Big toys for big Boys

Classic MG’s just passing through for lunch.

The Hotel Belles Rives welcomed the drivers of 50 classic MG cars last weekend. You often see classic cars on the Cap but seeing 50 at the same time is a little rarer even here.  The cars and their drivers were on a road trip on the Cote d’Azur and had stopped at the hotel for lunch.  

The event which takes place over a weekend every 3 years was organised by the president of the MG Car club Monaco  Nicola Paroline. I had a quick chat with him before he sat down to lunch. 

Can you tell me why you are all in Cap d’Antibes today?

This is the 5^th international MG meeting which I have organised. We organise a meeting every 3 years for friends and members of the MGCCMC. The first one I organised was  15 years ago. People come from all over Europe and this weekend we have people here from Germany, the UK, Switzerland and Italy. There is normally  a limit of 50 cars and about 100 people.

What do you love about the MG?

I love the style of the 50’s and 60’s. My MG is actually from the 30’s but I love the MG style generally and the way of life, it’s an easy car. I also love the open top. The MG philosophy is to drive the open top car even when it is raining and 99 percent of the cars have an open tops.

I collect cars anyway, it’s my hobby so I have other makes, but I love my MG the most.

Cars are my passion but I don’t work with cars, in fact I am a tax lawyer by day.

My favourite MG’s are the pre-war cars from the 30’s. Mine is a green MG from 1935, it’s a race car. Here today we have cars from the 30’s right up to MG’s produced in 2006.

They can range enormously in price. A classic 30’s MG starts at around 200,000-250,000 Euros but the new ones you can get for maybe 10,000 euros.

I became passionate about cars and collecting them about 29 years ago so I was quite young, I was about  20 years old I think.

My father bought me an old MG car, not a classic car just an old MG so that was my official first car. I kept it for about 20 years before selling it because I didn’t use it anymore but it started my love of the MG.

Tell me a little about the programme this weekend.

For each meeting we design an itinerary but it’s a very relaxed one. Yesterday we had a very nice dinner at the yacht club on the private terrace. Today we all left Monaco to meet up here at the Belles Rives for lunch. The nice thing about this meeting is that it is very free. You can wake up at 7am and join the tour then or you can wake up at 11 and just come directly to the restaurant ,it’s up to you. Some people choose to come by the motorway and some people set off earlier and come via the coast road but we all meet here eventually for lunch.

After lunch  we have the afternoon free to do what we want before meeting up again this evening in MC.

Tonight we have organised a special dinner at the hotel du Paris on a private terrace. Then tomorrow we have organised 3 tour options.. There is an 80km, 15km or 3 km drive so people can choose which one they want to do. This is the philosophy of these meetings, to take it at your own pace before meeting up at the various venues we have organised for dinners and lunches and to socialise.

It is actually a huge amount of work to organise which is why we decided to do it only every 3 years. I just don’t have time to do it every year. Every three years also makes it more special I think.

Your wife described the weekend as a get together for big boys with big toys?

I guess it is in a way. My philosophy is that the man should remain a child  he just has to change his toys as he grows up.

I guess the cars are our grown up toys and these meet ups every three years are like a big play date for lovers of the MG.

To join the MG Car Club Monaco visit their website here

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