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What not to miss at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2014

This coming weekend, the classic beauties of the automotive world meet once again at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Classic Driver is already there – and can now bring you the forthcoming highlights of the event…

For the last 14 years, the international automotive collectors’ community has enjoyed the patronage of BMW for its fabulous beauty contest in the gardens of the Grand Hotel Villa d'Este on Lake Como. The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este is – along with Pebble Beach, the Goodwood Revival and the Le Mans Classic – one of the major highlights of the classic calendar. And as always, you can look forward to an exceptional programme.

The Great Gatsby on Lake Como

The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2014 is all about 'The Great Gatsby': on Friday evening, the venerable estates of Villa d'Este and Villa Erba will become glamorous open-air cinemas, starring Leonardo Di Caprio on the silver screen. And on Saturday, Gatsby is back again – this time in the form of a dedicated concours category, where you can look forward to Art Deco cars from Hispano-Suiza, Duesenberg, Rolls-Royce and Packard.

Maserati and Rolls-Royce in focus

On Maserati's 100th birthday, the marque enjoys an entire class to itself, with six important models on display, including a 1929 Maserati V4 Sport with Zagato bodywork and a 1957 Maserati 150 GT prototype. Rolls-Royce, too, with its 110-year history, is another venerable marque represented by six important models from its history – with cars from 1908 through to 1963 – displaying the elegant handiwork of bodyshop legends Barker, Gurney Nutting, Park Ward, Harold Radford and Mulliner. In addition, Saturday will see the debut of the new Waterspeed Collection from Rolls-Royce.

Gone with the Wind

The delights continue, with ‘Gone with the Wind’ an apt way to name a class that sees curvaceous 1930s legends from the likes of Mercedes, Lancia and Bugatti, and ‘Villa d’Este Style’ describing the cream of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Cisitalia from the 1940s and 1950s. ‘From St. Tropez to Portofino’ combines the best elements of 1950s roadsters and convertibles, while such varied style icons of the circuit as the Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France and Fiat 8V come under the label of ‘Gentleman Drivers’. Meanwhile, hardcore racing machines of the calibre of Jaguar D-type and Porsche 904 GTS can be found in the ‘Da Corsa’ class.

Elegance on two wheels

Even the two-wheelers have their own dedicated class – this being the fourth time that the Concorso di Motocicletti has brought top historic racing machines together. Among the participants can be found the oldest known BMW R32.

Future classics

But the very special allure of the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este is in the mix of great classics andfuturistic design studies. This year, six concept cars have been announced, including the spectacular Maserati Alfieri, the acclaimed Volvo Concept Estate, and the Aston Martin DBS Zagato Centennial. We’re also looking forward to two surprising concept studies from BMW Motorrad andMini…

Porsche Carrera GT | Aerial Symphony

With the help of Shifted Cinema, we took a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT out to the Washington countryside to get an elevated perspective on what some call the greatest supercar ever built.

The cultural explosion of custom motorcycles

The Bonneville Flyer #1. Photo by Keith Berrhotos.

Despite a supposed quest for individuality, the custom motorcycle scene used to be decidedly niche, centred around home-grown choppers and café racers built by hardcore enthusiasts; but the last decade or so has seen an explosion of creativity among builders…

The result is that instead of following a set of basic rules (raked-out forks and ape-hanger 'bars for choppers; aluminium tanks, clip-ons and rear sets for café racers), we’re seeing superb design combined with impeccable engineering to transform standard, often down-at-heel motorcycles into the sort of machines of which the customisers of old could only have dreamed. And, best of all, these bikes are made to be used, not just to be looked at.

As a result, the streets are coming alive to the sight and sound of bobbers, choppers, street scramblers, dirt track replicas – and, of course, café racers – which are now regarded as the default choice of wheels for well-heeled cool cats and celebrity bikers ranging from hardcore overlander Charley Boorman to television dancer James Jordan.

Art on two wheels

And, while some still take their ideas from concept to reality using their own fair hands, many prefer to pay whatever it takes for an expert to do the same job. Hence there are more people than ever before who are ready, willing and able to build you a radical, one-off special starting with a bog-standard Triumph Bonneville, Kawasaki W650, Harley Sportster or BMW 'air head' – or in fact, any bike you like so long as you're not fussy about originality.

Classic Driver has featured the stunning, Moto Guzzi-based creations of Hamburg-based engineer Axel Budde's Kaffeemaschine workshop on several occasions – but there are numerous other, equally talented builders around the world rejoicing in such names as Wrenchmonkees, Deus Ex Machina, Rocket Supreme, Revival Cycles, Bandit9 and Ian Berry's celebrated Falcon Motorcycles.

Each has turned 'special' building into an art form, usually by working closely with its clients to create the machine of their dreams in rideable, practical, covetable and utterly exclusive editions of one.

Made to measure

"The whole café racer scene began to boom because people started to want something that was neither a classic chopper nor a conventional, modern road bike nor an ultra-high-performance sports machine," says Nicholas Bech of Copenhagen-based Wrenchmonkees. Wrenchmonkees, established in 2008 by commercial photographer Nicholas Bech and his business partner Per Nielsen, will transform any 'donor' machine into something truly special for a fee of 10,000 euros upwards – and have now built and sold more than 60 bikes.

"We have made motorcycles for everyone from students to high-end businessmen, doctors, lawyers and artists, some of whom had never actually owned a bike before, but had been drawn to the idea after seeing pictures of café racers on the Internet."

Individuality in demand

Indeed, the market is booming to such an extent that even major manufacturers are now approaching niche builders with requests to build café racers based on bikes in their current range. Yamaha, for example, commissioned Wrenchmonkees to produce a 35,000-euro customised version of its XJR1300 street bike, and BMW has collaborated with California's Roland Sands to create the café racer style 'RSD BMW Concept 90' to mark last year's 90th anniversary of BMW motorcycle production and the 40th of the R90S.

"The big names can see that the café racer movement is getting huge and, understandably, they want to be part of it," says Bech.

"Ironically, the only way they can join in is through underground builders like us."

Photos by Sam Christmas, Joe Hitzelberger, Tuala, Keith Berrhotos, Goetz Goeppert, Noah Schutz and Kristina Fender. All photos taken from the new book 'The Ride - New Custom Motorcycles and Their Builders' by Chris Hunter and Robert Klanten, Ⓒ Gestalten Verlag 2014.

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