Ralph

OK, strange title. I had a lot of ideas for todays theme, but in the end I've decided for this picture. A visit to the Concorso d'Eleganza at the Villa d'Este on Lake Como. My first time and I can't believe I have never put this on my radar before... Amazing event- with so many one-off and rare cars - and the chance to get up close and even see them moving about for the afternoon parade and awards ceremony.

There were also a lot of personalities from the higher echolons of the automotive world if one knew who they were (me - no!).... The lead designer of BMW Mr. Andrian Van Hooydonk, the lead designer of Aston Martin, Mr. Marek Reichman and the CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez, Mr. Alois Ruf famous for souping up Porsche's, Mr. Andrea Zagato!, etc etc etc... awesome awesome awesome! There were other personalities from the world at large too, but I am not really a good papparazzi and don't remember anyone's name. Anyway, I took more than 600 pictures if that tells you anything. I will try to put a few up on Flickr in the following days.

This car was the grand winner of the weekend. It is a 1938 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic and the proud owner is none less than Mr. Ralph Lauren. As I understand of the four built, only two are existing today. The second one sold in auction in 2010 for more than $30 million... It is so beautiful from any angle that you look at it and way beyond it's time... also something akin to Captain Nemo's Nautilus... interesting the decision to rivit the seems and leave as a design detail!

This is definitely not my favorite picture of the day, but I find it interesting all the same catching another photographer at the front end. Mr. Mark Reinwald is at the helm, the currator of Mr. Lauren's car museum.

Here is a link to my photo set on Flickr! Concorso d'Eleganza