{"id":50471,"date":"2023-05-24T12:04:34","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T16:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=50471"},"modified":"2023-05-24T12:04:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T16:04:34","slug":"2023-villa-deste-concours-delegance-the-show-in-pictures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=50471","title":{"rendered":"2023 Villa d&#8217;Este Concours d&#8217;Elegance | The show in pictures &#8211; Autoblog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>COMO, Italy \u2014 For a brief moment, the most valuable object at the Villa d&#8217;Este Concours d&#8217;Elegance wasn&#8217;t the 1962 Ferrari 250 <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/pontiac\/gto\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:0;\">GTO<\/a>. It was an umbrella. As the drizzle intensified into a storm you&#8217;d want shelter from, the participants scrambled for dry ground and I probably could have talked someone into trading me something old and expensive for my umbrella. Rain or shine, however, the show must go on.<\/p>\n<p>Approximately 50 cars convened on the picturesque shore of Lake Como to attend the 2023 edition of the event, and some traveled a very long way to get there. Eizo Tomita shipped a 1971 <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/lamborghini\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:1;\">Lamborghini<\/a> Miura P400SV finished in a head-turning color all the way from Japan, and several cars (including a 1979 Porsche 935) came from the United States. Although the Villa d&#8217;Este show is smaller than the Pebble Beach Concours d&#8217;Elegance held in California, it&#8217;s just as interesting because it always features a diverse selection of vehicles. The cars that you&#8217;d expect to see, like pre-war luxury models, are accounted for, but there are also fascinating oddities such as a 1986 Isdera Spyder 033-16.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When was the last time you&#8217;ve seen \u2014 and heard! \u2014 a 1970 Porsche 917K? How about a 1998 911 GT1? Now, imagine both cars (and many more) parked within 10 feet of each other. The part of the event dedicated to Porsche&#8217;s 75th birthday was a show on its own.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s event was split into eight categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>100 years of the 24 hours of Le Mans: heroes of the most famous race in the world<\/li>\n<li>The fast and the formal: pre-war high-speed luxury<\/li>\n<li>Grande vitesse: pre-war weekend racers<\/li>\n<li>Incredible India: the dazzling motoring indulgences of the mighty Maharajas<\/li>\n<li>Porsche at 75: delving in the Stuttgart legend&#8217;s iconic and eccentric back catalog<\/li>\n<li>GranTurismo: experimenting with the post-war European GT<\/li>\n<li>That &#8220;made in Italy&#8221; look: styles which conquered new worlds<\/li>\n<li>Here comes the sun: topless done differently<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The jury gave the &#8220;best of show&#8221; award to a 1935 Duesenberg SJ, while the aforementioned classes were respectively won by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1962 Ferrari 250 GTO<\/li>\n<li>1933 <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/chrysler\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:2;\">Chrysler<\/a> Custom Imperial CL<\/li>\n<li>1938 Delahaye 145 Coup\u00e9 Chapron<\/li>\n<li>1935 Duesenberg SJ<\/li>\n<li>1963 Porsche 901 prototype<\/li>\n<li>1967 Ferrari 330 GTC Speciale<\/li>\n<li>1956 <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/maserati\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:3;\">Maserati<\/a> A6G\/54<\/li>\n<li>1961 Ferrari 250 GT Spyder California<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Had a drenched visitor offered to trade me one of the cars for my umbrella, I would have driven home in the 1955 Lancia Florida. It&#8217;s a one-off, Pininfarina-designed coupe based on the Aurelia and displayed at the 1955 Turin <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/auto-shows\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:4;\">auto show<\/a>. Its design inspired the Flaminia, the flagship model that Lancia released in 1957, when it still made some of Italy&#8217;s most <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/car-finder\/luxury\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:5;\">luxurious cars<\/a>. Alternatively, I wasn&#8217;t against the idea of taking home the 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Ghia, which features gorgeous proportions and airplane-inspired design cues. It&#8217;s one of two units built.<\/p>\n<p>BMW sponsors the Villa d&#8217;Este Concours d&#8217;Elegance and always brings several classics from its collection along with a concept created for the occasion. This year, all eyes were on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/2023\/05\/19\/bmw-concept-touring-coupe-is-a-z4-based-clown-shoe-for-the-2020s\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:6;\">the Z4-based, Z3 Coupe-inspired Concept Touring Coup\u00e9<\/a>. It&#8217;s a one-off model as of writing, but <em>Autoblog<\/em> learned that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/2023\/05\/21\/bmw-concept-touring-coupe-production-possible\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:7;\">it could spawn a low-volume model<\/a> in the not-too-distant future. However, don&#8217;t let the sponsorship deal fool you into thinking this is a BMW fest. The brand sets aside rivalries to spend a weekend celebrating <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/category\/timewarp\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:8;\">classic cars<\/a>, even those built by Mercedes-Benz.<\/p>\n<p>On a secondary level, the less-than-ideal weather conditions served as a reminder that cars are meant to be driven, even if they&#8217;re rare and expensive. Seeing a 1959 Ferrari Testa Rossa \u2014 a race car that doesn&#8217;t have a roof \u2014 idle in the rain made me feel more than a little dumb about the times I&#8217;ve left my 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300D or my 1972 Volkswagen Beetle in the garage because the sky looks somewhat dark.<\/p>\n<p>About the gallery: Villa d&#8217;Este is a multi-day event held at several venues, and there are plans to make it bigger in the coming years. Some of these photos were shot at the Villa d&#8217;Este, which is a historic mansion, while others (the drier ones) were taken at the nearby Villa d&#8217;Erba on the following day. This explains why the order that the cars are parked in and the background changes as you scroll through the gallery.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the last photo is a treat for true nerds who are more possessed by than obsessed with obscure vehicles: an <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/alfa+romeo\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:9;\">Alfa Romeo<\/a> AR6 <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/tag\/camper+van\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:10;\">camper van<\/a>. It&#8217;s based on the first-generation <a class=\"injectedLinkmain\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autoblog.com\/fiat\/\" data-ylk=\"elm:context_link;itc:0;pos:1;sec:donut-hole;cpos:11;\">Fiat<\/a> Ducato, it was sold primarily in Italy, and I haven&#8217;t seen one in nearly 20 years. You&#8217;re welcome.<\/p>\n<p>Check it out, and let us know which car is your favorite in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>COMO, Italy \u2014 For a brief moment, the most valuable object at the Villa d&#8217;Este Concours d&#8217;Elegance wasn&#8217;t the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. It was an umbrella. As the drizzle intensified into a storm you&#8217;d want shelter from, the participants scrambled for dry ground and I probably could have talked someone into trading me something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-concepts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}