There are petrolheads who turn their head when they hear the dark sound of a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG but there are even more crazy petrolheads. Those who drive from the Netherlands to Switzerland after work to sleep, drive through the Alps and eventually arrive at Lake Como. At Lake Como, they enjoy two lovely days before they head back to the Netherlands.
A perfect reason for this trip is Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, an event that shows that the BMW group isn’t vulgar, because BMW founded this concorso in 1929. It disappeared after World War II but was revived in 2000. BMW also puts a lot of money in the creation of beautiful Art Cars, something really classy. This year, the concorso took place on 23, 24 and 25 May.
I tried to get rich with gambling, so I could buy a Phantom which automatically gives you access to the very exclusive night on Friday which gives you the right to walk around on the domain of Villa d’Este. Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed so I had to visit the B-location: the Villa d’Erba, which wasn’t very unpleasant either. The cars which I couldn’t see on Saturday showed up on Sunday on an enormous podium.
Highlights of the show was the room of Rolls-Royce, where I talked with the British man responsible for the choice of materials in the interior of all Rolls-Royces. He wasn’t too happy about the fact that Aston Martin and Bentley ruined their exclusive character and he was hoping that the same would not happen with Rolls-Royce and their upcoming SUV.
Outside, I found a special selection of BMW bikes, because these bikes also belong to the concorso since a few yeras. During my walk I met a man from New York who was very proud about the fact that he owned the oldest private BMW bike in the world.
BMW owed it to themselves to not only offer Italian wine and champagne, they had to keep up the Hofbräuhaus and that’s why they transformed one of their creations from the fifties into a driving bar. It was a great and very surprising weekend at Villa d’Este!
