Villa d'Este - Ferrari Owners' Club

6.5.2006

Among the best automotive events in Europe the most exclusive is the annual Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, held on the shores of beautiful Lake Como near Cernobbio, Italy. Organized by BMW Group and hosted by the luxurious Grand Hotel Villa d’Este, it is only open to invited guests, the media and the entrants. While BMW is the only sponsor, its presence is not felt through the usual big signs or flags, but rather by an interesting display of historically important BMW vehicles. This is typical for the understated nature of the event. To give the general public a look of what was on show at Villa d’Este there is a concours the next day in the nearby Villa Erba park and congress centre with the same cars and some additional displays of prototypes and concept cars.

A team of six judges, working in groups of three, determined what is the best automobile of the 50 cars carefully selected by Urs Paul Ramseier. The judging team included Lord Charles March of Goodwood, Juergen Lewandowski of Germany, Lorenco Ramaciotti of Pininfarina, Winston Goodfellow of California, Patrick Le Quement of Renault and Yoshihiro Kimura of Japan. The attending public could also vote for their favourite automobile. In addition to the eight class awards, there was a series of special prizes awarded by the jury. Saturday afternoon the entrants drove along in a parade in front of the hotel with every car being introduced to the audience by speaker Simon Kidston in fluent English, Italian and French, assisted by Roberto Rasia dal Polo. Kidston made this a very pleasant two hours, combining British humour with interesting insights.

Often concours cars are described as “trailer queens” and the award for the car that was driven the furthest to get to Cernobbio was the perfect opportunity to proof the critics wrong. Andre Binda drove his wedge shaped metallic silver-grey Maserati Boomerang concept car up to Italy from the south of France despite suffering several flat tyres. He also had problems at the toll booths where the passenger had to get out to get the ticket because the windows do not open and there was no room to open the driver’s door. In another remarkable feat Frans van Haren drove his 1930 Mercedes-Benz down from the Netherlands without a passenger or a back-up car. Averaging at around 110 km/h he covered the 1000 km in two days without any technical difficulties. His effort was not enough to pick up the “Trofeo Automobile Club di Como” since he was just beaten by Toni Badenoch. He drove his ex-Hans Stuck BMW 3.0 CSL all the way down from London, England.

A hot topic in the classic car world is restoration and to what level it should be carried out. Especially in the United States cars are often restored to a near perfect condition; sometimes a better condition than when the cars were delivered new. In Europe this is frequently frowned upon. There were several examples of these top notch restorations present like Peter Kalikow’s 1959 Ferrari 410 Superamerica and Peter McCoy’s Ferrari 400 Superamerica Coupé Aerodinamico. On the other end there are fully original and unrestored cars that have aged like good wine. For both restored and original cars there was a special award. Adolfo Orsi’s recent restoration of a Maserati A6G 2000 Frua Spider earned him the ”Trofeo Routeclassiche” for the most sensitive restoration. The “Trofeo FIVA”’ for best preserved car went to Fred Kriz for his stunningly original dark green Bentley R-Type Continental. He drove it from Monaco to Cernobbio.

In addition to the eight classes there were two “super classes” for the most elegant Rolls-Royce and most elegant Pininfarina bodied car that included cars from a number of those classes. Introduced as Mr Spyker and “Big Vic, the Entertainer” by Simon Kidston, Victor Muller of Holland received the “Trofeo Rolls Royce”. The day did not start off very well with his 1928 Rolls Royce Phantom I 17EX flooding the hotel garage with coolant. Fortunately this did not take anything away from the beautifully flowing lines of the special Jarvis torpedo coachwork. Peter McCoy of Beverly Hills clinched the “Trofeo Pininfarina” with his Ferrari 400 Superamerica Coupé Aerodinamico restored by Motion Products in USA.
Kidston attributed Brandon Wang receiving the “Trofeo Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni” mainly to his striking blue driving gloves matching the dark blue color of his car. The jury probably used other criteria to select Wang’s Ferrari 250 GTO, which is still in remarkably original condition and is one of the few cars of its type that sees regular action on the street. The day after the Concours Wang drove the car in the Tour Auto in Paris!

Another super rare Ferrari at Villa d’Este was the 166 MM/53 Berlinetta Pinin Farina, a lovely dark blue car with silver-grey roof, originally owned and raced by German Kurt Zeller. It is owned today by Dutch collector Henk Koel and has recently been restored by an English workshop. Also on hand was a beige 212 Inter Coupé with Vignale body. This car had won the Concours d’Elégance of Stresa, Italy, back in 1952. It spent its entire life in Switzerland and only recently was sold to a German collector.

Quite contrasting with the historic cars on the concours were the modern concept cars and prototypes displayed on the other side of the Grand Hotel. Included were show cars launched at motorshows in the past year and also two genuine world premieres. Zagato finally presented their long awaited version of the Ferrari 575 Maranello. It was supposed to debut at the Geneva motor show in March, but Zagato decided to postpone the introduction. Actually Villa d’Este was a much better location; the first 250 GT Zagato, which served as an inspiration for the new 575 GTZ, was launched at the same location fifty years ago. Another novelty came from Russia. Using Mercedes Benz technique the Russians created the lavish Russo Baltique Impression concept. Making only its second public appearance and its first in Europe, the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider Concept took the “Design Award”, which was selected by public referendum.

As explained earlier there are two Best of Show awards; the Coppa d’Oro Villa d’Este selected by public referendum and the Trofeo BMW Group picked by the members of the jury. First awarded in 1929 to an Isotta Fraschini 8A, the Coppa d’Oro returned to the hands of Corrado Lopresto for his white Isotta Fraschini 8A SS Torpedo Sport bodied by Castagna. The meticulous restoration was completed the night before the Concorso and the years of labour were promptly awarded by the knowledgeable crowd. The Trofeo BMW Group Best of Show selected by the jury was handed to Peter S. Kalikow for his Ferrari 410 Superamerica. It was already a good weekend for Kalikow, who had taken delivery of his highly customized Ferrari 612 Scaglietti “Kappa” three days earlier at the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este. [Articles by Marcel on the Kalikow 612 and the 575 GTZ will follow shortly - Ed.]

This year there was only clear blue skies with fantastic Italian sunshine at Villa d’Este. Because of the exclusive nature of the event, there was a very pleasant and relaxed atmosphere in and around the Grand Hotel. Apparently the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este not only brings out the best cars, but also the best in people. No doubt, Villa d’Este is the Pebble Beach of Europe.