BMW has been part of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este since 2005, becoming the main partner of the venue in the meantime. The world’s most exclusive show of its kind, the Concorso held on the shores of Lake Como in Italy, draws car enthusiasts from around the world every year, with timeless classics showcased for the entire world to revel in their bespoke beauty. It is also the scene where BMW decided to launch some of its most progressive and breathtaking concepts over the years.
This year we had the chance to see the German manufacturer bring an iconic car back to life in the shape of the 8 Series Concept. It may be just a foretelling of what lies ahead but the minds of every BMW fan out there are now swirling with ruminations of how the production model will be looking in the end. And while that would’ve been enough to make this year’s edition one to remember, the line-up of cars from all eras and all over the world was nonetheless adding even more panache to the whole thing.
In case you missed the show, BMW put together a small summary of the venue in the shape of a short video posted at the bottom of this page. The theme for this year was “Around the world in 80 days – Voyage through an Era of Records” and it truly lived up to its name. Bystanders and visitors got to see various record holders from different eras, such as the winner of the Coppa d’Oro, a 1935 single seater Lurani Nibbio. While it may not be known to a lot of people these days, this 46 HP, 2-cylinder powered beauty used to set quite a lot of world speed records back in the day.
On the motorcycle side of things, the 1933 Puch 250 Indien-Rise claiming the number one spot, a real globe-trotter made in Austria. Of course, these are just some of the highlight of the show as the enormous amount of stories and special models present on the scene would probably take up several days to go through in detail. Now that it’s all over, we’re anxiously waiting to see what next year will bring.
