Events

Lamborghini & Design Concorso d’Eleganza 2019

27.09.2019

As in the previous year, Lamborghini Polo Storico held its own beauty contest this September (19th to 21st), the ‘Lamborghini & Design Concorso d’Eleganza’ in Italy. The participants met in beautiful Venice and drove from there on the road to Trieste. As main theme they selected the life’s work of the Italian architect Gae Auletani (1927 to 2012), who was born near Trieste and is still known today as an ambassador for Italian design and architecture. A total of 36 vehicles from 1964 to 1991 as well as some examples from Lamborghini’s factory collection took part. On Friday, 19 September, the journey went over 200 kilometers of country roads to the small coastal town of Portopiccolo near Trieste. Here the sports cars were set up near the harbour and on Saturday morning the expert jury carried out their judgements. While they evaluated their documents for the award ceremony in the evening, the participants again went on an extensive tour to the Piazza Unità d’Italia in Trieste, where the colorful group of sports cars met with great interest from passers-by.

Then they followed the paths of the legendary hillclimb race Trieste-Opicina in the direction of Slovenia, made a small loop across the border and returned to Portopiccolo for dinner. Afterwards there was a presentation about some life stations of Gae Auletani by her granddaughter Nina Artioli. Only after that the long awaited award ceremony of the Concorso d’Eleganza took place. The overall victory ‘Best in Show’ this time went to a Lamborghini 350 GT from a Swiss collection, which also won the class A ‘Front Engine Dawn’. With its chassis number 102 it can be proven beyond doubt that this is the first Lamborghini ever sold to a private customer. The other class winners at a glance:

  • Class B – ‘Rear Engine Revolution’ – Lamborghini Miura P400 S, chassis number 4863
  • Class C – ‘Longitudinale Posteriore’ – Lamborghini Countach ‘Walter Wolf’, chassis number 1120002
  • Class D – ‘Towards the Future’ – Lamborghini Diablo SV, chassis number ZA9DE21A0XLA12178
  • Class E – ‘Modern Dreams’ – Lamborghini Centenario Prototype, chassis number ZHWEC1478CLA00058
  • Class F – ‘New Frontiers’ – Lamborghini LM002, chassis number ZA9L00000HLA12065

In addition, the Lamborghini expert jury awarded some special prizes, which we would also like to list here:

  • ‘Lamborghini Preservation’ – Lamborghini Countach 25° Anniversario, chassis number ZA9C005A0KLA12029
  • ‘Lamborghini Movie Star’ – Lamborghini Miura P400 from ‘The Italian Job’, chassis number 3586
  • ‘Longest Journey’ – Lamborghini Urraco P250 S, chassis number 15416, travelled on road 1,278 kilometers for this event
  • ‘Longest Ownership’ – Lamborghini Islero S, chassis number 6543, owned by the same family for 40 years
  • ‘Lamborghini Milestone’ – Lamborghini Countach ‘Walter Wolf’, chassis number 1120002

The jury included the journalist and automotive historian Stefano Pasini, Silvia Nicolis (President of the Museo Nicolis), Stephen Bailey (design critic and historian), Gary Bobileff (President of the Bobileff Motorcar Company in the USA), Mark Dixon (Octane Editor), Hidetomo Kimura (President of the Kyoto Concours d’Elegance), Peter Read (President of the Motoring Department of the Royal Automobile Club) and Andrea Nicoletto (President of the Lamborghini Club Italia), all absolute experts in their field. Understandably, they didn’t make their task easy with all the vehicles available for selection, as the evaluation criteria ultimately produced clear results. The 1968 Riva Aquarama, once owned by Ferruccio Lamborghini and equipped with his own V12 engines, was also mentioned. This was the starting point for the racing boat engines offered by Lamborghini for some times. In addition, in the foyer of the hotel in Portopiccolo, there were eight Ducati motorcycles from Lamborghini’s Ducati brand, showing an overview of their history from 1946 to the present day.

Images: Lamborghini