Concorso Eleganza Villa d`Este 2015: The gravel square of the beautiful and the rich

Instead of colorful, silvery flags, the leaves of the plane trees on the promenade are blowing in the wind. A glorious May day makes chrome trim sparkle, paint shine and people smile. M otor Klassik editor Alf Cremers selected his personal top ten and because the motto of this year's glamor show on Lake Como is the seventies, they are the same three from this very lively era in automotive history: Pegaso Z-102 from 1954 with Saoutchik body

With Pegaso and Saoutchik, two eccentrics have looked for and found each other and this liaison is indeed congenial. I chose it precisely because this aesthetic masterpiece on this Concorso is overshadowed by its even more exalted brother Pegaso Z-102 'Cupula'. The Cupula is now being traded by insiders as the 'Best of Show', so I have to promote the Saoutchik as a reminiscence to this great Parisian coachman of Russian origin, which could have been the father of Zagato. The pool-blue luxury convertible looks out into the world with big Packard eyes, looks small and cute on the one hand, and a bit nasty on the other. But it always says, I'm something very special. The technology is at least as unusual as the aluminum body on a tubular space frame based on the Superleggera principle. Pegaso was a Spanish truck manufacturer that was absorbed into Iveco in the 1970s. Two decades earlier, ENASA, a Spanish state-owned company to which Pegaso belonged, wanted to show Ferrari and the world what a sports car is. The Z-102 shows the finest design features: transaxle drive with DeDion rear axle, a 2.8 liter V8 with four camshafts and 230 hp. Nevertheless, it was not enough for success, from 1951 to 1958 only 125 Pegaso Z-102s were built.

. But as befits BMW, the emphasis on the M is in the middle, namely on the mid-engine. It became the six-cylinder of the century, behind which Porsche with its 911 engine had to hide in shame. 3.5 liter displacement, 24 valves, two overhead camshafts, healthy 277 hp down to the depths of the lavishly dimensioned connecting rod bearings and a sound that is more exciting than Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. My renewed encounter with the icon M1 is crowned here in Cernobbio Jochen Neerpasch, the race director at the time and responsible for the concept. The owner of this black devil is Juan Felipe Garcia. We pose together in the greatestHappiness. The M1 is not only addictive, but happy. Hey Juan, let's start, we want to hear it, this terrific BMW engine!

And finally a few lines Best of Show: Ferrari 166 MM, Touring body, 1950

A visually at least rather unpretentious car won the coveted Coppa d'Oro des Concorso d`Eleganza Villa D`Este. The jury quickly agreed : That's him. A small Barchetta from the very early days of the legendary brand with the 'Cavallo Rampante' has overtaken them all, the special roadsters, the open tourers, the Phaetons, the Gran Turismo and the Berlinettas. The Ferrari 166 MM premiered at the Turin Salon in 1948. Only 25 copies with the small two-liter V12 from Colombo with two overhead camshafts were built. The power is around 140 hp. This one with the chassis number 64 belonged to Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli as the first owner. In 1952 the charming Barchetta was sold to the four-time Le Mans winner Olivier Gendebien. Ferrari Numero 64 achieved its first overall victory in Spa. Its current owner Jacques Swaters from Belgium sold the car six times and bought it back again until he completely restored it in 1966. Then the 166 MM caused a sensation as a famous exhibit, first in the MoMa New York, then in the Berlin National Gallery and in the 'Idea Ferrari' project. The Swaters family affectionately calls the little two-tone Barchetta Nonna.

Congratulations, Nonna!