Couldn’t get to the 2016 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este? We’ve got the story!

17 October, 2016

Villa d’Este is not only home to beautiful people, it has also been home to the world of beautiful motor cars since 1929, when the first Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este took place.

Originally the event demonstrated the latest vehicles built by the great coachbuilders of the time, but since the 1990s it has become the pre-eminent celebration of classic cars.

The 2016 Concorso once again displayed the very best of the best in the automobile world, with just 52 classic cars, six prototypes and concept cars, and 30 motorbikes, all divided into appropriate groups to be judged by the jury, which included Charles Lord March — organizer of the Goodwood Revival, Adolfo Orsi — the Maserati expert, and a host of top car designers led by Lorenzo Ramaciotti, formerly head of design at Pininfarina, chief design officer of the Fiat Group, and now special advisor to the CEO of the Fiat Chrysler Automobile Group.

We’ve put together a gallery from the event for you to explore to try to evoke the feeling of being in amongst the action!

Check out our full story in the November issue of New Zealand Classic Car (Issue No. 311).


Bronze treasure unearthed

The car was put away in favour of something more practical, and when his father was unable to drive any more, Matt’s friend asked him to come and take a look at his dad’s old Holden. It turned out this was one of those phone calls that leads to that feeling of pure joy in the classic car world — the ‘barn find’ that turns out to be even better than expected. The HT Monaro had been put to bed some years before and had not seen the light of day since. Layers of dust and boxes of junk littered her undercarriage and bodywork and access points all around.

NZ Classic Car magazine, September/October 2026 issue 407, on sale now

We love bugs!
A bit of TLC that became a major restoration
The 1302S, or ‘Super Beetle’ as it became known, was built for two years before it, too, was replaced by a further-enhanced Beetle, the 1303, continuing an amazing 65-year lineage for one of the World’s best-known shapes.
The world’s best-selling single-model vehicle, the VW Beetle, possibly established another record for the amount of controversy it has created since the inception of the Type 1.
In a meeting with Hitler in June 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was contracted to build a ‘People’s Car’ that could accommodate two adults and three children, was air-cooled and simple to maintain, and could cruise economically at moderate speed along Germany’s proposed new Autobahns.
Our feature car, a 1972 1302S ‘Super Beetle’, was found by Dave and Michelle Dickie in Mosgiel a few years back. It was a runner, but like most VWs of this age, it needed a little TLC. They were looking for a daily driver for Michelle when they first came upon the VW being sold locally on behalf of its owner.
“The owner offered it to his grandchildren, and they didn’t want it, so he got the guy out at Mosgiel in the Mobil petrol station to sell it for him, and he put it on Trade Me for them. We never met the owner, and we were always dealing with the guy at the petrol station. We put a bid on it, and we were the only people that bid on it.”
Their bid was eventually successful, eight years ago. Not knowing much of the history, in situations like that, it’s always a risk buying a car, but they were in for a bit of a surprise.