Every year, innumerable wealthy Americans descend upon the Pebble Beach golf course happily believing that they’re at the most expensive, luxurious, glamorous car show in the world. Bah. They’re all wrong. The real action is at Villa d’Este on Lake Como.
The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este is an annual judged event at possibly the most luxurious hotel on possibly the most luxurious lake in possibly the most luxurious corner of the world (that’s Lake Como in northern Italy, again). I say possibly because I am nowhere near rich enough to know if there are secret other locations that are even more exclusive, like if the world’s rich have actually conspired to have a secret lake in even more northern Italy and they just don’t talk about it and have had it scrubbed from Google Earth satellite images.
That said, the famed concorso brings together all of the very most interesting cars particularly of Europe’s glory periods of postwar growth and Depression-era luxury. Everybody shows up in Riva boats and there are lots of custom-bodied Ferraris that you’ve never heard of, to be a bit more to the point about it.
It’s a tiny event (only enlarged by an auction and some new concept cars), and few ever walk its perfectly-manicured gravel and grass walkways, but former EVO boss Harry Metcalfe brought a camera along this year, so the whole internet gets a scoop.
If you want to think a bout the meaning of the event read this. If you want to know what kinds of cars show up, watch the above video.
I am particularly a fan of the little OSCA and the big Maserati 5000, but I have a thing for old Masers.