Como Car Week

Author: Dan Cogger

Schedule more than one automotive event in a single location during the same week and, inevitably, it will be called ‘car week’. Monterey has the original in August and the UK sees its flurry of activity in September, but the latest coining is for the shores of Lake Como in May. While the Concorso d’Eleganza at the Villa d’Este hotel takes centre stage, the build up to it saw two auctions, several manufacturer activations and the now firmly established Fuori Concorso. Here’s our round up, in case you couldn’t be there this year, as we establish whether Como is ready to be given ‘Car Week’ status…

Alfa P3 Crowned Best of Show at Villa d’Este

In what is almost certainly a Villa d’Este first, a single seat Grand Prix car has won Best of Show. The triumphant 1933 Alfa Romeo Tipo B (P3) not only bested the odds-on favourite, Ralph Lauren’s 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 MM, but the traditional coachbuilt beauty queens from Duesenberg, Talbot-Lago and Bugatti too. It follows on from another astounding Alfa win a year ago, with the 1932 8C 2300 Spider by Figoni becoming the first Preservation Class car to win outright.

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P3 chassis #50003 was a Scuderia Ferrari Works GP car for the 1934 season, before being sold to privateer Charlie Martin and painted in his national racing colour of British Racing Green. Martin raced the Alfa with considerable success; at Donington in 1936 alone he and 50003 broke the lap record in May, won in the 25-lap handicap race in July and finished second (to another, newer alfa) in the fearsome Grand Prix. Fascinatingly – and by pure coincidence – the very car which Martin had sold to fund the Alfa Romeo’s purchase, the green 1933 Bugatti Type 59 now owned by Gregory Manocherian, was also shown at Villa d’Este and took ‘Mention of Honour’ in the class it shared with the P3.

50003’s period racing career was only interrupted by the outbreak of WWII, but was still in active use through the 1950s and evermore so as historic racing began to materialise in the 1960s. Always an object of desire, this ex-Works car then found its way into the best collections in the UK, Japan and the USA, before finding its current owner – The Auriga Collection – in Germany more recently.

Winner of the Coppa d’Oro, voted for by public referendum, was Dirk de Groen’s impeccably presented 1957 BMW 507 Roadster. A fitting choice given BMW’s ownership of the event, although many in the audience joked that the number of votes originating from Munich ought to be recounted. Unfounded allegations aside, what the German car giant had actually brought to Como was the resplendent reunion of its 1940 Mille Miglia fleet. At a dedicated display within Villa Erba, where the entire Villa d’Este Concorso decamps on Sunday for the public day, the actual 1940 Mille Miglia-winning 328 Touring Coupe sat proudly among three 328 MM Roasters and BMW’s own recreation of the lost Kamm Coupe.

It felt less easy to pick a winner at Villa d’Este in 2025 than it had been in 2024, and this is likely down to two aspects: 2024’s winner was such a unicorn car with perfect preservation and provenance, and 2025 line-up was so strong throughout that it was far harder for one single car to stand out. Traditionalists may sneer at a grand prix car winning an elegance contest, but the thoroughbred exhaust note and exciting single-seat styling left only smiles in its wake on the day.

Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este Class Winners:

Class A: 1933 Duesenberg SJ Sweep Panel Dual Cowl Phaeton by La Grande of Thomas Maoli (US)
Class C: 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Cabriolet by Vignale of Michael Weisberg (US)
Class D: 1954 Ferrari 250 Monza by Scaglietti of Guiseppe Prevosti (IT)
Class E: 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC by Pininfarina of Tony Owen (US)
Class F: 1993 Bugatti EB110 GT of Maurizio de Angelis (IT)
Class G: 1948 Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport by Saoutchik of Robert Kudela (CZ)
Class H: 1959 Ferrari 410 Superamerica by Pininfarina of Sam Lombardo (US)
Concepts & Prototypes: 2025 Alfa Romeo 8C Doppiacoda Zagato

Records Broken at Broad Arrow Auction

Anticipation was high ahead of Broad Arrow Auctions’ first European sale, with the Hagerty-owned company having taken over the official auction partnership of the Concorso d’Eleganza from RM Sotheby’s. Many believed that this would a difficult partnership to run commercially, unhelped by a generally soft European market.

Certainly RM’s Milan sale on the Thursday of Como Car Week proved an uphill battle for the Canadian auction house, with just a 45% sale rate, but their hard work was rewarded by two knockout Lamborghini results. Against an estimate of €450-650k the black 1989 Countach 25^th Anniversary made €1.13m all-in, while the 1971 Miura SV sold for just-shy of €4m all-in.

