Meet the DAF 55 Siluro, One of the first Wedge-Shaped Cars

The Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza was definitely the place to be for those who love rare classic cars and have the necessary cash to indulge in such an expensive passion. The event, which took place in Italy this past weekend, was packed with a stunning array of classic production and concept models in mint condition. One of the studies that caught our attentions was the strange-looking DAF 55 Siluro.

Back in the days when Dutch company DAF was still building passenger cars (Volvo bought its car making business in 1975), Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti was assigned to create a study for the brand that would be the pride of Daf's booth at the 1968 Geneva Motor Show.

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Bertone Auctions Off Some of its Most Recognizable Concepts to Avoid Insolvency

Here lies Bertone, the famed Italian automotive design house, bankrupt and on almost on the verge of death. The once legendary company was forced to sell its most prized possessions – six concept cars – to appease the bankruptcy commission and also to remain afloat. RM Auctions of London handle the sale at this past weekend’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2011.

So what delectable concepts were the vultures able to get their beaks into? Well, there’s the 1967 Lamborghini Marzal that once graced the Monaco Grand Prix and is often cited as the inspiration for the Espada of the following year.

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Video: Sights and Sounds of the Aston Martin V12 Zagato

Having brought you a first look at the winner of the design award for Concept Cars and Prototypes at this year’s edition of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy, it is now time to show you the Aston Martin V12 Zagato in the flesh and on film. The concept study is a V12 Vantage draped in an aluminum Italian suite, and it will spawn a racing model that will compete in the 24-hour Nurburgring endurance race in late June as well as a limited run production version, scheduled for launch within the next year.

Follow the jump to get a look of the supercar’s lines and a taste of the brutal sounds produced by Aston Martin’s 517-horsepower 6.0-liter V12 engine in our collection of videos.

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Aston Martin V12 Zagato is the Winner of this Year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Design Award

The world premiere of the new Aston Martin V12 Zagato, which took place at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2011 this past weekend on the shores of Lake Como in Italy, was marked by the design award for Concept Cars and Prototypes. The conceptual model, which was created to celebrate the Aston Martin and Zagato partnership in the 50th anniversary year of the famous DB4GT Zagato, won the approval of the visitors to the Concorso D’Eleganza event.

The competition in the Concept Cars and Prototypes category included BMW’s new 328 Homage Roadster, the Ferrari Superamerica 45, Audi Quattro, Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake, Infiniti Etherea, Italdesign VW GO!, Rinspeed Bamboo, Renault DeZir and the Scuderia P4/5.

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BMW’s Retrolicious 328 Homage Concept Makes Official Debut

The stage is set for this weekend’s Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in Italy with automakers and individual owners of classic cars already rolling out their goods for the 2011 edition of the show. The famed event will also play host to the world premiere of a fresh batch of sports car concept cars such as the Aston Martin V12 Zagato that we told you about earlier today and the BMW 328 Hommage concept, which we present here.

The BMW 328 Hommage was created on the occasion of the original model’s 75th birthday. While the Bavarian automaker avoids to make the connection, the 328 Hommage appears to be based on (or at least developed from) the Vision ConnectedDrive roadster study, which premiered at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.

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BMW’s New Age 328 Roadster Concept: First Live Photos

Just a few minutes ago, the Belgian crew from Autofans dropped these cell-phone photos (courtesy of a Twitter user Sjoerdvstokkum) of a new BMW concept model into our e-mail box. The design study is called the 328 Hommage Concept and it was created by BMW to celebrate the original model’s 75^th birthday. Stay tuned as in a few minutes we’ll bring you the full details and photos of the 328 Hommage.

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Ferrari's One-Off Superamerica 45 Special Drops its Top at Villa d'Este

The coachbuilt Ferrari Superamerica 45 special commissioned by American billionaire Peter Kalikow has arrived at the Villa d'Este for the Concorso D'Eleganza contest. Not surprisingly, a by-passer took advantage of the occasion and filmed the car's roof mechanism in action at its first outing under the sun. This is the first time we see the supercar’s rotating top on the move and we have to admit it's pretty fast.

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Aston Martin V12 Zagato: Italian Elegance Meets British Brute Force

Some companies really know how to celebrate. Take AstonMartin and Zagato, for example. The iconic British sports car maker and the legendary Italian coachbuilder will mark the 50th anniversary of their first collaboration with a brand new study.

To honor their first joint project, the 1961 DB4GT Zagato, the two companies developed the Aston Martin V12 Zagato, a race car study that will be unveiled on May 21 at the Villa D'Este Concorsod'Eleganza in Italy, where it will compete against the Ferrari Superamerica 45. But this elegant and dramatic coupe was not built for classy Concours d'Elegance events alone, as it will actually race at the Nurburgring 24 Hour event on June 25-26.

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Ferrari Unveils New Superamerica 45 Coachbuilt Special

Ferrari is once again showing off its coach-building capabilities with the release of its latest one-off special, the Superamerica 45, which will make its first public outing at this weekend’s Villa d’Este Concours d’Eleganza in Italy. It was built to order for New York billionaire, collector and former owner of the New York Post, Peter Kalikow, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of his Ferrari purchase in 1961.

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Aston Martin and Zagato Reunite, will Show New Car at Villa D’Este Concours

This year, the iconic Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato celebrates its 50th anniversary, and to mark the event, the British automaker and the famous Italian design house have joined forces once again to create a new project that could very well head to production. The new collaboration between Aston Martin and Zagato will be revealed in concept form at the forthcoming Villa D’Este Concours on May 21 to gauge initial customer reaction with a view to a production model following as early as 2012.

For the time being, and aside from the teaser rendering, we don’t get any additional information on the new Aston Martin Zagato but word has it that it could be based on the mechanical hardware and platform of the current V8 Vantage.

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Pininfarina to Unveil Coachbuilt Ferrari Super America 45 Convertible at Villa d'Este on May 20

The above photo is of the 2009 Ferrari P540 Superfast Aperta

This year’s edition of the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este motor show in Italy will see Pininfarina lifting the veils off (that is, unless some scoopster beats them to it…) a spanking new coachbuilt Ferrari convertible called the Super America 45. The one-off supercar was commissioned by New York billionaire, real estate tycoon and former owner of the New York Post, Peter Kalikow, who also owns another coachbuilt Ferrari made by Pininfarina, the 612 Kappa.

While the famous Italian designer is keeping the rest of the details under wraps, the one-off supercar is believed to be based either on the 599 GTB Fiorano or the 599 GTO with some claiming it may feature a similar rotating central-piece roof to the 2005 Ferrari 575 Superamerica. The bespoke, open-top supercar will probably be powered by a stock 6.0-liter V12 engine, though it is difficult to say what other elements will be kept untouched, as we're talking about a vehicle built to customer specifications.

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