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2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!

All future Maseratis will borrow styling cues from the MC20

Maserati's recently-unveiled MC20 coupe points to the direction stylists will take the rest of the company's range in during the 2020s. Its proportions will remain unique – the company isn't about to make the family-friendly Levante mid-engined – but its front end and its pure, simplified approach to design will permeate other models. "The face of the MC20, with the low-mounted grille and the headlights positioned much higher on the fascia, is our new design language," affirmed Klaus Busse, the head of the company's design department. He added it's a look that draws inspiration from past models, including the limited-edition MC12 built between 2004 and 2005. Lighting technology has evolved considerably since the middle of the 2000s, so designers and engineers are now able to use LEDs to give Maserati's future models a more distinctive-looking face, especially at night. Autoblog understands the second-generation GranTurismo scheduled to make its debut in 2021 will be the first MC20-inspired model. Its styling cues will also influenced the Grecale, a smaller SUV positioned below the Levante and possibly related to the Alfa Romeo Stelvio. Maserati's aim isn't to end up with a range of nesting doll-like models that all look the same, so expect to see variations of the MC20 theme as the line-up develops. Busse also shared insight about how his team shaped the MC20 (pictured). Early on, he insisted the car shouldn't receive oversized air inlets or a park bench-sized wing on the back. His team consequently integrated all of the components that create downforce below the axle line, which runs through the middle of the wheels. It's a pure, simple approach to design that will characterize future models, meaning they'll be sporty in a subtle, elegant way. Related Video:    

Bid on the very first Maserati Ghibli Spyder [w/video]

In reviving the Ghibli nameplate, Maserati may have applied it to a sedan this time around. But the original Maserati Ghibli was a coupe – and as anyone who knows their history of exotic Italian automobiles will tell you, it also bred a convertible. What you see here is the first example, and now it's going up for auction during Monterey Car Week. Maserati only built 128 examples of the Ghibli Spyder, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro for Ghia, making it a highly sought-after roadster and an icon of its time. This Ghibli – bearing chassis number AM115/S 1001 – wasn't merely one of them. It was the factory prototype, the one which the Modenese automaker displayed at both the Turin Motor Show in 1968 and the Geneva Motor Show in '69. The production models that followed featured some subtle changes, particularly to the trunk, filler caps, and door handles. But rather than hold on to the prototype, Maserati sold this yellow show car when it was done with it. The roadster was bought by one Ruggiero Capuano in 1969, who had it for six years before selling it to Libero Girardi, an Italian-American and Ferrari mechanic in Rhode Island, who in turn transferred ownership to John Ferro, his son-in-law. Ferro drove it for over a decade before putting it in storage for the better part of 30 years. Its current owner bought it from Ferro, took it out of storage, and put it on the concours circuit, picking up numerous trophies along the way. Having been properly stored, the Ghibli Spyder never required much restoration, and remains in highly original condition. That ought to make it a hot item even among the other notable lots that RM Sotheby's has lined up for Monterey this year. Though the auction house isn't saying how much it expects the prototype to sell for, Sports Car Market records that a Ghibli Spyder (also in yellow) was sold by Artcurial in Paris last year for over $1 million. Considering the provenance and condition of this prototype, we'd expect it to sell for even more. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Featured Gallery 1968 Maserati Ghibli Spyder Prototype - AM115/S 1001 View 41 Photos News Source: RM Sotheby'sImage Credit: Darin Schnabel/RM Maserati Auctions Convertible Concept Cars Classics Pebble Beach RM Sotheby's maserati ghibli