On Wednesday, a day before the doors opened to the public, we walked into the halls of Auto e Moto d’Epoca in Bologna with a very specific game in mind: finding every Ferrari F40 on show. We spotted at least four, but across 14 halls and more than 5,000 cars and motorcycles there are probably more waiting to be found.
The F40 hunt was only a side quest, because the centrepiece of this year’s edition is Icons of Speed, a new exhibition dedicated to endurance racing in the entrance pavilion. Around a dozen cars tell the story of Le Mans, Daytona, the Nürburgring and Monza, starting with a Porsche 917 in Gulf blue and orange and a Rothmans Porsche 956 from the Group C years. Alongside them stand the Sauber C9 that won both the World Sportscar Championship and Le Mans in 1989 and the Bentley EXP Speed 8 that finished third (and first in class) at Le Mans in 2001.
The Italian side of the story is just as strong. A Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo that won the 1980 Six Hours of Mugello with Riccardo Patrese and Eddie Cheever sits next to the Lancia LC1, the car chosen as the symbol of the exhibition. Nearby are an Alfa Romeo Tipo 33, a Maserati MC12 Corsa, one of just 15 built, and the Nissan NPT-90 with the iconic red, white, and blue livery.
Beyond the exhibition, the market is where the show lives up to its reputation for variety, and where many visitors come to buy. AutoLuce brought an enviable lineup of Ferraris, including a two-tone 612 Scaglietti Sessanta, while Silvauto has more than 50 cars on display and for sale. We found a 1912 Itala 35/45 HP, a name forever tied to Prince Scipione Borghese’s victory in the 1907 Peking to Paris, and at the other end of the timeline a seemingly endless parade of Ferraris and Porsches from every era, plus a Pagani Zonda. Two cars in particular made us stop for a closer look: a Ferrari 212/225 by Vignale, one of just seven closed berlinettas penned by Giovanni Michelotti and bodied by Vignale, and a Fiat 500 Spider by Allemano at Auto Classic, a one-off that Michelotti also designed, for the 1957 Turin Motor Show.
Two wheels and rallying are well represented too. Race bikes and motocross machines share the halls with the Vespas that no Italian show can do without, while rally fans will find more Lancia Deltas than they can count, along with Audi Sport Quattro, Lancia Stratos and many other rallying icons.
This edition struck us as even better than the previous ones, and there is still time to see it for yourself: Auto e Moto d’Epoca is open at BolognaFiere until and including this Sunday 25 October. If the show leaves you looking for a classic of your own, the Classic Driver Market is the place to start.
Photos by Antonio Mocchetti for Classic Driver 2026
