Cars

Even ‘The Week’ is no longer representative, as a ‘Pre-union’ already took place last weekend at the Laguna Seca Raceway. A number of other enthusiast-minded events will take place over the coming days, with all tastes of motoring (and, in the case of the McCall Motorworks Revival, aviation) catered for. But the real elegance, in name at least, begins on the Thursday, as the Tour d’Elegance rolls out and revellers are given their first glimpse of the cars whose tyres will grace the immaculate links lawns on Sunday.

As RM’s headlining lots are edged onto their plinths and polished to within an inch of their lives at the Portola Hotel ahead of the two-day sale on 19-20 August, so our focus turns to the catalogue in general – one with, in the face of an ever more discerning buyer’s market, ambitious estimates across the board.

The forgotten Flatnose

Built at the request of Enzo Ferrari himself, and designed by Leonardo Fioravanti of Pininfarina, this Dino prototype was built on the tubular chassis of a competition 206P and truly heralded a new era of aesthetic for Ferrari. Its sultry and curvaceous bodywork is diminuative, even by 1960s standards, and displays a number of features that would go on to define not only the 206 and 246 GT models, but also the later 308, 328 and 288 GTO.