As every year I sneak in the garage of the Villa d’Este the night before the cars get shown to the world press.
It was a big disappointment this year. Most of the cars were covered (perhaps the security and insurance demand it). While the bad news is that I could not photograph all the cars I wanted – the good news was that some of the most beautiful cars happened to be not covered. The DB4 Zagato. The Otto Vu Fiat bodied by Zagato. A stunning Porsche 550 spyder as well as a nice Bizzarrini.
I usually wait until after dinner to go into the garage but this year I decided to go before dinner when it was still light outside. The extra light in the garage in some places helped – especially for the Fiat Otto vu – perhaps my favourite car at Villa d’Este this year (along with the Lancia Astura). Lets get started. Warning:
It is a very short report this year as the cars were mostly covered.
It is odd that the very first car I would see in the entire garage is also the one I fell immediately in love with. A very rare Fiat Otto Vu or 8V from the 1950s owned by a US collector.
The car was just perfect from every angle. Bodied by Zagato – a master in coach building. The color was very appealing too (as you will see in part II of the day tour). Even hiding behind a pole and in the darkness getting in – this car was a masterpiece.
Lets move onto a Porsche 550 spyder also from the 1950s. You can see it in the background with the orange wing on top. It was presumably made for Aerodynamic reasons. It also acted as useful provider of shade (as can be seen in the day tour pictures).
This car was owned by a Swiss collector (as can be seen by the Swiss plates). Also notice the Sebring exhaust.
I love the red paint strip on the wing. It highlights the great curves that the 550 RS spyder has in my opinion.
Look at the mirror on the left side of the car. Do you notice how it sits low on top of the body of the spider? In part two you will see a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 have this exact same mirror installed. The Ferrari was owned by Steve McQueen who had the same type mirror on the Porsche 550 spyder (McQueen was a big Porsche fan) installed on this 275 GTB/4.
Notice also my favourite Fiat 8v in front.
Always nice to see the front of the 550. Pure aggressiveness. Plenty of style. Notice the outside filler cap in the middle of the bonnet.
The last car I would like to share is this wonderful 1968 Bizzarrini owned by a Swiss collector.
Bizzarini is starting to grow on me more and more. Italian styling and engineering with American power.
The day tour will be much longer obviously and better pictures because of the light. No matter how short this report was – a garage tour or night tour is tradition and so I did not want to leave it out.
