UK radio DJ Chris Evans is now the lucky owner of a rare 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO which he recently bought at auction for a whopping £12 million. The beautiful Ferrari now gets added to Evans’ small collection of these luxury Italian vintage cars, which you can see in the gallery below. A couple of years ago he also purchased a 1961 Ferrari 250 California that once belonged to actor James Coburn. And it seems that Evans likes his cars in white - see the gallery below.

Continue reading: The Ferrari collection of Chris Evans: gallery

The concorso d’Eleganza villa d’este will take place from 23 to 25 April on Lake Como, this is a tradition which started in 1929. Here by the sparkling waters of the lake every year several dozens of vintage cars gather to be admired (and voted) by an enthusiastic public.

This year a panel of uncompromising judges, with Lorenzo Ramaciotti serving as a chairman, will decided which of these amazing cars deserve to get the first prize in one of the main categories which include the Best Show (also known as the BMW Trophy). A prize awarded to concept cars was also introduced in 2002,thus making the concorso even more captivating!

Source | Concorsodeleganzavilladeste.com

A couple of months ago we had the chance to write at length about the Fuoriserie exhibition which will take place in Rome from April 17th to 18th; for the first time the public here in Italy will have the unique opportunity to see an outstanding array of vintage cars that most of us can only dream of owning. On display such famous as the Jaguar MK VII (1952) that we had the pleasure of seeing in the movie Milk starring Sean Penn, and the drop-dead XX 150 which belonged to the late Grace Kelly.

Via | Fierafuoriserie.it

Vintage and one-off car specials will be on display in Rome from April 17th to 18th, with mostly Italian vintage cars on show, but some “special guests”, too. The “Fuoriserie” exhibition will be an incredible Italian car event for collector’s cars, with more than 350 exhibitors showing more than 600 cars.

Cars falling into plenty of categories will be on display with everything from club and historic register cars on display, private owners vehicles, restorers prize examples and simple vintage car fans who have managed to make their dreams come true.

The first part of the fair hall is dedicated to cars from clubs and branded vehicles, and then you pass through hand-made models and restored cars, while the “Extra” section is all about clothing, accessories and car objects. For more details, see the Fuoriserie website.

The Italian vintage car festival has concluded in Padua, and we bring you this lovely gallery for the car fans among you. The vintage car event includes both road and race models from vintage car clubs and teams, restorers, model car fans and parts suppliers.

The event featured pre-war and post-war models, and a section called “Instant Classic” with expensive limited edition models on display. See the gallery below for all the models.

Continue reading: Vintage car event in Italy: gallery

The Alfa Romeo museum is hosting the Fiat exhibition on Italian vintage cars in Pietrasanta, Tuscany, in a car event dedicated to the history of Italian automobiles and Italian motoring.

The location of Pietrasanta has been a key choice for the Fiat exhibition, as it was here that the world’s first combustion engine was invented by Italian inventor Padre Eugenio Barsanti.

The exhibition includes 30 painted works by Enrico Ghinato along with some historic model cars, including a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 from 1966, a Fiat V8 from 1954, a Lancia Stratos Pirelli from 1975, a 1955 Giulietta Spider and a 1951 Gran Premio Alfa Romeo 159. For more information, see the Pietrasanta Council site.

Yesterday we saw the Vespa video of the Piaggio museum in Italy, and today we look at another Italian motoring icon: the “ape“. The original three-wheeled trucks date back to 1948 and are still used today for useful, versatile transport. Believe me, you can do anything with an Ape.

Not just a rural vehicle for transport of goods and livestock, there was an upper class city version called the “Ape Calessino” (for more pics, see Motoblog). A new model is back from Piaggio, but this time in electric form, taking a 1960’s symbol of the dolce vita and making it ecological for 2009.

The classic diesel engine now has a friend in the Calessino Electric Lithium. This model will be a limited edition, special version costing 19,990 euros. Only 100 will be built, meaning if you want to make a statement at the beach with one of these, you’d best organise yourself. It has a discreet range of 75 km, but these quiet, non-polluting vehicles could be just the thing for a tour down the Amalfi Coast or over on Capri.

Ferrari’s museum at Maranello showcases the “L’Automobile Italiana 1899 - 2009″, or the “Italian Automobile” exhibition with some of the best examples of Italian car design to be seen.

The vintage car and modern exhibition includes examples from Fiat’s foundation year until today, with models on display such as the Fiat 130 HP from 1907, the Lancia Aurelia B24 from 1954, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B from 1938 and the Maserati A6 1500 from 1948. Maranello hosts these cars, but this year until October 31st four other locations will share the exhibition.

The locations include: the Automobile Museum in Turin, the Umberto Panini collection at Corlo di Formigione, not far from Maranello, the Nicolis museum of cars at Villafranca in Verona and the legendary Fiat Centre.

In addition to the cars on display, a multimedia event entitled “the 110 years of the world’s most beautiful cars” runs, showing vintage photographs and rare films from company archives of the cars featured, especially Ferrari.

This vintage Ferrari Testa Rossa 1957 racing car has been sold for an unprecedented 9.02 million euros at the “Leggenda e Passione” Maranello auction. An anonymous collector certainly takes his passion seriously, resulting in a record for Ferrari’s put to auction.

It beats the 250 GT California Spider from 1961 that sold at the same auction for seven million euros, creating a record only just last year. The new record soundly beats the previous, showing that bidding was probably quite competitive for this Italian vintage car.

This Testa Rossa is number four in a series of 34 that were built, winning fourth place in the 1000 km in Buenos Aires, back in its day. Other models sold at this year’s Leggenda e Passione auction include a Ferrari 250 Berlinetta Tour de France at 2.1 million, and a 250 California LWB at 1.92 million.

Continue reading: Ferrari Testa Rossa sells for 9 million at Leggenda e Passione auction

With Bugatti having won the last edition of the Mille Miglia, specialist painter of vintage cars, Andrea Del Pesco, has decided to dedicate an entire exhibition to Bugatti cars and his work in restoring them.

From the 23rd of May to the 30th at Castiglione della Pescaia (Maremma, Tuscany) in the “Bugatti Village”, the Residence Roccamare will host a car event with the Bugatti vintage cars redesigned by Del Pesco, in addition to other features for the Bugatti world event.

If you can’t afford your own dream Italian vintage car, this is the place to come. For details on the International Bugatti Meeting, see the Roccamare site.