BMW Stole The Spot Light At This Year’s Concorse d’Eleganza Villa d’Este

The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa Deste is an annual highlight on the vintage car scene calendar. Every year, the very finest cars ever made get invited to the shores of Lake Como in Italy and proudly displayed for the public to see. But that’s not all, as a specialist jury picks the Best of Show out of the selected around fifty cars, and a whole lot more rare and literally unique cars gather on the grounds of the Villa d’Este estate. Among these, there are always a couple of new concept vehicles, and this year, BMW stole the show big time. Not only did a 1937 BMW 328 race car win the coveted Best in Show trophy, but the German carmaker also released its vision for Alpina, now it’s officially part of BMW, and brought along a rather wild K18 concept motorcycle for good measure!

To be invited to participate in the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este is something very special. Not only does it mean you have something that meets the requirements to enter, but it also means your car is among the very best in the world. It’s a gathering of some of the rarest and most unique historical machines, often with incredible pedigree, spread across various classes. Out of all the cars that are part of the official selection, a specialist jury will select the ‘Best of Show’, alongside individual class winners.

Best in Show – The 1937 BMW 328 Bügelfalte

When you hear ‘328’, chances are you think of something modern, built by BMW. It refers to the brand’s beloved E36 and E46 generation of 3-series, with the ’28’ part indicating an engine of 2.8-litres of capacity, which naturally means a six-cylinder one. But it also refers to a hugely important car from BMW’s past, built between 1936 and 1940, a period that reshaped the world’s history in more ways than one. Introduced as an open-top sports car, the BMW 328 came with a 2.0-litre straight-six engine that produced about 80 horsepower. Doesn’t sound all that impressive, but thanks to its aluminium body, the car weighed only 830 kilos.

The BMW 328 also had huge success in racing, with more than 100 class wins in 1937 alone. It also won its class in the Mille Miglia in 1938, and just two years later, the BMW 328 Mille Miglia Touring Coupe won the event overall. This particular car, chassis No. 85032, was built in 1937 and is a unique specimen out of the close to 500 BMW 328s built. It was transformed into a streamlined “Bügelfalte” (referring to the ‘trouser crease’ running down the front wings) roadster to compete in the 1940 Mille Miglia, where it outperformed many of its more powerful opponents and helped cement the 328 as one of the finest racing cars of the pre-war era.

After the war, it ended up in the Soviet Union for years and eventually resurfaced in Western Europe and now in the hands of Stefano Martinoli. It remains the only surviving Mille Miglia roadster in largely unrestored condition. Even the paint is mostly original! Although I haven’t seen the car in person, the whole story and its impact on racing for BMW make it a worthy winner!

Neue-Neue Klasse – The Vision BMW Alpina

But that wasn’t all, as the BMW-trifecta also includes the Vision BMW Alpina, which hints at what the manufacturer is aiming to do with the Alpina name and legacy since becoming part of the BMW group earlier this year. The Vision BMW Alpina design study, or concept car if you will, is inspired by the Alpina B7 Turbo Coupé from the late 1970s, and features a similar, low-slung and lengthy profile, and is the first hint at where the DNA of both will meet. Alpina has always relied on BMW technology, of course, but now that it’s a wholly owned subsidiary, the integration will be tighter than ever before.

BMW aims to uphold the premium positioning Alpina formerly held, which is a good thing. In essence, it will likely sit between the BMW core line-up and the Rolls-Royce side of the group, bridging quite a wide gap in the group’s portfolio. The Vision BMW Alpina is a proper big car, at 5.20 meters end to end. And from the side, you will see the immediate shared profile with the aforementioned B7 Turbo Coupé (which was based on the E24-gen BMW 6-series). Trademark elements such as the slanted front with ‘sharknose’ grills, the long bonnet and long, straight lines down the entire side. What strikes me most is the ‘cleanliness’ of the design, as to me it looks rather elegant! And check out those 20-spoke wheels! That’s pure Alpina, right there!

On the inside, the BMW x Alpina love affair continues, with a two-tone interior highlighted by horizontal deco-lines. There are hints of the current ‘Neue Klasse’ BMW iX3 to be found, and it all looks rather comfy, with four leather-clad seats and a state-of-the-art infotainment system with big touch screens and whatnot. The tall central tunnel also stands out, which hints at what’s being sent to the rear wheels: V8 power! Yes, that’s right, this is not some hype-EV powertrain but a proper traditional internal combustion powertrain. No performance figures are given, nor the fact of whether this will enter production, but if it does become a reality, it’s a fitting continuation of the incredible legacy of Alpina!

Custom Bruiser –  The Vision K18 Motorbike

The final chapter in this three-part celebration is the Vision K18 motorbike, a wild one-off concept cruiser built around BMW’s legendary straight-six motorbike engine. Built largely by hand, it’s a glimpse into what a custom cruiser could look like in the future, with ‘performance, luxury, and dynamism” in mind. What immediately stands out is the length and low height of the machine, and the swooping lines front to back. This is possible thanks to clever tricks in an effort to make the profile as low-slung as possible, including swapping out the placement of the airbox and fuel tank.

At the heart, there is a 1.8-litre straight-six engine, most likely a bored-out version of its 1.6-litre K-series engine. Each of the six cylinders has its own intake, which are positioned just below the six LED headlights. The individual tailpipes make a dramatic statement as well, as they snake up from underneath the engine, through the rear body and out the back. The suspension can be hydraulically lowered to put it as low to the ground as possible, and the aluminium body panels have been hand-formed, including the seamless side panel of over 2 meters in length!

The whole point of the Vision K18 is to show a possible new direction of BMW’s line of cruisers, and it’s likely some elements of it are carried over into production, although it’s far too early to tell what exactly. Nevertheless, it’s a very big statement piece that redefines BMW’s boundaries in motorcycle design!

For more information, please visit BMWGlobal.com.

Editorial Note: The information used and images portrayed in this article are sourced from and used with permission of BMW Press Club Global and BMW Group Classic unless stated otherwise.