All posts in “Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza”

The one-off Isdera Commendatore 112i in action

Who remembers the Isdera Commendatore 112i? This one-off was made in 1993 by Eberhard Schulz who also developed the CW311 prototype unveiled at the local 1978 IAA, powered by the same V12 Mercedes-Benz M120 engine as a Pagani Zonda, Isdera, an abbreviation for Ingenieurbüro fur Styling, DEsign und RAcing created the Isdera Spyder 036i in 1982, a very rare car today as only 17 were built, but Schulz really wanted to create a road-going version of that CW311 prototype … which became the Isdera Imperator 108i in 1983.

1993 Isdera Commendatore 112i Rémi Dargegen © 2020 RM Sothebys

In 1993 Isdera unveiled the next step in design and performance … the Commendatore 112i, a car named in honor of Enzo Ferrari himself, this new model took the Imperator idea to the extreme. Installing a V12 engine underneath two gullwing-style engine covers, delivering 400 hp from its 6-Liter displacement, dual overhead camshafts, and coupled to a manual gearbox through a bespoke flywheel (Mercedes only had developed an automatic gearbox for this engine). RUF delivered the Porsche gearbox for the Commendatore with an additional sixth gear … which resulted in a theoretical top speed of 340km/h (211 mph), during wind tunnel testing this one-off prototype reached the magical 200 mph speed (322 km/h) … in 1993!

1993 Isdera Commendatore 112i Rémi Dargegen © 2020 RM Sothebys

Massive BBS racing wheels were used and Schulz had every intention to build a few road-legal cars and have a racing variant enter the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France … but in 1993 a major economic downfall occurred in Japan from where most of Isdera’s funding came from, so the company was forced into a restructuring and the Commendatore 112i project was halted. It would take 23 years for them to manage to buy this unique prototype back from the new owner in 2016, with only 10,500 km on the counter, it was rebuilt for road use and even had a license plate and registration now.

1993 Isdera Commendatore 112i Rémi Dargegen © 2020 RM Sothebys

After a complete restoration to 1993 specs, this unique supercar from the Nineties was put up for auction at the famous RM Sotheby’s house where this amazing car changed hands for €1,113,125 (about US$1,350,000) in February 2021, and it hasn’t been seen in public … until the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2021 edition where the new owner drove the car, enjoy the video below:

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Just amazing how that rear ‘wing’ pops up whenever the driver steps on the brakes, at high speed this would work as an air brake in fact, and that was made back in 1993, also note the ‘periscope’ rearview mirror on the roof, there is actually a window above the driver to look into that mirror … just an amazing car altogether.

Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este Gives Coveted Design Award To The Pure-Electric Battista

At the 2021 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, the production ready Automobili Pininfarina Battista had an award-winning European debut bagging the event’s most coveted Design Award.

In Monterey Car Week, the pure-electric hyper GT already made its appearance in an unseen specification. It was in August when it made its successful world premiere joining the exclusive Battista Anniversario to celebrate the example’s debut in the US.

On October 1-3, the Battista made its first public debut as a bespoke specification of the pure electric hyper GT. At Villa d’Este, on the shores of Lake Como, just a few hours away from the Cambiano production facility of Automobili Pininfarina, the Battista was given the Design Award.

Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi
Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi

Automobili Pininfarina Chief Design Officer Luca Borgogno shared, “We took a unique Battista to Villa d’Este to showcase the diverse colour and material choices that our discerning clients can choose from when personalising their vehicle. To win the Design Award is a fantastic way for us to begin the countdown to making our first customer deliveries later this year. It’s always exciting for us to show new bespoke combinations of the Battista in different parts of the world, but especially so in our home country alongside other legendary classic Pininfarina-designed masterpieces.”

The prestigious Design Award given at Villa d’Este, which came from votes by event guests is another laurel given to the pure-electric masterpiece. It has been given GC’s Electric Hypercar of the Year award, and Electrifying.com’s Electric Dream award under the Concept Cars & Prototypes category.

Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi
Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi

Gorgeous Finish

Automobili Pininfarina unveiled a truly distinct and sophisticated version of the typical color combination at Villa d’Este. The finish brought the beautiful proportions and elegant design of the Battista in a completely different level.

The Battista was hand-finished in a striking Verde Paradiso metallic paint. Its front nose and rear wing were given the Carbon Accent Pack on the rear diffuser and lower body. The Black Exposed Signature Carbon elements were paired with a Nero finish to give it the trademark ‘Goccia roof’. The Exterior Jewelry Pack gave it its anodized aluminum accents.

Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi
Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi

Complementing the exterior color scheme is the precision-polished forged aluminum Impulso Gloss Black alloy wheels that had brushed anodized aluminum center-lock rings, with the brake calipers painted in simple silver.

The interior is decked in sustainable Tan leather upholstery with quilting to give it an even more luxurious atmosphere. The GT seats were given matching Tan seatbelts, with the Black Exposed Signature Carbon detail giving a great contrast. The Interior Jewelry Pack gave it brushed anodized aluminum detailing, matched with a black finish for the steering wheel and floor mats.

Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi
Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi

Final Stage of Development

The European debut of the production-ready Battista came just after a highly successful world premiere in California at the Monterey Car Week.

It was the first time that US clients were able to experience the production-specification Battista on the road. Only a limited run of a maximum of 150 units of Battistas will be produced. During the event, it was displayed beside an even more exclusive Battista Anniversario, of which only five units will be made.

The production of the pre-series Battista is now complete, so the first clients can expect their pure-electric Hyper GT to be delivered around the end of the year.

Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi
Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi Verde Paradiso Battista © Eros Maggi

The Countach is back!

Some of the more avid Lamborghini enthusiasts were rather disappointed when the company from Sant’Agata unveiled the Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 in Pebble Beach during the 2021 edition of Monterey Car Week in the United States of America, while the idea of celebrating the 50th anniversary of probably the most iconic Lamborghini ever appealed to many, the resulting homage model didn’t get a warm welcome by all, especially not the older generation of both owners and fans that hold the classic Countach from the Seventies and Eighties in their heart.

Lamborghini released a contemporary interpretation of the classic Countach but was forced to use the underpinnings from the current Aventador, and while both are constructed in Sant’Agata and come with a massive V12 engine and feature the well-known upward opening, scissor doors … that is where the similarities end. There are some styling queues to be recognized in the 2021 edition, but not enough according to many, while the 112 units in the limited production run of the new Countach LPI 800-4 sold out even before the official public unveiling, each at an MSRP of US$2,600,000 before options and taxes, a lot of people would have loved to see a more traditionally styled homage to her majesty the Lamborghini Countach.

In comes a big-time Lamborghini collector, who got talking to Lamborghini back in 2017 and had one request for their in-house restoration department, the celebrated Polo Storico: build me a 1971 Countach LP500 prototype. I’m sure he had a blanc cheque in his hand to convince Lamborghini to actually build a replica of the actual prototype shown at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show from scratch, because the real car had a very hard life during the development of the Countach between 1971 and 1974, only to have it end up against the barrier for crash-testing at MIRA in the UK, the real prototype was lost, it doesn’t exist anymore.

Now you have to understand Automobili Lamborghini SpA didn’t always have ‘keeping records’ high on their ‘to do’ list, so that made this challenge rather difficult for Polo Storico: there is no car to use as a base, no original to take measurements from, and the actual Lamborghini Countach LP400 that still exist aren’t even built on the same chassis as the 1971 prototype, the latter had a steel plate chassis while the production car was built around a stunning, round tubed spaceframe.

Giuliano Cassataro, Head of Service and Polo Storico even stated: “The collection of documents was crucial, there had been so much attention paid to all the details of the car, to their overall consistency and to the technical specifications.” … Lamborghini had to dig through whatever records they managed to find, some of the original drawings were unearthed, but photos and magazine articles from the actual prototype published back in the Seventies had to be sourced from outside of the factory, they even had to enlist the help of Centro Stile to make this dream come true for that one fortunate client.

As the overall dimensions of the prototype were more or less similar to the Countach LP400, Mitja Borkert had the green production prototype from the factory museum taken into a massive 3D scanner for digitalization, it would take the Centro Stile another 2,000 hours of combining the scanned data with photos, articles, actual homologation sheets, and even relying on the memory of people that worked on the prototype back in the Seventies to have a perfect digital model of the real car … time to pass it on to Polo Storico now for the actual build.

To recreate the Lamborghini Countach LP500 as accurately as possible, the artisans at Polo Storico reverted to the metal hammering method used fifty years ago, going so far as to employ real “battilastra” with their inherited creativity and old-school tools from the Seventies, it would take over 25,000 hours to get to the result that was unveiled at the 2021 edition of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, and she is a beauty for sure.

The attention to detail also went into the engine, remember the prototype had an experimental 5-Liter V12 that didn’t make it into production, the Countach LP400 came with a 4-Liter V12, but for this recreation rumor has it they made a bespoke 4.8-Liter unit just to make it period-correct, right down to the gold-finished covers, which were black on the LP400 production version.

But that’s not the only return to the Seventies, the 1971 Lamborghini Countach LP500 was fitted with Pirelli Cinturato CN12 tires, these no longer exist today, but the archives of Fondazione Pirelli still had the original plans for this old tire, complete with images and preserved materials, so it was possible for the Milanese company to make four Cinturato CN12 in the Pirelli Collezione series to be fitted to the recreation, 245/60R14 for the front and 265/60R14 for the rear, fitted with the identical tread pattern and aesthetics from 1971, but using a modern compound and structure for safety.

And then we come to one of the things I personally felt strongly about when Lamborghini unveiled the Countach LPI 800-4 … the color, the new, limited edition homage was unveiled in Bianco Siderale, pearl metallic white, while the car it celebrates was finished in yellow … fortunately this bespoke commission for the Countach LP500 was done in the exact same shade the original car had in 1971, recreated specifically for this build by PPG, the LP500 was painted in ‘Giallo Fly Speciale’, and combined with the black leather interior this looks just right … exactly how she should look.

Please enjoy this official video from Lamborghini on the most important car in their history, the Lamborghini Countach, a true icon in automotive history:

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