Soon all the automotive blogs worldwide will be filled with pictures of cars from the Concorso Villa d’Este. Mostly all the pictures will look the same. So we thought we would do something different.
The concorso officially starts on Saturday where all the cars are moved out from the garage early Saturday morning and displayed on the lawn. Few people realize that the cars are parked all in the garage on Friday night at the grounds of the Villa d’Este. While the garage is heavily guarded, we asked politely if we could have a quick look around. What we saw was absolutely breathtaking.
So we decided to stay there for one hour on Friday night around 1 in the morning and photograph the cars in the garage. There was something special about seeing some of the rarest cars in the world resting, before the worlds press would photograph them the next day on the lawns.
From Ferrari to a rare Rolls Royce to a beautiful Maserati Zagato- this garage had for a short period of time the worlds most beautiful cars inside.
(Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures- it was done spontaneously with iPhone.)
The first car we saw was a stunning Ferrari TRC, owned by an Italian Gentlemen who we sat next to at Dinner. He bought it in 1990.
The TRC gave the owner more pleasure than his 250 California Spyder, which he brought last year. The TRC is especially sexy from behind.
Notice the leather strap holding the engine bonnet – a common feature of cars in the 1950s.
Do you notice something strange below? There is no speedometer. The big round instrument in the middle is the rev counter. In those days it did not matter how fast you were going.
Next one of my personal favorite Porsche sportscars: The legendary 904 Carrera GTS in silver.
Classic cars: Its all about the little details. Notice the fuel cap on the engine bonnet.
What kind of wild cats are these two cars? Can only be Jaguar. In front the wildest car of them all: The Iconic and super successful Jaguar D-type.
The Jaguar D-type with its large rear fin is unique- no car looks similar and few were as successful in racing. This car OKVI is a very well known car which raced at Le Mans.
We did tell you about the Jaguar’s large fin right? The D-type is easily recognizable because of it.
Next we move on to Maserati which this year celebrates their 100 years of history. Below a pair of rare Maserati from the 1950′s when it (the cars) were almost more exclusive than Ferrari.
One of the most beautiful Maserati to be shown was a very rare model by Zagato (red car). This model is also known as the A6GCS.
This Zagato A6GCS is my personal favorite of all Maserati. In this color as well. The only thing missing is the bubble roof that Zagato was also famous fore. Even from the back- splendid!
The king of all Maserati cars (and perhaps the most valuable as well) was this splendid Pininfarina A6GCS owned by the Pannini family (yes who made their fortune with stickers).
Notice the many details of this wonderful beast. Outside fuel cap, side exhaust pipes. This car is what dreams are made of.
Wondering what the big steel tube is going through the back of the car? That is the fuel tank. This car was made for racing.
Talking about Ferrari, this car a 250 SWB Interim was perhaps among my favorite at Villa d’Este. More elegant than a normal 250 SWB and definitely more rare!
No, this was not a ‘bat- mobile’ but rather one of the most elegant Ferrari’s ever made. A 25o LWB California spider. With also the most original and elegant cover we have ever seen!
In the Ferrari world you have to differentiate in model and details. Although both are from the 250 series, the ‘bat mobile’ is worth about 12-15 x what the normal 250 is worth (front car).
For the part II villa d’Este day tour please see our post here
