This May will see the 85th running of the annual Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este event on the idyllic setting of Lake Como, Italy. As with many concours events, there will be a theme and this year's will be the 'Roaring Twenties', paying particular attention to the glitz and glamour of the period. In addition to displaying cars of significant importance from that era, the grounds of the Villa Erba parkland will be transformed into a spectacular open-air cinema where organisers will show the recent version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby'.
The 110th anniversary of Rolls-Royce and the centenary of Maserati will be marked during the event. A special exhibition will be opened displaying the history of the British carmaker while Maserati will be hoping to gain further glory in the special competition class of the concours event by way of an historic 450 S from 1956 - one of only nine ever produced.
It will be the tenth time that BMW Group Classic will host the event and in addition to displaying some of its most historically important cars, it often uses the weekend to unveil one of its latest concepts. In recent years cars stunning design studies such as the 328 Homage Speedster, Gran Lusso Coupé, Z4 Zagato Coupé and of course the recent M1 Homage all made their first public appearance.
This year will be no different, as BMW has confirmed that it will unveil a pair of design studies in both four- and two-wheel forms, although the German firm has remained tight-lipped regarding any further details on just what might be shown.
Anything else?
This year's event will also be the first in which motorcycles are classed by judges, with a total of 35 classic motorcycles being registered for the competition. Among them will be examples from US brands ACE and Henderson, while BMW will also be represented by an R 32 bearing the serial number 26 - thought to be the oldest known example of its type. The event will run from May 23 to 25.