The 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War is to be the focus of Rétromobile in Paris next February.
The stylish French show is to focus on the tanks, trucks, tractors and cars that were used in the war and display them in a 4000sq ft diorama.
Among them will be a Renault FT17 tank (main image), credited with revolutionising the concept from a heavy armoured troop carrier to a small, light and manoeuvrable fighting machine with just two occupants.
A host of trucks from the likes of Berliet and Peugeot will commemorate the 3500 trucks that ferried 90,000 soldiers and 50,000 tons of equipment the 75km of the 'sacred road' between Bar le Duc and Verdun each week.
Another feature will be the troop-carrying 'taxis of the Marne' that were used from September 1914 to counter the advancing German troops. General Galliéni requisitioned some 600 Paris taxis – mainly Renault AG1 Landaulets – to carry 3000 soldiers 100km to the front.
James Elliott is a former Editor of Classic & Sports Car