporty cars look like sling-back high-heel shoes, with windows totally unsuited for eating in drive-ins unless you order ultra-grilled grilled cheese sandwiches. In an Alfa you can wind the window down, affix the drive-in speaker, and the chickie on the rollers can hook on the burger tray with ease. Of course this won't work because when she gets close to the red paint - looks like metallic candy-apple - she'll swoon for sure.
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I did look at the new Ferrari roadster. So did all - I mean all - the other folks. They come in from wherever they come and the first thing they want to see is the Ferrari, before they go look at the cheapo Renault or Peugeot they might buy, unless they're riding around nearly free on the city's bikes. They were mobbing the Ferraris. All I remember about it was that it had to make do without Alfa's red, choosing to be cool instead of hot, hot, hot.
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Then I checked out the Fiat 500. I have switched my allegiance back to the original 500. The new one is too plump. And the Abarth racing junk does not do anything for it - hey Fiat, take a look at Alfa! However, Fiat does have the biggest Fiat 500 on the planet, without wheels. I mean, they just couldn't come up with 45-inch wheels on time for this show. It was so big I'm surprised they weren't trying to flog condos in it.
Then I walked around the Renault, Peugeot and Citroen stands, each the size of a football field, with steps up, balconies, private clubs, hostesses, down slopes - oh wow, some of those hostesses were wearing fancier duds than they are currently showing at the frock shows. When shooting the Abarth the bird was worried she messed up the photo of the car. No honey, you gotta be in it. You're more racy than any old Abarth any day!
The hostesses and the Alfas, that was about it. I kept going but the crowds kept coming. It was hard to tell if there was anything worth looking at, at BMW, at Mercedes, at VW. The worst was Audi. From a balcony I couldn't see one new car. All I could see was folks. All the people that can afford Merc sedans are going for Audi's A3. Look kids, now you're gone, we got a pocket luxo wagon! None of that cheap looking Volkswagon GTI junk. And dads were wandering over to Skoda to get an ersatz A4 or a Passat on the cheap.
I got out of there dreaming about Alfa Romeo, hit the métro and rode over to Denfert and the Monoprix to get a grapefruit. The TV-news showed Sarko ignoring Angela, and there was DSK, our very own French guy at the IMF. He said this nonsense has got to stop or we'll all be in the shit. Tell that to Ford, and the guys from the factory that were hooting around the car show.
After the TV-news I went down to Montparnasse, to the terrace beside the tower were some Nuit Blanche lights were set up, pointing at somewhere in the sky, bouncing off low clouds. The lights were in a shoulder-high maze full of people who like mazes with lights pointing at the sky. It was a pretty stunning experience for about a minute and a half. After 90 seconds I went to the other end of the terrace, overlooking the big place where Rennes hits the boulevard. It was Saturday night in Montparnasse, which is like Nuit Blanche 52 times a year. Like an Alfa that you can drive even when it's pissing rain.
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Note - Photo Nuit Blanche - view straight up, with Tour Montparnasse almost visible on left side. The 2-CV is outfitted by Hermés, is also 60th anniversary of the 2-CV. I should have added the photo of the giant Fiat 500, but hell, there's Nuit Blanche.
- Ric
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Text and Photos Copyright © 2008 - Ric Erickson, MetropoleParis
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[Nuit Blanche Plus] |
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All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik
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