Auto Italia
Italian Car
Day 2019
From baby Fiats to ferocious Ferraris, the
sheer variety of machinery at Auto Italia’s
annual show seems to grow every year.
From static rarities to fast track action,
here are the highlights of the UK’s
biggest Italian car show
Story By Mike Rysiecki
Images by Michael Ward & Tony HarrisonI
t’s not just the huge number of cars that
head to Brooklands Museum for the
Italian Car Day, but also their sheer
variety that make this the biggest Italian
car event in Europe outside Italy. Judging
by this year’s attendance – around 6000
people (more than last year) and well over
1200 cars – the UK’s Italian car movement is
as vibrant as ever.
In and around the Brooklands Club House
Paddock enclosure, recently featured and
soon-to-be-featured Auto Italia magazine
cars were on show for close inspection. The
quality and diversity of models here was
exceptional. Among three Fiat 124 Spiders on
show was an exceptional Italian Car Day first-
timer in the form of a Pininfarina
Spidereuropa converted to right-hand drive,
with under 1200 miles on the clock – utterly
remarkable. The ‘rare Fiat’ theme continued
with Craig Jones’s 1936 Fiat Balilla Coppa
d’Oro, which competes in VSCC sprint events
and brilliantly arrived aboard an Alfa A12
Assistenza Clientio Sportivacar transporter.
Moving the mood on towards the 1960s were
not one but two Fiat 1200 Cabriolets, both in
red, one with a rare optional hardtop.
Another Paddock rarity was Patrick Hurst’s
1999 Lancia Kappa Coupe with a five-c ylinder
2.0-litre turbo engine.
Two Lamborghini Urraco-derived cars were
present: a Silhouette in the Paddock (the
very first example built and the 1976 Paris
Motor Show car), and an example of its
successor, the Jalpa, out on the start/finish
straight. No fewer than three examples of De
Tomaso’s finest graced the Paddock area,
too. As well as a superb blue Mangusta were
two Tom Tjaarda-designed cars – a baby blue
Deauville saloon and a very nice Pantera
Group 4. The latter was equipped with a Ford
Windsor 6.6-litre V8 capable of producing
602hp and 600lb ft of torque, driving through
a five-speed ZF transaxle. Panteras were
notoriously fragile back in the day but this
one has an appropriately strengthened
chassis and upgraded brakes.
A late arrival – but certainly a crowd-
pleasing one – was the Maserati-based
Bellagio Shooting Brake built by Milanese