6.1 Salone Internazionale del Lusso - Vincenza

Back in March, the “Salone Internazionale del Lusso di Vicenza” was on.
It's a small and a bit weird exposition about luxury. Everything from jewelry to home entertainment is featured, but it definitely lack of a proper organization, things weren't divided into sectors, and a lot of stuff was just there, not really exposed, with approximative stands, bad lighting and so on.
What definitely pissed me was a 20 € ticket to enter an event worth about 7 or 8 €.
It wasn't featuring brands and manufacturers' official offerings, but rather local stores, representatives, dealers and such. The people walking around the event were probably the worst part, but, whatever, I was in.

So, all in all it was a very bad event and I missed those 20 € for a while, but since I'm a car enthusiast, there are things that are simply priceless: a Pagani Zonda S Roadster and both the Antas and the Vulca S from Faralli & Mazzanti should do the job.

Follow the jump to know more.

I actually went to the show right to see the Vulca, as it was it's world premiere, after the obvious web unveiling with some images released.
Even if it was an official and important occasion, there wasn't much to say that was actually a premiere. The car was simply there, with a couple of brochures on a small table, a basically that's it.
I was expecting a bit more, even if that wasn't by any means an auto show.
I'm going to “celebrate” this and other main features of the event on dedicated posts.

I didn't even take shots of the other exhibited stuff, as they weren't neither that luxurious or good looking. Even my girlfriend didn't satisfy her fashion appetite at the event. It was more of a show for “wannabes” than for really rich people.
Proof:

Guess what, Top Marques is in Montecarlo, not Vicenza.
A white Aston Martin Vanquish S abandoned in a white corner isn't a bad thing though.

Don't ask me why, but here is a 1952 Cadillac Four Doors Sedan Golden Anniversary too, and next to it, tuned cars! As I told you, taste wasn't featured.
Those are a LUMMA Porsche Cayenne CLR 550 R, based on the Cayenne GTS, and a Mercedes-Benz SLK mark2 whit scissor doors and some other tasteless bits. Jesus.

A gray Lamborghini Gallardo Spider was there just to show you how good looking it would have been to match it to that not really intriguing wooden parking space. Since I'm not a Gallardo fan, I don't know if it was the car or the wood to have been wasted there.
Some other cars were there thanks to a couple of dealers and a renting company.
I couldn't bother to shoot those average BMWs and Lexus', not for the car themselves, but for the environment. Too many tacky persons around me make me nervous.
I liked the angle of the BMW Z4 Coupe shot though, and here it is.

A local dealer, specialized in importing kit cars from other countries exhibited some AC Cobra and Porsche 356 Speedster replicas.
Specifically, those were two Shelby Cobra 427 S/C, continuation series CX 4310, both of them.
It was an odd but welcomed feature, still the impression of being at a job fair rather than to a luxury show was strongly present.
Together with them there were these two 356 Speedster replicas, made by Racing Legends, Las Vegas. This replica is also available in wide body style, resembling more of a got rod rather than a vintage Porsche. Fortunately, these two units were pretty stock, quite resembling the original icon.

The Maserati stand was the only one worth being called so, despite being organized by another local dealer and not Maserati itself. Apart from having three cars (two Quattroportes and a GranTurismo), there were also little plates to showcase the available colors and material both from the outside and the inside of the car. It was the only place where I got the impression something was actually exhibited and not simply “positioned” in the middle of a free space.
If I was in the market for a new car, there I would have been interested in asking something more about them, given I don't know about them already, while all the other cars didn't look like they were available for sale, but rather as objects grabbed out of a collection, and shown for the sake of it, without underlining some sort of artistic feature, or design approach.
Oh well, here are the pictures:

I also new there should have been a Pagani Zonda somewhere, but couldn't find it. We asked to another exhibitor (which in turn gave us a magazine about second hand sportscars) to find out It was featured in an area no one knew where it was.
Disappointed we decided to left the show, slightly pissed off.
While looking for the exit, you were force to enter a corridor jut to enter another area of the show. I didn't know if the Zonda could be there, but the first thing I got in front of me was the first Faralli & Mazzanti Antas.
The car went trough various updates since its unveiling in 2006. Now it seems to be a bit overdone, but I'll talk about it later.
The nice feature of this area were the lights changing their color, giving the opportunity for some suggestive shots.
Ignore the classy damsel in the first shot, she wasn't an hostess of some sort, just one of the audience playing the “Hazzard features Jessica Simpson” game for her friends...

Between a red urinal covered with fake sticky diamonds and other uber-tacky-freaking-expensive stuff, there was this vandalized Ducati Desmosedici RR: note the absent rear light, even if I hope it was removed before of the event as the rear view mirrors were absent as well. Next to it custom trike bike, what a perfect match...

Matt Porsche 911 Targa, for the sake of personalization.

Audi R8: never liked it, it was a bit invisible because next to it there was the Zonda I was looking for. I have to admit I didn't pay enough attention to it, the F&Ms and the Zonda were on a completely different level, and this was so, well, cheap and simple.
Even the otherwise banal and even a bit soccer-player friendly Porsche 997 Turbo Cabriolet was more interesting, even if maybe it was just because of the less common dark gray instead of the usual and boring plain silver, or maybe I liked the color of the lights behind the Porsche the more. Yeah, probably that.

And here it is once again the Pagani Zonda S Roadster, chassis #76048 (thanks to the folks at http://forum.pagani-zonda.net/ :) ), which I saw also at 2008 Modena Terra di Motori, during my factory tour back in 2008, and which a friend of mine spotted in Padova (or Padua for non Italian users) in summer 2008. More of her will come in the future.

So, are three extremely rare cars worth a rather banal, boring and 20 € expensive event? Yes, but only if you are me, other than that, avoidable.
Extra shots: a rather good and extremely ignored pianist in the middle of the event, and a mandala being created by some Tibetan monks...yeah, Tibetan monks at a luxury show.

I'm fully aware that some pictures aren't of the best quality, I was still practicing with the Nikon D40, and probably I still am.
Hope you enjoyed them nonetheless.

All images Copyright: Damiano Garro