Heritage Still
Takes the Win

(Villa d’Este) This year’s edition, held once again on the shores of Lake Como at the opulent Grand Hotel Villa d’Este — once home to Caroline of Brunswick, the estranged wife of George IV — proved yet again why “the Concorso” remains the center of gravity for the collector-car world.

Under the theme “Future Needs Heritage”, the 2026 Concorso balanced pre-war elegance, endurance-racing legends, untouched preservation-class cars and millennial supercars seemingly pulled straight from the Gran Turismo universe, all with the effortless confidence few automotive events can replicate.

The overall “Best of Show” award went to the extraordinary 1937 BMW 328 Bügelfalte — a one-off factory-bodied competition roadster whose distinctive folded front wings gave the car its nickname, meaning “trouser crease”. Associated with BMW’s legendary Mille Miglia program of the late 1930s and early 1940s, the car remains remarkably original and perfectly suited to the strangely romantic atmosphere of Villa d’Este, where engineering history is treated with almost religious reverence.

Meanwhile, the public awarded the “Coppa d’Oro” to a beautifully preserved 1963 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster, one of the final examples produced and presented in understated white over black. A predictable winner perhaps, though the period-correct winter accessories — skis mounted at the rear and snow chains fitted to the tires — added an extra layer of romance that helped it triumph over more dramatic machinery, including the ultra-rare Ferrari 250 GT Zagato and even the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO, widely regarded as one of the most valuable cars in the world. Not to mention the stunning Siata 208 CS. But the Villa d’Este crowd has always appreciated cars that do not need to shout.

Yet among the Delages, Bugattis, unique Ferraris and coachbuilt pre-war royalty, one car quietly became one of the weekend’s most fascinating entries: the Volkswagen W12 Nardò. Presented in the class “The Pace Race: The Supercar Comes of Age”, the Nardò won its category against formidable competition, including the first customer Bugatti EB110 GT, driven in period by Romano Artioli, the legendary Italian entrepreneur responsible for reviving Bugatti in the late 1980s.

The victory felt deserved, because twenty-five years after its debut, the W12 Nardò no longer feels like an eccentric Volkswagen experiment. It feels prophetic — and is the missing link between the Artioli era and the iconic Veyron, the world’s first hypercar.

Created during Ferdinand Piëch’s era of engineering excess, the low-slung sleek prototype was built around an idea that still sounds absurd today: a mid-engined Volkswagen hypercar powered by a naturally aspirated W12 engine. In 2001, the car famously averaged more than 322 km/h for 24 hours at Italy’s Nardò Ring, covering over 7,700 kilometres and setting multiple endurance-speed records in the process. While some of those records have since been surpassed, the achievement remains extraordinary even by modern standards. And seen parked on the gravel at Villa d’Este in 2026 — surrounded by collectors, concours judges and its designer, Fabrizio Giugiaro — the Nardò suddenly made complete sense. Modern automotive culture has finally caught up with Piëch’s vision.

What once looked futuristic now feels strangely pure. Not overdesigned, not burdened by unnecessary aggression, just a low-slung shape defined by a handful of brilliant ideas: the Perspex roof, the beautifully mechanical gear lever, the storage compartment integrated into the driver’s seat, even the Lupo-derived instruments and smiling front end. Together they formed one of the maddest engineering exercises ever approved by a mass-market manufacturer.

And perhaps that was the real story of this year’s Concorso.

Villa d’Este is often described as a celebration of the past, but the best cars there are rarely nostalgic objects alone. They are cars that altered the trajectory of automotive culture entirely. The BMW 328 did so in the 1930s. The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL became one of the defining symbols of post-war glamour in the 1950s. And the W12 Nardò, despite never reaching production, foreshadowed an era of Volkswagen Group ambition that would eventually produce cars such as the Bentley Continental GT and the Bugatti Veyron — the latter sharing the same class at this year’s Concorso.

And at Lake Como, surrounded by generational wealth, champagne and impossible machinery from brands that no longer exist, it became clear once again that some ideas simply need time before the world fully understands them.