6/13/2023, 9:03:08 PM cet

Villa Erba, Cernobbio, Italy - April 23th, 2005



The Collezione Pininfarina, established in the eighties, contains about fifty cars of particular importance to the history of Pininfarina. Some of the cars are one-offs or examples of limited series; others are taken from bigger production runs or are styling models and research prototypes. The collection is not complete, nor tries to tell to whole story, but rather give individual examples of Pininfarina designed cars that are significant by their creativity, sentimentally or by the technical or industrial aspect. The oldest car in the collection is for instance the Lancia Astura Bocca Cabriolet of 1936, symbolising the elegance and the craftmanship of Pinin Farina's early cars.

On display at the Villa Erba was an example of the Cisitalia 202 Berlinetta of 1947, the first car in the world to find a permanent home in any Museum Of Modern Art (namely the New York MOMA). The Lancia Florida II of 1957, which was also on display at Cernobbio, served as the personal car of Battista "Pinin" Farina for the last 10 years of his life. Battista Farina founded Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930. In 1961, the Italian president authorized the change of his last name to Pininfarina.

Pininfarina designed numerous cars in the long-lasting collaboration with Ferrari. The Collezione Pininfarina holds several examples from the long line of Pininfarina designed cars like the 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta (also known as Short Wheel Base), the 1999 Ferrari 360 Modena or more recently the 2004 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and the F430.  Even more rare than this "normal" Ferrari's, are the Ferrari concept cars by Pininfarina, of which an impressive lineup of 6 cars was presented on the lawn of the Villa Erba near the Como Lake.

... Galleries >>>

1967 Dino 206 Competizione
Introduced at the 1967 Frankfurt Motor Show. A compact car with a strong personality, projecting the looks of a competition car to a road-going mid-engined Ferrari. The car on display is the only one example ever produced.


1968 Ferrari P6
Introduced at the 1968 Turin Motor Show. Reportedly built on a Dino chassis, but powered by a V12 (60 degrees) engine producing 400 HP at 9200 rpm. This stunning one-off concept car looks already very realistic and was clearly the inspiration for the lines of the Ferrari 308 GTB and the Ferrari 365 GT4 BB that were to follow shortly after.


1970 Ferrari Modulo
Introduced at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show. Lorenzo Ramaciotti said: "... a pure and formal research, in its geometricity. Is it still an automobile or is it the module of a spaceship of '2001: A space Odyssey'?". Parked on the Villa Erba lawn in 2005, 35 years after its introduction, the Module still looks widely futuristic. Built on a Ferrari 512S Sports Car, thus powered by a 550 HP V12 engine, driving this one-off will be a wild experience too, but very few, if any at all, will have had the opportunity in the last 35 years.


1971 Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer
Introduced at the 1971 Turin Motor Show.  A styling prototype of Ferrari 365 GT4 BB, already very close to the final production car. The Berlinetta Boxer marked Enzo Ferrari's conversion to the technical solution of the mid-engine, in this case even a "boxer", i.e. 12 horizontally opposed cylinders.


1989 Ferrari Mythos
Introduced at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show. Built on a Ferrari Testarossa platform, with 5 litre, 12 cylinder boxer engine, this 2 seater barchetta is an absolutely stunning little car. The totally-rounded shape even includes the sculptured leather seats in a perfect balance. The car is fully functional and has been driven regularly in the Nineties. A few years ago, the one-off car was sold to Japan, so seeing it on the Italian lawns of the Villa Erba was a rare chance.


2000 Ferrari Rossa
Introduced at the 2000 Turin Motor Show. The Rossa was built on a Ferrari 550 Maranello to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Pininfarina interpreting and evolving several of the more powerful themes of the long collaboration between Ferrari and Pininfarina. The current Ferrari models reflect several aspects of the Rosso concept car, like the light units on the 612 Scaglietti and the rear lights now found on the Ferrari Enzo and the F430.


It is almost unfair not to detail all individual cars on display at the Villa Erba, most of them being one-off concept cars and all of them interesting examples. To mention a few more; a Cisitalia 202, a beautifully Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint Coupé in distinguished black, the Pininfarina "X" with its extraordinary arrangement of the four wheels and an exceptionally low drag coefficient (= 0.23). Beautiful Italian lines were projected on the American Chevrolet Corvette "Rondine", the Alfa Romeo Dardo introduced at the 1998 Turin Motor Show and the recently introduced Maserati Birdcage 75th, a radical concept car that celebrates the 75th anniversary of Pininfarina and the Maserati Birdcage of the Sixties.

The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este is a two day event. The first day features the actual concours in the beautiful surroundings of the Villa d'Este, and was blessed with some nice Italian spring weather contrary the weather forecast. The second day of the event, when the event is opened to the general public, the whole selection of Villa d'Este cars moved to the nearby Villa Erba, to accompany the impressive display of the Pininfarina Collection. Most unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs on the public day of the event. Though understandable from their uniqueness, most of the cars where covered to prevent the rain from damaging the irreplaceable cars. Most visitors therefor did not have a fair chance of appreciating this extraordinary collection in a proper way. Fortunately, we had a sneak preview on the day before when the cars we unloaded, so we can offer you a nice gallery of all the beautiful shapes that were covered on the rainy sunday of the Concorso Villa d'Este.

Edwin van Nes