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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

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Villa d’ Este 2026 Classes A-D

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

May 21-23 2026. It was the light that first struck me, My wife and I had arrived in Como the day before and it was hissing down but Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny and not too hot. Hotel Villa d’Este lies slap-bang on the shores of Lake Como about 2km from Cernobbio, and at the time I arrived all was quiet and serene with the sun glinting off the lake and the concours entrants parked mainly in the dappled shade of the trees. The Riva boats were bobbing gently in the hotel’s small marina, and parking an Alfa Romeo 2500 SS ‘Villa d’Este’ outside of the hotel’s gift shop…very classy. It was going to be a very good day.

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Villa d’ Este 2026 Classes E-H

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

So if you are think “I would like to do that trip” here is a run down of how my wife and I did it. The nearest airport for Lake Como is either of the two Milan airports, Malpensa or Linate, however the airline we prefer to travel with only flies to the Milan airports via Heathrow, or in the case of Linate, London City.

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Practical Classics at the NEC Birmingham, UK

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Sud Super sorta sums it all up.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

After the perceived glamour of Retromobile Paris, it was time for a trip up the M40 to the NEC in Birmingham for the ‘Practical Classics Magazine’s Classic Car and Restoration Show’, an event that is more boiler suits than Armani suits but just as enjoyable. Unlike other classic car shows such as Retro, at the Practical Classics show the attendees manning the club stands are welding spanners rather than just drinking tea and chatting, while in Paris they sip wine; it is all very hands on and grass roots.

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Fiats at Auto e Moto d’Epoca

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Script on the grille of this Fiat seems to read “Weber”. Any ideas?

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

Just back from Bologna after visiting Auto e Moto d’Epoca (October 23-26). A great show as usual with much to see. For me it is not the exotic stuff that makes the show, though the F1 display (see Vanhoolandt’s report) in the atrium was impressive, it’s the obscure stuff dotted around the various halls, sometimes on the club stands but more often buried in amongst the hundreds of cars for sale from both the dealers and private owners.

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Hampton Court Palace Concours 2025

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Captions from event booklet

I did attend this year’s Concours of Elegance held, as has been the case since 2017, at Hampton Court Palace, west of London and right on the Thames. The dates were September 5-7, and our report was temporarily delayed due to the Goodwood Revival.

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Goodwood Trackside with Sharp Part 1

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Settrington Cup, A two part contest for Austin J40 pedal cars of a type that raced between 1949 and 1966.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

If you were thinking ‘well he spent three days at the Goodwood Revival but did not seem to see any racing’ well yes I did indeed spend a chunk of time in the paddocks, pits and assembly area but I did get to see a chunk of racing, and here are the photos to prove it. Mostly British cars, some in the sun, some in the rain, either taken from leaning on the gate at the exit from the assembly area, or down in the area of the chicane. Please enjoy.

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Goodwood Revival, Paddock and Aircraft

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Alfa Sportiva and 158

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

‘Turn on, tune in, drop out.’ The entry gate into this year’s Goodwood Revival took us back to the late 60s and to the intersection of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco and the birth of the hippie movement and the 60s counter-culture.

We waded past the hippie tents and the psychedelic school bus to reach the paddocks, where all the really interesting stuff lay. I have never seen so many VW Type 2 split screen vans in one location, as each morning before the racing commenced, the Type 2s paraded around the circuit to celebrate the model’s 75th anniversary. According to the programme at least 130 were expected and, due to the muddy infield where they had planned to display them, they were parked literally everywhere and whilst I am not a big fan they did make a very impressive sight. [Read more…] about Goodwood Revival, Paddock and Aircraft

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