A lakeside celebrations of automobiles

A shared anniversary for a legendary display and BMW led to double the fun at Lake Como, writes Bob Montgomery
A UNIQUE PLATFORM for the most beautiful automobiles from the past as well as some of the boldest concept cars from the present, the 80th annual Concorso d’Eleganza took place in the glorious location of the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este and the Villa Erba in Cernobbio on the shores of Lake Como.
This year’s event was a double anniversary, for sponsor BMW Group was also celebrating 80 years since it produced its first automobile, giving rise to several special displays of BMW cars at the event.
Also celebrated at the Concorso D’Eleganza was 100 years of the Bugatti and Morgan marques.
As expected, Bugatti Automobiles SAS displayed a range of examples of this most famous of marques, from the “Tank” Grand Prix car to the last Bugatti Atlantic 57SC built – which is owned by Ralph Lauren.
Four special models of the Bugatti Veyron were also displayed, finished in the racing colours – blue for France, red for Italy, green for Britain and white for Germany.
The four supercars were displayed in front of signs with the names and racing histories of four drivers closely identified with Bugatti’s racing success.
One of the surprising aspects of the Concorso d’Eleganza is the very high proportion of cars that have been in the possession of the same family since new.
This sets it apart from that other great Concours d’Elegance event, Pebble Beach in California, where the cars are predominantly in the hands of rich collectors, and reinforces the sense of “old wealth” that predominates the Italian event.
Indeed, speaking to several such owners, the overall impression gained is not so much of a great motoring event as one that marks the commencement of the “season”.
The cars on display were subject to a pre-selection process so that only six examples were displayed in each class.
Very much the crème de la crème – and what a selection! A small number of the most interesting included a Mercedes 500K from 1936, which had until recently been part of the collection of Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, a spectacular yellow Rolls-Royce Phantom 1 Sedanca Town Car from 1933 similar to the model in the film The Yellow Rolls-Royce, and a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso model from 1963, which was for a long time owned by the actor Steve McQueen.