Concours d’Elegance Villa d’Este 2019

29 May 2019 Redazione Events, Lifestyle, News, Vintage

CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE VILLA D’ESTE

THE SYMPHONY OF ENGINES

Words by Richi Makie

Photos by S. Lomax

Since 1929, the splendid dwellings of Villa d’Este and Villa Erba have become the stage for Europe’s most exclusive and awaited elegance competition. Every year, the most superb examples of historic cars gather to give life to an indescribable event, which manages to plunge participants and visitors into the glorious past of automotive, in those years when inspiration and visions of designers and engineers wrote fundamental pages, forever changing the car world as we know it today. After 90 years, the charm of the Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance has not only remained intact, but has acquired that unmistakable value of a window on a world that is ever more distant and increasingly important to keep safe. At least once a year we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in this candid corner at the borders of time, where beauty is common denominator.

On the shores of Lake Como, the weekend spent in Cernobbio gave us a lot of excitement, implementing an important novelty, a dynamic part that saw the cars of the Concours driving up to Menaggio. Not even the sudden heavy rain on Saturday afternoon prevents the event from offering amusement in admiring the cars taking part in the first of the two actual days, where we could have turned our eyes to the immortal lines of iconic vintage models, but also of specimens produced in extremely limited series, if not in a single piece, flashes of genius by coachbuilders and designers who left to the world a legacy of pure art on wheels. But the ingredients of the Villa d’Este Concours are many and while we also appreciated the space dedicated to vintage motorcycles, it is not possible not to stare at the spectacular Bugatti La Voiture Noire, presented in Geneva and produced as a one-off. The black car has the pride of being the most expensive new car ever made (€11 million), but thanks to its extravagant lines has won the Design Award for Concept cars and Prototypes. Somehow similar, but traveling back several years – until 1970 to be precise – the Ferrari 512 S Modulo, made perfectly marching by the owner James Glickenhaus, won the Auto & Design award.

Coming back to the main event, the absolute Best of Show award goes to the 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B Berlinetta Touring, which even got the preference from the public. The BMW Group Italia Trophy went to the equally majestic 1938 Lancia Astura IV Series Cabriolet designed by Pininfarina, while the 1967 Lamborghini Marzal designed by Bertone got the preferences of the young BMW Group Ragazzi jury. Finally, as with every edition, the spotlights also focused on a prototype, which in this case might seem like a normal BMW from the early 1970s, but it is actually an ambitious project both for that time and for our days, where the company brought back a one-off presented at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show, designed by Marcello Gandini for Bertone. It is called Garmisch and is a coupe characterized by the BMW stylistic features of the era, strongly focused on the future, displaying Gandini’s distinctive features, such as the honeycomb rear window cover. No detail has been overlooked, despite the considerable difficulties for the reconstruction due to the lack of the original documents of the project. Inside, for example, we find the radio mounted in the unusual vertical position and a beautiful combination of colors and quality materials, which embellish a model born to impress 50 years ago, like today. The name Garmisch was chosen to evoke winter sports, very popular in that period in Italy and never as today awaken in us a sense of affection and melancholy towards those years of innovation and inspiration. Honorable mention for two cars with an even more exclusive pedigree – if this could be even possible – the recent barn-find and completely restored Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, once owned by French actor Alain Delon, not to mention Elvis Presley’s BMW 507.

With the last artificial fire, the curtain on the 90th edition dropped as Villa d’Este confirms once again the point of reference for the world of classic cars in Europe, a bastion of style, elegance and the maximum expression of freedom for automotive, where a car is not only a means of escaping everyday life, but the embodiment of the desires and visions of minds that leave their mark through the melodious sound of an engine. 365 days of wait for the next edition, relive this magic and go back daydreaming.