What's all this about?
Some of the world's most beautiful classic cars gathered at the weekend on the shores of Lake Como in Italy for the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2015. The event is co-hosted by BMW Group Classic and the Villa d'Este hotel.
So is it just about old cars?
Not at all; BMW also took the opportunity to unveil the 3.0 CSL Homage concept study, which we've covered elsewhere. The concours competition also includes a category for concept cars, with the Bentley Exp 10 Speed Six coupé taking the Concorso d'Eleganza Design Award.
Top prize, the 'Trofeo BMW Group for Best of Show' awarded by an expert panel, went to a 1929 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider. Members of the public also had their say to decide which car would take the Coppa d'Oro Villa d'Este prize, with the cup going to a Ferrari 166MM Barchetta from 1950.
What else was there?
A special category for this year was 'Seventies Style' with two BMW institutions celebrating their 40th anniversaries. An exhibition marked the history of the 3 Series, which launched in 1975. The same year saw Alexander Calder create the first of BMW's Art Cars; later that decade Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol added their names to the list of famous artists associated with the collection. Another anniversary celebrated at the concours was 90 years of the Rolls-Royce Phantom.
John Lambert - 26 May 2015
