The stars of the Paris Motor Show… 1996: Where are they now?

Thursday, 6 October 2016

Ferrari went a bit old-school with the 550 Maranello. It's still a sought-after model today.

It's Paris Motor Show time at the moment. It's always a big one: but stardom is fleeting, don't you know? We take a look back at the Paris Show of 1996. And just to make it more interesting, we undertake a completely unscientific browse to see what you might pay for those stars in New Zealand today!

Ferrari 550

Nobody believed the Fiat Multipla was a real production car back in 1996. Many still don't.

Any new Ferrari is pretty much guaranteed to be a star of whatever show it appears at, but the 550 Maranello was a particularly special one. First revealed earlier in the year at the legendary Nurburgring circuit, the 550 was a radical move away from from the mid-mounted horizontally-opposed eight (or '180-degree V8' in pretentious Ferrari-speak) layout of the F512M it replaced, returning instead to Ferrari's traditional front-mounted V12 form. And what a V12 it was too; 5.5-litre and producing still-impressive 357kW of power and 568Nm of torque.

With its sleek, shark-like lines, the 550 was also a million miles away from the F512M's wide, angular and, lets face it, by that time very dated looks. Back in 1996 a 550 would have set you back around $400k. And now? Well, they don't pop up very often, but expect to shell out between $150,000 and $200,000.

Amazing what you can do with some old bits: tiny Ford Ka was a blast and became an instant classic.

Fiat Multipla concept

Concept cars are often wild and impractical efforts that indicate future design directions being considered by a company. So no-one really expected that Fiat was actually displaying a production-ready model when it revealed the 'concept' Multipla at the 1996 Paris show. Startlingly different and yet also impossibly practical, the Multipla was possibly the most polarising car of the 20th century. Those who loved them were almost obsessive, while those who didn't could barely hold down the contents of their stomachs when they saw one. Sadly (or, perhaps happily, depending on which camp you fall into) Fiat lost its bottle when it came to facelift time for the Multipla, and in 2004 it received a boringly conservative nose in order to help sales.

If you want a Multipla today, then the chances are you already have one. If not, expect to pay somewhere between $2000 and $4000 depending on year and condition.

Ford Ka

Stunning Pininfarina-penned Peugeot 406 coupe still looks good today.

Debuting Ford's 'New Edge' design that featured bold, intersecting lines, the tiny Ka was was also slightly divisive in the looks department. But because it was developed under Ford's legendary handling guru, Richard Parry-Jones, you couldn't argue that it was an absolute blast to drive. Okay, the platform was out of the existing Fiesta and the engine was pretty much the ancient, wheezy Kent engine that did duty in the Ford Anglia in the 1950s, but Ka was cheap, cute and huge fun to drive. Ford spun a convertible model (the StreetKa) and a sporty model (the SportKa) off it before replacing it in 2008 with a Fiat 500-based model that had none of the original's appeal.

A first-generation Ka from the mid-to-late 90s will now set you back the grand total of $1500-$2000. It would be worth every cent.

Boxster marked the beginning of Porsche's revival back in 1996. The model series is still key to the brand today.

Jaguar XK8

Making one of its earliest public appearances at the Paris show in 1996, the XK8 was an utter revelation from the then Ford-owned Jaguar. Replacing the elderly and stodgy XJS, the XK8 was the sleek, sexy grand tourer that the company desperately needed. It wasn't quite as entirely new as it looked, however. Underneath it was essentially still the XJS platform. What was very new though was the AJ-8 4.0-litre DOHC V8 engine that was only the fourth all-new engine in the company's history.

Volvo C70 caused a sensation at the 1996 Paris Show. Didn't age well, though.

Rather awesomely, an XK8 will now only cost you between $15,000-$20,000. But that's not counting what it might cost to keep it on the road.

Peugeot 406 coupe

Peugeot pretty much made sure it owned the local show in 1996 by unveiling the spectacular pretty coupe version of the 406. Built by Pininfarina, according to legend the design was offered to Ferrari first as an 'entry level' model. The Italian company turned it down, so the design house shopped it around.

This probably isn't true, but the 406 is a strangely popular option for sad people who like too turn them into Ferrari replicas. Fun fact: the windscreen angle is exactly the same as a Ferrari 360 Modena. They aren't easy to find these days, but if you do stumble across one, you should be able to get it for somewhere around $5000.

Porsche Boxster

Peugeot would have had the undisputed star of the 1996 Paris show if it wasn't for a German company showing off its first bespoke roadster since the legendary 550 Spyder. The Porsche Boxster was not only fantastically pretty and sublime to drive, it also kicked off the company's turnaround. Porsche had swallowed a massive amount off pride and asked Toyota to help it streamline production.

Much loved by purists and anyone who actually enjoys driving, the Boxster is an extremely affordable Porsche these days, with early examples selling for under $20,000.

Volvo C70

Coming a close second in the pretty-coupe stakes at the 1996 Paris show was the rather surprising Volvo C70. It was surprising because it saw Volvo throw away the ruler that it had previously used to design its cars. Or according to the company's then design chief, Peter Horbury: 'Volvo threw away the box, but kept the toy inside!' The C70 was also available as a convertible that suffered from severe scuttle shake and poor rigidity, so was a bit pants really. But the coupe was roundly praised by the motoring media at the time.

It hasn't really held its value terribly well. Between $5000-$6000 should easily get you one, with the convertible tending to go for around $1000 more. Bit of advice: it's really not worth it.