Auto Design

There were more than fifty stunning cars to admire – some of which never seen for decades – a dozen of the most interesting show-cars and a long list of famous car designers from all over the world at the latest Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa D’Este that took place through the last week-end last April.
The Bugatti Veyron Fbg is positively a very charismatic sports car and certainly the most powerful car seen at the latest Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa D’Este.
However, although priced 1.55 million Euros before taxes and clearly the most expensive modern car in regular production, it was not the most valuable cars that paraded at Villa D’Este and Villa Erba through the sunny and lovely weekend. Many more cars are worth much more money. Among which certainly is the unique 1967 Ferrari 206 S Dino Competizione Berlinetta by Pininfarina that the famous James, Jim, Glickenhaus has been able to acquire from the famous Italian coachbuilder after a long siege and with very convincing arguments.

Was the Bugatti Veyron it the most elegant of all cars on display that Sunday? According to the voting public it was and, as such, it won the Design Award. I have a different opinion and I think that the Bugatti was indeed lucky: there was not any red Alfa Romeo competing against her this time.
There were probably more elegant Bugattis and other mythical cars at the Concorso, such as the extravagant Atalante but eventually it was the Ferrari 166 MM that won the most coveted of the many prizes that are generously delivered on these occasions. The car raced to victory by Count Giannino Marzotto at the 1950 Mille Miglia was voted by the Jury the “Best in Show”, that is the absolute winner among all class winners. Was it the most elegant of the lot? Again, I disagree: a racing pedigree and the elegance of the 1950 winner of the race are great but they should not have priority at a Concorso d’Eleganza.
I tend to agree with the “insiders” of the Concorso (car collectors and strictly selected guests) that on Saturday, at Villa d’Este, voted the outstanding 1938 Mercedes Benz 540 K Autobahnkurier as the winner of the traditional “Coppa d’Oro Villa d’Este“.
This year too, entrants were classified in eight classes and many proud owners went home with a well-deserved trophy.
There is no modern-days motor show with so many beautiful cars that stimulate emotions and inspire designers and it is obvious that more and more, year after year, the garden and catwalk of one of the world’s leading hotels on Lake Como attract big names from every continent.

ED Welburn, the GM Vice-president of design was simply delighted and said he will be a regular visitor in the next year. The Cadillac CTS coupé he drove actually impressed the aristocratic audience. On his side, Peter Pfeiffer of Mercedes-Benz looked a proud man when he paraded on the rear seat of the innovative F 700 prototype.
Chris Bangle, head of the BMW Group Design was everywhere, ready to talk to anybody. Peter von Hooydonk was busy with interviews on the M1 Hommage or shaking hand with people who wanted to congratulate him and his team. Andrea Zagato and Franz Joseph Paefgen met in a very relaxed atmosphere as old friend rather than business partners.
The setting and atmosphere actually turns the event into a very informal, although exclusive gathering of the gurus of car design. A gathering that is open to very young designers such as Matthew Humpries, just out of college and now designing the Morgans of the near future and to regular visitors such as Aldo Brovarone, Tom Tjaarda and Norihiko Harada.

It is a fact, the famous event, sponsored and actually organized by BMW Group with the co-operation of Hotel Villa d’Este and Girard-Perregaux, is no longer a “beauty contest” for cars from the past but a “must” for those who love exclusive cars, own them, preserve and restore them, design them.
The open-air parade remains the core of the event but there is more to do and see: from the “Design Talk” on Sunday morning to the display of special collections (this year the Concorso celebrated the comeback of Carrozzeria Touring). Not to mention the people, those who dress in style, those who just sit and relax in the elegant frame of the venue, those who discover cars they have never seen before. The key people though remain the designers. Here they meet, exchange opinions, celebrate the past, talk of emerging trends, listen at the wind and get inspiration. Simon Humphries, general manager in charge of strategic design for Toyota and Lexus, who was there for the first time, conceded said the event is «Absolutely superb, everything here is so beautiful. I think it is so nice to look at the old car and realise what they could do than and that we cannot do now. Every car is so well detailed and there so many simple, little, absolutely beautiful things that you can only look at them as pieces of jewellery».

Click on the image to see the complete Photo Gallery.

Click on the image to see the complete Photo Gallery.