5. Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. When: 23-25 May. Where: Villa d’Este, Cernobbio, Italy. The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este assembles 50 showstopping classic cars outside a 16th-century villa on the shores of Lake Como.. And if that’s not enough for you, there’s also a larger gathering of concours machines on show at the neighbouring Villa Erba across the weekend.

The shock of the new. Co-designed by Flaminio Bertone and André Lefebvre, the Citroën DS looked like no car built before or since. Like the preceding Traction Avant launched in 1934, it had front-wheel drive, but there was no visual resemblance between the two models, since the DS had a fabulously aerodynamic body and, in the interests of further persuading the surrounding air …

5. Audi 72. The Audi 72 was something of a mish-mash of inputs from various German car makers. Its main body was a reworked version of the DKW F102, hence this car being referred to within Audi as the F103, and the engine was a Mercedes-Benz unit.

What to watch. Thinking about buying a classic car in 2025? Insurance company Hagerty UK has released its latest Bull Market list, an annual round-up of cars that it believes represent great value for money, according to the company’s own data.

2. Alfa Romeo RZ. As the 1990s got into gear, so did Alfa Romeo with its soft-top interpretation of the SZ coupe. The Roadster Zagato, or RZ for short, came with the same angular styling as the coupe that, when the roof was lowered, accentuated the car’s wedge profile even more.

1. Packard Eight (1924) Packard ranked alongside the very best in the world for pre-war luxury cars. Much of this was thanks to insisting on the best components and build standards for its models, as well as the supremely refined 5.9-litre straight-eight engine that sat on rubber mounts to further isolate it from the car’s occupants.

1. 1941 Cadillac The Duchess. Taking its name from Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, this one-off Cadillac limousine was created by Harley Earl when the duchess and her husband Edward came to the US after the duke had abdicated.

2. 1964 Honda S600. The Honda S600 was more or less the same car as the S500, though its jewel of an engine had been enlarged to 606cc. Like the S500, it was offered as a roadster, but it was also the first Honda available with a coupé body.

25 cars that gave us more in 1984. The mid-1980s was an exciting time in motoring history. New models from many European and US manufacturers were regaining much of the excitement and desirability that had often been misplaced in the previous decade, plus the hot hatch had come of age and was taking the world by storm.

1933 BMW 3/20 AM 4 Saloon (cont.) Then, following a big gap in the car’s history, it was bought by a German architect in 1990. This keeper restored the saloon, then sold it to the current owner in 1996, when it was imported to Finland to join this classic BMW collection.