This Ferrari is the grand winner of the 2023 Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza, recalling an era when automotive design was an art

Last weekend, on the shores of Lake Como in Italy, a new edition of the Concorso d'Eleganza de la Villa d'Este took place, the classic car contest that can be boldly called the most exclusive, sophisticated and at the same time adored in the world. The big winner of this year's Coppa d'Oro is a Ferrari, a fact that sounds almost natural and cliched, but a simple closer look at this model reminds us of an era when car design was taken to the level of art.

It is enough to look at its lines, how harmoniously they flow along the body, to look at its proportions in the general picture and then the hundreds of small details in each wheel spoke, each door handle. Simply nothing seems to have been overlooked, the work of art had to be complete in its every point, from whatever angle it was viewed.

The car is a Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder from 1961, therefore the roof is removable and it was put here because this year it rained a little on the shores of Lake Como. And the 250 GT index means that under the hood is that glorious Ferrari engine, which had 250 cubic cm per cylinder, and had 12 cylinders in total. It is, therefore, one of the cars to which the brilliant Italian engineer, Gioto Bizzarrini, who passed away a the beginning of this month, gave his attribution .

Naturally, the car is brought to an impeccable condition down to the smallest detail, as befits the specimens that come to the Concorso d'Eleganza. The car was voted by the public, but to understand what the public vote means in this contest — it is done on the first day, where access is only offered to owners of collector cars, the press, and those who dare to pay about 500 euros per an entry ticket, usually also collectors or deeply passionate about classic cars. Therefore, the public vote is usually formed anyway by those very knowledgeable and close to classic cars.

And this Ferrari took the grand prize, as well as the jury's prize in its category, convertibles. Therefore, the car went home with two cups, including the most desired cup of this competition, which will automatically increase the value of the car even more.

The car is listed as belonging to a collection house in Hong Kong, but often this is a formality to entrust the car to specialists in its perfect maintenance and at the same time to keep the name of the final owner in a more discreet area.