It is the best-known scooter of the Fifth Republic. The machine used by former President François Hollande to secretly visit his new partner, Julie Gayet, was sold on Sunday for 20,500 euros at an auction in Montbazon (Indre-et-Loire).
The buyer is Denis Bréhéret, owner of an automobile museum entitled “Prestige et collection” in Jallais (Maine-et-Loire), where he plans to exhibit the famous two-wheeler, a Piaggio MP3 125 so that “everyone can benefit from it”.
He will first have to pay 25,420 euros, with costs. The scooter “is part of the history of France. I will present it among the 120 vehicles, which I already own, which go from 1922 to today,” he said by telephone.
“The Rolls of scooters”
In 2014, stolen press photos published showed the then president visiting, in complete discretion, his new partner who has since become his wife, Julie Gayet, actress, director and producer.
The auction, organized by Maison Rouillac at the Château d’Artigny in Montbazon and which took place in front of around forty people, lasted only ten minutes. The auctioneers Philippe and Aymeric Rouillac had carefully staged the vehicle, installing a blue, white and red flag on each side, and an aluminum replica of an Eifel Tower, 5 m high.
The first owner of the scooter was indeed the “Presidency of the Republic”, confirms the vehicle’s registration document, which already has 34,000 km on the clock. “It’s the Rolls (Royce) of scooters but its price on the second-hand market is only estimated at between 1,300 and 4,000 euros,” noted Aymeric Rouillac. The price of this three-wheeler – two at the front, one at the rear – formerly owned by the Palais de l’Élysée which sold it in 2015, is set at 10,000 euros, indicated Philippe Rouillac in April.
