From the floor of the Paris Motor Show, regular Cars.co.za contributor, Calvin Fisher, has picked up on a theme at this year's show. No, it's not new tech and electrification, in fact, it's the exact opposite.

In spite of artificial intelligence, autonomy, hybridisation and off-the-wall concepts, 2fall-back themes emerged at Mondial de l'Auto: "racecar" and "retro". I speak of exhibition stand presence, for which, most manufacturers have resorted to either employing something still covered in the dirt of "insert famed motorsport circuit here", or the latter – heritage cars with Veritas, featuring everything from Series 1 Land Rovers to an original Alpine coupe. Classic cars!

This fascinated me, so naturally, I have a theory. It's nothing less than retaliation. In the face of increasingly stiff competition from Korean and Chinese manufacturers (and now the Vietnamese) who have no legacy products to rely on, long-established marques are relying on their heritage to gain the upper hand. Let's take a closer look at just 7 examples (plus 4 bonus items from Stuttgart) of classic whips that got to share the limelight with considerably more contemporary machinery. Please note, this list doesn't even include many retro cars that were also race cars, that were also on display.

Looking for some good classics videos, check out SentiMETAL here

Series 1 Land Rover

You could call it a Defender. But you'd be wrong. You could call it a British Jeep and you'd offend millions, but you'd be closer to the truth. It has the distinction of being the first 4×4 with doors, and no, that is not British racing green it is covered in, rather the green of the British army. And fine, it is indeed the genesis of the beloved Defender – but predates the nomenclature.

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Jaguar XJ6

Yeah, baby – yeah! This is the Jag all our parents grew up with, isn't it? It's as much a symbol of the wild 70s as the Beetle but from my memories smelled like cigarettes. This one's a Series 1, and as such came with a 2.8 or 4.2-litre straight-six, while the XJ12 (obviously) came with a 5.3 V12. Don't be fooled, these cars did not belong to racers. They belonged to rogues!

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Citroen 2CV panelvan

And our nominee for Most French Car has to be this. With its two-stroke engine, it is famous for barely being able to pull the skin off a rice pudding. It is also famous for being produced for 42 years because here in its natural habitat, it just works.

Renault 5

Think of it as a French VW Golf, front wheel drive and compact, but attainable enough to mobilize the masses. It is the grandpapa of the Clio and for this reason alone, a very important car for Renault. Its reputation as France's best selling car for 14 years confirms it.

Renault Nervasport Coupé

Ok, this one is sort of a racer as well, but mostly a piece of automotive history, like an odd looking cathedral on wheels. Or a blue clog. Built for the sole purpose of breaking records, most notably the 48hrs at Montlhery at 107 MPH (172 kph) in 1934.

Renault Alpine A110

Alpine used to be its own manufacturer and this, the A110 was its finest moment. The rear-wheel-drive coupe or 'Berlinette' was produced from 1961 to 1977 and came with a variety of small 4-cylinder engines (1.1L – 1.6L) all mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. They shared much of their componentry with Renault and came equipped with the same Gordini adornments should you require them. A legend, this.

Porsche 356 Speedster

This is it. Born in 1948 with its engine in its bum, driving the wheels beneath it and shaped like a decapitated teardrop. And much the way the Series 1 preceded the Defender, you're looking at the 911 before the badge existed. But don't be fooled, the legend began here.

Honourable mentions: this range of rarefied Porsche sports cars including the 911 Speedster, 959 911, Carrera GT and 911 GT1 were also in attendance.

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