Auto Design

The Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este this years has been as good as the weather. That is to say that half of it was very good, with peaks of excellence, and the remaining half was bad, raining and boring, with touches of ugliness.

 By the end of the elegant week-end on the Lake of Como, one would say it was not one the best edition ever but still offered enough interesting cars to look at, people to greet and talk to, and subjects to discuss.

As such it was one not to be missed. Those who did not attend it missed the extremely rare chance of hearing the sibilo and smelling the pollution of its turbine engine, not to mention seeing this extraordinary visualisation of the dreams about the cars of the future they were dreaming in the fifties and sixties.

  Read the rest of this entry »

One of you has asked me which was your favourite car at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2009?

Now I am in a hurry to catch a flight out of town but I can try to post a quick reply. Difficult question. Here the first answers. Considering this is a Concorso D’Eleganza and not a competition about the most attractive (for overall qualities such as rarety, power, brand, performance, style, etc.) among the classics my first choice would probably be the 1954 Aston Martin DB 2/4 built by Bertone.

Second choice would be the 1952 Lancia Aurelia B52 built by Vignale.

Among the “concept” I would say that none win my points for elegance but if I have to choose one among them as the most interesting I would say the Mindset (with its very elegant interior)

and the Stile Bertone Mantide for its dynamic proportions and style.

I shall come back to this in a week time, though.