Élysée scooter used by President François Hollande to reach actress Julie Gayet incognito, gallantly, from the Palais de l'Élysée to rue du Cirque, on New Year's Day 2014. Piaggio MP3 grey, 3 wheels, 125 cm³. Type serial no.: ZAPM6310000001623. Italy. Registration AL 807 SX. 34,000 km. Provenance : - Présidence de la République, 55 rue du faubourg Saint Honoré, 75008 Paris, 2009; - Domaines auction, December 10, 2015; - sold by the buyer to Patrick and Manola Sionneau, dedicatees of the book "Bouleversements" by François Hollande: "To Patrick and Manola, who had the good fortune to ride my scooter To better share their happiness. Sincerely This scooter is the one François Hollande " A grey three-wheeled Piaggio MP3 scooter used by French President François Hollande in 2014 to discreetly meet his lover. Press : - Closer, La Une, circulation 500,000, January 10, 2014. - Le Monde, "L'étonnant destin d'un certain scooter élyséen", June 11-12, 2023. - Paris Match, Florent Buisson, "François Hollande : le scooter du scandale est à vendre", April 4, 2024. UN SCOOTER ÉLYSÉEN, by Philippe and Aymeric Rouillac From Vizir, Napoleon's naturalized horse, which rests at Les Invalides next to his master's tomb, to General de Gaulle's DS, riddled with bullets at Petit Clamart, the French attach symbolic importance to the vehicles of those who govern them. It's a distant memory of the time when the sovereign spent his reign visiting the provinces of France, offering both the spectacle of his person and memorable city entrances to his subjects. In January 2014, François Hollande's scooter joined the ranks of legendary vehicles, as it tells the story of a man like any other, and of a nation torn between its desire for power and the realization of its decline. Underworld kingpins and policemen alike know that the most efficient scooters are Japanese, with their large displacement. This Piaggio scooter, manufactured by an Italian company that invented the Vespa, is not a national machine. In fact, it embarrassed the French Minister of Production when he was asked why the leading Frenchman was not using a "Made in France" vehicle. Its 125 cm³ engine means it can be driven by anyone with a car driving license. No skill or motorized exploit is to be expected. Behind its big gray body, its three reassuring wheels and its comfortable top case, this scooter is more like that of Mr. and Mrs. Everyman than the Ferrari lent by an actor friend with which Valéry Giscard d'Estaing would rush into a milk truck in the early hours of the morning, while escorting an actress across the Champs Élysées. From Louis XIV, who legitimized his bastards, to François Mitterrand, who had his illegitimate daughter protected by the Republic, the French have never held their heads of state responsible for the ups and downs of their private lives. In fact, the first of them died of a heart attack during a tryst in the Élysée Palace in 1899. But if the photo of the unfaithful president on New Year's Day 2014 is making headlines in France and abroad, it's because it shows a man like any other, on a scooter like any other. Hidden behind a helmet and clad in a black parka, with slippers on his feet, he brings croissants to his lady love. Charentaises and the croissant au beurre, the Viennese pastry created to celebrate the lifting of the siege of Vienna by Ottoman troops, are they not also symbols of a tranquil France with which everyone can identify? Moreover, the President does not contest the news of this affair, and, like any other citizen, is quick to ask for his privacy to be respected. The rest is history. As for the scooter, it was decommissioned in 2016, before being purchased by a couple from Vendôme to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. The final word can only go to the Man in the Helmet, who authenticates the scooter by dedicating his book to them: "To Patrick and Manola, who were lucky enough to ride my scooter to share their happiness"!