
We have been here many times before – Carre d'Or shopping center outside Perpignan in France. On the first Sunday of each month, the parking area is used for a car meeting - in the same spirit as Cars and Coffee. Here you can brush up on your car knowledge with cars you may only see once in your life.

Maserati or Dodge?
My wife is on the trip and she really likes Maserati because of the tasteful interiors with the Maserati monogram embossed into the leather headrests. Sometimes we talk about what we would buy if we won the Lotto - for example 130 million or something like that. As we stroll among the cars on display on the Carre d'Or, she asks me which car I would buy if we won the lottery. I'm not sure, though Maserati Gran Turismo is a good candidate. I'm not going to drive fast, and I'm not going to impress anyone. I just want a pleasant atmosphere out on the road. A little further away stands one Dodge Challenger SRT with the Hemi V8. But the interior of the Challenger is far less exclusive than the Italian. Then it also costs "only" a third of what you have to pay for a new Maserati Gran Turismo - but maybe that doesn't mean much when you've won the lottery?


Backdated
I only needed to take a quick glance across the space where the Porsches were lined up to discover the finest of them all. It is a 1987 model "backdated" - a restomod with modern technology and the classic, original Porsche look.

Panhard Dyna X
The first model after the war had an aluminum body and a 2-cylinder air-cooled engine - which would eventually become a common concept for subsequent models.
On two wheels in the turn
We had the pleasure of driving behind a Citroen Ami Break on the way to the meeting. It was wonderful to see how it rocked and dove on the road, especially on the roundabouts. My wife thought the car was going to overturn with the two guys on board. A few decades ago, the car journalists speculated whether the Citroens could topple over. They don't. The car sways and tips, but the wheels are planted to the ground the whole time.


Alpine V6 Turbo
The model was developed after Renault took over Alpine. The cars are built in fiberglass on a tubular steel frame with a V6 engine in aluminium, based on the so-called PRV engine. The Alpine GTA could be delivered with two engine choices, – V6 GTA with 160 HP and V6 turbo with 200 HP.