Pipe show: the Belgian marque's scene-stealing Paris display

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A couple of years ago, we showed you an extraordinary Pipe (pronounced ‘Peep’) at the Salon de l’Automobile in Paris in 1910. Let’s return to the subject with another Pipe picture taken at the same salon, although a few years earlier, in 1903.

Now, that is a flashy display, as eye-catching as the Moulin Rouge, we think! There's certainly a lot to see here, balconies, floating roofs, stairs, pillars, curtains. It wouldn't surprise us if that thing in the middle was in fact a barrel organ! And where are the can-can dancers? Oddly, there appear to be advertisements for other cars, too: we see signs for De Dion-Bouton and also for Automobiles Gautier. Are the cars on display even Pipes?

Also interesting is the promotion for what has to be the company’s British agent, prominently written out on the display façade: "The London Motor Garage Ltd., 33-37, Wardour Street, Londres." Apart from Pipe, they were also dealers for Mercedes-Simplex, Magnet, Charron and Lanchester cars, we have found—another eclectic mixture of cars which would fit in well with the lavish boudoir style of this stand.

Words: Jeroen Booij; picture: Passionnés d'automobiles et de carrosseries de fabrication Belge
 

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