Seven Stunning Classics of Europe’s Greatest Car Show

Thoughts on excessive wealth put in a locker, respect is due to pretty much all who decided to show off their cars at Villa d’Este, as well as at Villa Erba on the public day. Extremely rare and significant gems shipped in from Japan, Thailand, India, and of course the United States alongside many European countries. Indeed, we even saw the WeatherTech Ferrari 250 GTO, being driven in the rain on the main road of Cernobbio. That’s cool, especially when followed by a 250 Testa Rossa, winner at Le Mans in 1960. Children need to see what platform development is all about.

Walking around, I ran into Valentino Balboni, who was taking phone pictures of the stunning Miura SV in the corner. Talked to Alois Ruf, who ended up with a class win later on. Horacio Pagani had two cars at separate events throughout the weekend. Allora, it was nice to see him, just before examining the most extreme Zonda to date, the Revo Barchetta. Same goes for Christian von Koenigsegg, who’s been chauffeured around in a CC850 on German plates. Mate Rimac said hi by the new electric Rolls-Royce Spectre, and I suddenly remembered how close I am to their new factory, given that I’ve only seen the original one. Last, but certainly not least, I came across Paolo Garella, head of Manifattura Automobili Torino, father of the New Stratos, as well as a bunch of other amazing sports cars, including the electric Aspark Owl. Turin is always worth a visit.

Travel plans and industry celebrities aside, here are seven cars I went to Como for.

1963 Porsche 901 Coupé Prototyp “Quickblau”

Porsche is celebrating its 75th anniversary as the 911 turns sixty. The genesis of the six-cylinder sports car is this delicate beauty, a 901 prototype from 1963. Just 13 such development vehicles were built. These were called Sturmvogel, Blaumeise, Fledermaus, Zitronenfalter, Barbarossa and Quick Blau. The first Porsche to have a five-dial dashboard, this particular prototype was initially driven by Ferdinand Piëch, only to go through Hans Mezger and Walter Vetter before landing in Ruf’s garage by 1968. Crashed heavily in 1971, the now oldest remaining 901 went through a frame-up restoration taking two years, finished last year by Alois Ruf’s crew. Their effort was rewarded by a class win.

1986 Isdera Spyder 033-16

Eberald Schulz started out in 1969 with a mid-engine car inspired by the Ford GT40 called the Erator GTE. This landed him a designer job at Porsche, after which he left for Rainer Buchmann’s tuning and prototype company, bb. In 1982, he founded his own firm, Ingenieurbüro für Styling, Design und Racing. ISDERA. His intention was to put the Mercedes-Benz CW311 concept into series production, which eventually became the Isdera Imperator 108i. Unlike the earlier, Golf GTI-engined examples, this wonderful Spyder 033-16 uses the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 drivetrain. Seventeen were built, and this one belongs to a Dutch couple who drove it 220 miles to be at Como. Not bad for a speedster through the rain, while that blue interior with the glovebox on the door is pure eighties perfection.

1971 Citroën SM Espace Heuliez

The Citroën SM has everything. Space-age styling, a Maserati V-6 and the most advanced suspension money could buy at the time. However, it was also produced strictly as a hatchback coupé. Famous French coachbuilder Henri Heuliez had other ideas, so he unleashed his project manager Yves Dubernard to create a targa version, complete with powered louvers made of stainless steel. Equally shiny louvers were added to the rear glass, and with that and the wild green interior in place, the concept became the SM Espace. Citroën ultimately rejected the idea, and so Heuliez only managed to build two of these. This prototype stayed in his personal collection up until 2012, after which the new Belgian owner had it restored to its 1971 Paris Motor Show specification. The SM T-top is everything a French luxury car should be, and a whole lot more.

1981 Ferrari 512 BB LM

The unlikely winner of the event in my book. A unique and completely original, raw and rather dirty racing Ferrari with the loud and unapologetic twelve-cylinder. This car is pretty much as it left the French and Italian circuits in 1984, with the furious 4.9-liter flat-twelve and lines many may find less appealing than Pininfarina’s original 512 BB LM evolutions. This was Scuderia Bellancauto’s aerodynamic development car, with its body designed by Armando Palanca, and the engine tuned by former De Tomaso racing driver Roberto Lipp. At Le Mans, it got a DNF in 1981 and another in 1984, when it was also entered as the sole IMSA GTX contender due to a swift change in the regulations. Campaigned at Imola and Monza as well, today, this 512 LM is a fascinating reminder of how open privateer racing used to be.

1937 Peugeot 302 Darl’mat Sport

A rather unexpected car to celebrate the Le Mans centenary with, this is one of the three streamlined Peugeot racing cars produced just a few years before the war. Apparently inspired by the BMW 328, the trio of special 302s was commissioned by Peugeot dealer Emile Darl’mat and designed with the help of works driver Charles Roero de Cortanze. The team combined the wider track and two-liter four-cylinder engine with the shorter and narrower sport chassis of the 302, bodied by coachbuilder Pourtout. Of the three entries, this hot rod of an open Peugeot achieved a class win as well as seventh overall at the 1937 24 Hours of Le Mans, only to get lost for three decades. Resurfaced in 1967, it is part of an American collection since 2019, restored to fittingly high standards.

1955 Lancia Florida Coupé Pinin Farina

A true one-off from the era when Europeans were obsessed with American design while the smart ones could sell pretty much anything in America claiming European styling. Fittingly named after the Sunshine State, the pillarless Florida Coupé is based on the Lancia Aurelia B56 chassis, built by Pinin Farina for the 1955 Turin Motor Show. Powered by the engine that made Lancia famous, the 2.2-liter V-6, the factory ended up producing four-door variants before launching the Flaminia line in 1959. Today, the unique Florida Coupé retains its original leather interior in an otherwise flawlessly restored two-tone body. Resides in Italy.

1970 Porsche 917 K

On a list of seven, two spots shouldn’t land at Porsche, unless it’s their anniversary year and the 901 prototype is followed by a working 917 K that is very loud indeed. Spewing equal amounts of smoke and anger, the turbocharged and air-cooled 4.9-liter V-12 in this 1970-spec, aerodynamically-improved Kurzheck version produces around 580 horsepower. Wearing its original Martini & Rossi livery, this particular 917 K debuted at Salzburg before heading to America in 1972 for Porsche dealer Vasek Polak. Since 2005, it’s been regularly heated up at historic events while normally camping out in Belgium. Yes, this is Christophe Count d’Ansembourg’s #020 Porsche 917 K, and we shall see it in action again.

That’s seven that had a big effect on me, without the mention of my favorite Cadillac-Ghia that will instead spawn a full feature, the striking Duesenberg that took the main prize, the Delehaye from 1938 that’s also worth plenty of words, or the maharaja Rolls-Royce specials that were brought over from India as real treats. However, you know what’s a serious power move when you’re at a level to get invited to Concorso d’Eleganza with your car? The guy who owns the Bertone Stratos Zero and uses a Meyers Manx to commute around Como also flew his late 1940s Grumman G-73 Mallard from Los Angeles to Italy, only to circle around the lake all day long during the parade. Few will be looking at a Ferrari 250 GTO while a Grumman Mallard’s pair of air-cooled nine-cylinder Pratt & Whitney radial engines are busy making sure you don’t crash into the comune of Cernobbio.