Salon Privé London 2026 Videos!

Walkaround, American Muscle Mayhem & Unfiltered Car Talk

The 2026 Salon Privé London served up a heady mix of million-pound classics, modern hypercars, and boutique builders. I spent the day there capturing the spectacle, the engineering, and the honest conversations that happen when petrolheads find themselves surrounded by awesome cars.

The Walkaround – £800,000 Cars and the Soul of Motoring

The first video features a £780,000 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost casually sitting on the lawn like it’s waiting for a Tesco run. A Maserati Ghibli nudging £800,000. Bentleys, Ferraris, Aston Martins… all lined up like a billionaire’s shopping list.

But what really struck me wasn’t just the value. It was the variety.

You’ve got:

• Pre-war icons that look like they belong in a museum
• 60s and 70s classics that still drip with charisma
• 80s and 90s heroes that defined entire generations
• And modern hypercars… that, oddly, don’t always hit the same way

And that’s where things get interesting. Because somewhere between the Bugattis, Veyrons, and Enzos, I found myself thinking something slightly controversial…

They’re impressive. Undeniably so. But do they stir the soul in the same way as a Countach, a Testarossa, or a proper analogue machine? Nah, not always.

There’s something about older cars. The smell, the noise, the imperfections. They demand more from you. They reward you more in return. At Salon Privé, surrounded by all this automotive wealth, it’s the cars with character that keep pulling you back in.

American Muscle at Salon Privé – Loud, Proud and Properly Bonkers

Then there was the Clive Sutton stand… which, frankly, felt like someone had dropped a slice of Detroit right into the middle of Chelsea.And thank goodness they did.

This wasn’t about subtlety. This was about power, presence, and unapologetic excess.

Front and centre:

• An 800bhp supercharged Mustang Dark Horse, dripping in carbon fibre and attitude
• A 1,064bhp Corvette ZR1, which sits firmly in hypercar territory while costing a fraction of the usual suspects
• Beautifully built Eleanor Mustangs, blending nostalgia with usability
• A Cobra continuation and Shelby muscle, bringing old-school brutality into the modern age

Set against the impeccably manicured lawns of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, it felt like a group of heavyweight lifters had gatecrashed a champagne garden party, flexing unapologetically while everyone else politely sipped their Darjeeling.

These American cars stirred a deep nostalgia in me, taking me back to my days in the Middle East, roaring around in tarmac-churning V8s. They’re not subtle, they’re not smart, and they’re certainly not shy. It’s all about raw performance, noise, and theatre. And in a world where many modern supercars are becoming increasingly sanitised, that counts for a lot.

Even more interesting is the shift happening in the UK market. With official GM imports now on the table through Clive Sutton, cars like the Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Suburban are no longer grey-market curiosities. They’re legitimate, supported, and increasingly desirable. If a tad oversized for our roads, mind you.

And that Corvette ZR1? At £400,000, you can look at it two ways. It’s either outrageous money for a Vette, especially at four times the price of a regular C8. Or… it’s a bit of a performance bargain, delivering the sort of savage speed and theatrical presence you’d normally associate with something like a Lamborghini Revuelto, for £50k less.

Okay, maybe not. But still though, what a thing!

Two Petrolheads, One Car Show – No Filter

The final video is where things went silly. Drivers Union’s Sy and myself exchanged metaglasses and BCG hat to see if anyone could tell the difference between us Brown Car Guys.

Nobody noticed.

So we gave up with that idea, micced up, switched on a pair of cameras and went on an off-script walkabout.

And what comes out of that is far more revealing than any polished review.

We get into:

• Why some modern supercars just don’t excite like they used to
• Whether classic car prices have become completely detached from reality
• The strange dynamics of a market where some cars skyrocket and others stagnate
• What we’d actually buy if it were our money on the line

There’s a moment where we’re standing in front of a multi-million-pound Aston Martin… and instead of drooling, we’re questioning what is the point.

And the point is money. Because at a certain level, when cars stop being cars. They become assets. Investments. Museum pieces.

And yet, the cars that really resonate… the ones we keep coming back to… are the ones you’d actually drive.

A Testarossa. An old Aston Martin. A slightly imperfect, slightly flawed, deeply human machine. Or a Lotus Esprit V8 in a new suit!

The Show, The Market, The Reality

Salon Privé London 2026 is a fascinating snapshot of the elite automotive world right now.

On one hand, you have:

• Record-breaking valuations
• Ultra-rare collector cars
• A market driven by wealth, scarcity, and speculation

On the other, you have:

• Enthusiasts chasing nostalgia
• Builders reviving analogue driving experiences
• A growing sense that maybe, just maybe… newer, cleverer (and faster?) isn’t always better.

Cars are emotional. Always have been. Always will be. Shows like this, don’t let us forget that, despite all the glitz and glamour.

No matter how much they’re worth, no matter how rare they are, the ones that matter most are the ones that make you feel something and leave you smiling.

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