1989 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit on 2040-cars

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2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!

Lucky ducks rescued, ride in a Rolls-Royce to their new Goodwood home

The phrase "put it on the bill" has taken on a new meaning at Rolls-Royce's Goodwood, England, factory. The firm now shares its headquarters with 15 ducks that were rescued earlier in 2020 and re-released as adults. Rolls-Royce explained that James Caffrey, one of its security guards, spotted a group of seven ducklings in a company parking lot in April 2020. He spent several hours observing the unexpected visitors from a distance before realizing that the mother duck wasn't coming back. Concerned, he captured the birds with the help of colleagues and sent them to the Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital, which cares for sick, injured, and orphaned animals. Brent Lodge's goal is to release animals back into their natural habitat as soon as possible, not to keep them in captivity. The seven siblings were reared into adulthood and sent back to Rolls-Royce's headquarters, along with eight additional ducks that were also rescued locally. The group traveled to Goodwood in the back of a Cullinan, an honor that few humans — let alone birds — experience. They traveled in cages, letting ducks loose in an SUV would be disastrous, and Rolls-Royce joked its engineers are now looking into using ducks as a unit to measure trunk space. Rolls-Royce's new tenants live near the lakes that are next to its factory, so they're fully self-sufficient. There is enough food available to sustain the entire clan. We don't know whether they'll be asked to contribute something in exchange for living at Goodwood; the 250,000 bees the firm keeps make honey that's exclusively served to guests, like customers who fly in to pick up a car. If duck eggs come with your new Phantom, you'll know why. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Latest Rolls-Royce Wraith teaser reveals fastback form

In its fourth and final teaser before the 2014 Wraith is introduced next week, Rolls-Royce has released another image of the car showing a distinct fastback appearance. We've seen this car teased in its profile before, but that image had a heavy shadow over the rear of the car obscuring what should be the Wraith's defining element.
Rolls-Royce motorcars aren't exactly known for having overtly sporty proportions, but this could all change with the Wraith's styling. Judging by the teased drawing and official words from Rolls-Royce, the coupe's roofline will flow practically in a straight line from the A-pillar back to the rear of the car. With such a design, the Wraith could well become one of the world's most elegant and expensive hatchbacks, though it may also have a conventional hinged trunk opening.
Over the last month, we've also seen a rear shot of the car as well as glimpse of what the interior has in store, but the two images showing the car's profile give us our best idea of what to expect when the car is unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. Until then, you can check out our winter testing spy shots and read a brief quote from Rolls-Royce design director Giles Taylor in the press release posted below.