Distinguished guests. Special exhibitions at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este.

Munich/Como. In addition to the concours vehicles, the Concorso
d'Eleganza Villa d'Este also stages special exhibitions every year that
revolve around a specific automotive designer or brand. The 2009 event
sees BMW, Bugatti, Morgan and the Prototype Museum in Hamburg bringing
to Lake Como a range of vehicles that is unique in the world. The
special exhibitions will be open in the grounds of Villa Erba on the
public day, Sunday 26 April. 80 years of automobiles with the
blue-and-white emblem When BMW looks back on its 80-year heritage in
automotive construction at this year's Concorso, visitors can expect to
encounter some rare beauties on four wheels. Among them will be a BMW
303, the first Bavarian car to sport the twin-kidney radiator grille,
as well as a BMW 502, which earned its place in the automotive annals
as the so-called "baroque angel". Cars from the sixties such
as the BMW 2002 and the founder models of the BMW series in the
seventies are also among the exhibits. BMW presents a special highlight
in the form of all its legendary roadsters spanning the past 75 years:
from the 315/1 and 319/1 to the 328 and 507, all the way to the Z1, Z3
and Z8, as well as the latest addition to the family - the new BMW Z4.
100 years of Bugatti - four specials for Villa d'Este As part of the
events marking the centenary of the brand, Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
will present four special models of the Bugatti Veyron during the Villa
d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza weekend of 25/26 April. They are meant to
recall Bugatti's glorious racing history, which played such a pivotal
role in raising the brand profile and fostered the legendary image that
Bugatti enjoys today. The four Bugatti Veyron models sport the racing
colours of the relevant countries: blue for France, red for Italy,
green for Britain and white for Germany. All four cars have an
immediate "predecessor" in the shape of a Bugatti type 35 -
the brand's most successful racing car - lining up alongside the
corresponding new model. These four historic 35s represent the
generation of the legendary Bugatti Grand Prix racers that recorded
countless victories in the 1920s with world-famous racing drivers at
the wheel. The names of four of these drivers are bywords for these
achievements, and it is after them that today's Veyron
"successors" have been named: Jean-Pierre Wimille for the blue
Veyron, Achille Varzi for the red, Malcolm Campbell for the green and
Herrmann zu Leiningen for the white model. The owners of these four
Type 35 models enthusiastically declared themselves willing to take
part in this project. "We made every effort to transfer the
defining attributes of the historic race cars to the modern Veyron
models," stresses Alasdair Stewart, Director Sales & Marketing
Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. "The colours, for example, have been
faithfully mixed based on the originals, and the shade of the relevant
interior upholstery is meticulously reflected in the leather of these
new specials." The upshot of this collaboration is a spectacular
bridging of the brand's racing past and the current state of Veyron
production. The eight vehicles will be unveiled for the very first time
on Sunday and will line up at Villa Erba side by side - four pairs in
the same four colours. 100 years of Morgan - a sense of adventure 100
years ago HFS Morgan designed a 3-wheeler for people with little money
but a sense of adventure. It was popular because it was one of the most
reliable light cars, and stripped down also made a successful racing
car. In 1914 a Morgan Runabout won the French Cyclecar Grand Prix. In
spite of the success on the racetrack, by the 1930s three-wheeler sales
had declined. HFS Morgan had to come up with a new design. In 1936 he
announced the Morgan Four Four, a light sports car with four wheels and
four cylinders. From the start the Morgan was making its name in
competition and finished well at Le Mans in 1938 and 1939. This iconic
design, hugely improved and developed, is still produced today. In the
right amateur hands the Morgan could take on international competition
and achieved a class win at Le Mans in 1962. The end of this period saw
the birth of the Morgan Plus Eight, a light car fitted with a
small-capacity aluminium V8, a model which was in production for over
35 years. Early 2000 saw the launch of the Aero Eight. The first car to
use Alcan's Aluminium Intensive Vehicle technology to create a strong,
stiff chassis, the Aero Eight also marked the start of a successful
collaboration with BMW, giving Morgan access to the most advanced
powertrain technology in the world. The Morgan Aero Eight has competed
at Le Mans in 2002 and 2004, and the three-car team AutoGT, supported
by Banque Baring Brothers Sturdza, is now competing in the FIA GT3
Series, frequently coming in the top ten finishers. At the Concorso
d'Eleganza Villa D'Est, Morgan will display seven iconic cars of their
unique heritage. Streamlining - a special exhibition by the Prototype
Museum in Hamburg makes a guest appearance at the Concorso d'Eleganza
Villa d'Este Streamlining is the general term applied to the design of
aerodynamically optimised car bodies. It goes back to what was
considered to be the ideal shape as represented by the body of an
airship. It is for good reason that Tom Wolfe entitled his famous 1965
collection of articles "Kandy-kolored Tangerine-flake Streamlined
Baby", referring to the US cars of the 1950s and 60s as designed by
Raymond Loewy and others. The range of cars in this special exhibition,
though, should persuade you that the phrase "aerodynamics of the
motor vehicle", coined in Germany by Reinhard Koenig-Fachsenfeld,
more closely hits the mark of streamlining and that the cradle of the
aerodynamic car was to be found in Germany. For streamlining not only
involves reducing air drag to a minimum, it also embraces the phenomena
of lift and downforce, which come into play in our everyday cars as
much as in motor racing - where they are, of course, infinitely more
significant by dint of determining victory or defeat. The Cd figure, or
drag coefficient, cited in every test report - and in sales brochures -
is the reference parameter which, multiplied by the frontal area of a
body, gives you the vehicle's aerodynamic drag. From January to March
2009 the Prototype Museum in Hamburg is staging a highly-acclaimed
exhibition on the theme of streamlining. The following models from the
1930s and 40s will be making another appearance at the Concorso d'
Eleganza Villa d'Este as part of a special exhibition on the public day:
PORSCHE TYPE 64 - BERLIN-ROME CAR (1939); KAMM K3 - BASED ON MERCEDES
170 V (1938); DELFOSSE DVD (1947), PETERMAX MÜLLER WORLD RECORD
CAR (1948), TATRA TYPE 87 (1949), PORSCHE 356 COUPE (5047) (1950), BMW
328 Wendler (1939). The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2009 On the
weekend of 24 - 26 April 2009, the spectacular grounds of the Grand
Hotel Villa d'Este and Villa Erba in Cernobbio on Lake Como will once
again be transformed into a unique stage for the most beautiful
automobiles from the past and the most striking concept cars of our own
day. First held at the same location in 1929, the Concorso d'Eleganza
Villa d'Este today ranks as the most traditional show of its kind in
the world. After Saturday's opening event for invited guests, Sunday
sees the Concorso opening the gates to neighbouring Villa Erba to all
car fans, who will again have the opportunity to experience these
automotive dreams close-up. In addition to the cars presented on the
previous day, numerous other high-profile classics will be featured in
special shows. Admission to Villa Erba in Cernobbio on Lake Como is
€12.50 (concessions €8.00). The main sponsor of this year's
Concorso d'Eleganza is Girard-Perregaux. Media representatives and
visitors can find further information and images at
www.concorsodeleganzavilladeste.com and the relevant press pages of the manufacturers.