For Broad Arro, the two-day sale grossed in excess of €31m and achieved a sale rate of 77%. The highlight lot was the 1948 Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa, which sold above top estimate for a record-breaking all-in price of €7,543,750. It was a stunning result as, while a hugely significant and highly original early Ferrari, this was by no means an easy car to sell in today’s market.

Records were broken among the young timers too, with the Championship White 2003 Honda NSX-R attracting and intercontinental bidding war before finally selling for €934,375 all-in.

While the results were helped by a couple of no-sale cars finding homes quickly after the sale, the mood in the packed saleroom was buoyant and action on the telephones was rarely lacking. As is becoming the norm, many lots hammered away at less than had been estimated, but did sell. Consignors it seems are increasingly realistic to today’s prices and that has the effect of attracting buyers who may not have been able to play at yesterday’s prices. All told, this inaugural European sale has given Broad Arrow a strong foothold on the continent. Great news ahead of both the Pebble Beach auction and its recently announced second European sale, planned for October at the Zoute Concours in Belgium.

Fuori Concorso Establishes Winning Formula

Seven editions in and Fuori Concorso has unquestionably found its place alongside the much grander affair at Villa d’Este. The format is simple, but by no means simplistic: a curated display at the main venue of Villa Grumello, a manufacturer showcase and the adjoining Villa Sucota and assorted displays in the hills above both Villas from manufacturer partners.

For 2025 the theme at Grumello was Velocissimo; a celebration of the legacy of Italian racing cars. Among the gems a selection of cars from the sensational Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile (MAUTO) collection, including one of only two original surviving Lancia-Ferrari D50 Grand Prix cars from 1954, an ex-Fangio GP-winning 1954 Maserati 250F and John Surtees’ 1963 Ferrari 156 F1. All three formed part of a starting grid of Italy’s greatest Formula One cars, which were staggered along Grumello’s long inclined driveway. At the summit was an all-star Ferrari trio: the ex-Michael Schumacher 2006 Ferrari 248 F1, the first customer 1962 250 GTO (#3387GT) and the 2024 Le Mans-winning 499P.

As we’ve come to expect from the organisers at Fuori, no car is placed anywhere by accident and each is perfectly positioned to maximise a photo opportunity. With the backdrop to any image being either Grumello itself, its dramatically mature gardens or the lake it sits astride, any idiot with an iphone can make a car here look heroic. But if you invite a selection of world class photographers with a sizeable social following, which Fuori does on scale, you then have a sell-out event which is the envy of everyone doomscrolling Instagram that weekend.

Alfa Romeo took the place held in 2024 by Aston Martin and its showcase at Villa Sucota was a scarlet symphony of the marque’s greatest four, six and eight cylinder machines; the Kamm-tail trio of TZ2, TZ and brand new 33 Stradale more than holding their own among Alfa’s 1930 6C 1750 Zagato, 1930 P2 Targa Florio and 1933 8C 2300 Touring Spider Grande Dames.

Porsche, Pagani and Koenigsegg returned for 2025, occupying their enviable spots high in the hills above, and were joined this year by Maserati, Vanwall, Gemballa, Apollo and Mercedes-Benz. The latter opted not to showcase any new metal, instead showing off a CLK GTR AMG race car and the ex-Jochen Mass Sauber C11 alongside a portrait of the late Grand Prix and Le Mans winner, who we sadly lost earlier in May.

HFMSTRS x Ultrace

In a distinctly concerted effort to attract younger enthusiasts, and with support from the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este’s parent company BMW, Villa Erba played host to a private collaboration between The Hofmeisters and Club de Ultrace. Celebrating all things BMW with “hand picked cars from our inner circle”, the event brought out the best Munich modders and genuine unicorns (E36 M3GT anyone?).

Championing individuality within a devout BMW community, the Friday night party fulfilled its ambition to be Como’s best kept secret. Nestled behind the impressive Villa Erba the DJ booths, sundowner cocktails and German lager provided the ultimate juxtaposition to Villa d’Este’s Champagne and brass band.

Such was the calibre of this private soiree, BMW M chose it to unveil its new M2 CS. Although, among this crowd, it’s easy to imagine that most were already concocting ideas as to how it could be lowered, widened and made to fit a set of BBS split-rims.

Como Car Week – Worth the hype?

You bet. Como has forever been and forever will be one of the most beautiful places in the world and with a new batch of vibrant events, in addition to the historic Concorso, there has never been a better reason to be there in late-May. Carspotters and the enthusiastic under-30s now outnumber the over-60s noticeably; if perhaps not quite at the exclusive (ahem, expensive) Saturday at the Concorso d’Eleganza, then certainly everywhere else. But, whether your main interest lay in prewar Alfa’s or 1990s BMWs, this week succeeds in bringing all together where each will discover something for the first time. A ‘Car Week’ it most definitely is.