The ICE St. Moritz was a collector car snow globe frozen in time

Some stories can only be written in St. Moritz. Six years ago, a handful of daring gentlemen in their tweed jackets and knickerbockers gathered semi-legally on the frozen lake of St. Moritz with their classic cars for the first edition of The International Concours of Elegance, now commonly known as The ICE. Since then, the winter concours has had a rather eventful history – the second edition was one of the first events in Switzerland canceled due to Covid, another year the sun turned the lake into slush puppy, and in 2024 there was so much snow that the event had to be relocated into the local parking garage. For this reason, last weekend’s larger-than-life edition of The ICE was a more than well-deserved win for the founders of the event, Ronnie Kessel and Marco Makaus, and their team. With sub-zero temperatures and the trademark St. Moritz sun shining down on the ICE village all weekend, the conditions were picture perfect. On top, the organizers had gathered a spectacular line-up of 50 collector cars, many of which could have easily competed for concours gold at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance or the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace.

But naturally, the cars at the ICE don’t park on a golf lawn or the neat gravel yards of a royal palace, but on the surface of a frozen lake. Adding to the thrill of knowing that only 40 centimetres of ice separate you – and a fleet of multi-million-dollar cars – from the open waters of Lake St. Moritz is the fact that the cars are driven around a snow track without too much consideration of the immaculateness of the precious coach-built bodies. On late Saturday afternoon, just a few moments before the final victory lap around the lake, we were standing in the middle of a wild herd of roaring sports and racing cars, engines revving, snow flying through the air, studded racing tyres digging dangerously deep into the ice, people in Loro Piana coats pushing monoposto racers stuck in snow, cigar smoke and fumes of racing fuel wafting through the air, spectators cheering in joy. It was a moment of beautiful chaos, a snow-globe heavily shaken and frozen in time, the world’s most surreal collector car traffic jam that can only happen at The ICE.

Of course, every event in St. Moritz is also a social happening – and naturally, animal lovers were able to admire more exotic furs parading on the lake on Saturday than in the entire Swiss National Park nearby. But I disgress and you probably tuned in for the cars, not the Discovery Channel – so here’s what you missed in terms of rare metal. One of the most mythical automobiles at the ICE this year was certainly one of five existing Bugatti Type 59s – the swan song of Ettore Bugatti’s endeavours in motorsports. Owned by the renowned Australian industrial designer Marc Newson, the beautifully patinated, pale-blue grand prix racer is certainly one of the most desirable pre-war automobiles around. And after stunts at the Villa d’Este and Pebble Beach, chassis 59124 now took the ICE by storm – and convinced the jury members to award it the “Best in Show” trophy, which was coincidentally designed by Marc Newson’s friend, the British architect and St. Moritzer Lord Norman Foster. Seeing two of the most significant creative minds of our time united on stage to celebrate their common passion for automobiles was truly a sight to behold. But Marc Newson did not just bring his Bugatti to St. Moritz, but also the newly-released Bugatti Type 59 collectors’ edition book designed by Newson and written by brand guru Julius Kruta. You can now find the book in the CD Shop.

The ICE is a concours of elegance – and the most sophisticated shapes and proportions can usually be adored among the ‘Barchettas on the Lake’. This year’s selection of nimble, open-top sports cars was truly outstanding, with a fleet of the most flamboyant Ferrari racers from the 1950s and 1960s, including a beautiful Touring-bodied 340 MM, a stunning 375 MM entered by Max Girardo, a 500 TR and a 500 TRC Scaglietti. However, there is probably no car that looks as impressive in full drift on a frozen lake as a Ferrari 857 Monza. While the Italian stallions are always impressive, we were particularly drawn to two less obvious barchettas, the cream-white Aston Martin DB3S from the Golden Age Collection that looked just magnificent on the snow. And the Talbot-Maserati Campana, a dark-blue, fin-tailed masterpiece designed by the sculptor Franco Reggiani for the French flying ace and racing aficionado Andre Dubonnet and raced at Le Mans, although without much success. Still, it’s a fascinating story and we’re keen to learn more about it in the future.

We might have outgrown our fairytale period, but we still have a thing for unicorns – and there was a stable full of fantastic one-off creatures that had assembled for the ICE. The most striking car was certainly the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Aprile from the Lopresto Collection, a torpedo in a tuxedo we have already featured in-depth prior to the event, followed closely by the equally extraterrestrial Fiat-Abarth 'La Principessa' record car from Fritz Burkard's Pearl Collection.

As fans of the late design master Marcello Gandini, we were equally excited to see the Autobianchi A112 Runabout parked next to a true marmite car which you either have to love to hate – the Felber Ferrari 365, a golden beach car coach-built in period in Switzerland. Still, the ultimate beach cruiser on the lake must have been the original Beach Boys’ Mini Moke brought to St. Moritz by Simon Kidston. Surfboard on deck, it was the lifeboat we would have jumped on had the ice suddenly started to melt.

Ask a random car collector for the most beautiful and desirable cars of all time, and the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato will usually be high on the list. But next to the stunning green example at the ICE, there was another double-bubbled Zagato creation in form of the Alfa Romeo 1900 Zagato brought to St. Moritz by US collector David Sydorick – and between us, we must confess that the 1950s racing Alfa attracted us even more than the ultimate Aston Martin.

Another timeless beauty Made in Italy is certainly the Ferrari 275 GTB/4 with it’s perfect proportions, and it was hypercar godfather Horacio Pagani himself who scored a class win with his beautiful, Rosso Rubino Gran Turismo Berlinetta – which, as it turned out, was actually the first production 275 GTB/4. However, the ‘Spirit of St. Moritz’ trophy designed by artist Rolf Sachs was awarded to the sliver Ferrari 250 GT SWB ‘Sefac’ owned (and equipped with a roof rack and Davos sleigh) by Diego Meier, while the public voted the Lamborghini Miura as their favourite car of the show.

And then, there were the race cars. But before the start of every race, the track belongs to the pace car – and it was a great experience to meet a true childhood hero, the original Lamborghini Countach Safety Car from the Grand Prix Monaco 1982. But once the track was clear, it was a true pleasure to see the some of the wildest competition cars and drivers go for sub-zero glory on the ice. Tom Kristensen drove the wonderfully weird (and weirdly wonderful) Audi quattro Gruppe S Prototype from the Audi Tradition collection while Arturo Merzario piloted a fire-spitting (and red-socked) Abarth 2000 Sport Spider around the track wearing his trademark cowboy hat.

And wasn’t the bearded gentleman drifting a Blower Bentley across the frozen lake none other than ‘Aquaman’ actor Jason Momoa? Meanwhile, Gregor Fiskens demonstrated the sideways potential of a Shelby Cobra 427 S/C and Egon Zweimüller drove his famous golden McLaren M1A nose-to-nose with a Gulf-Porsche 908/03. Still, the award for the cleanest drifting action should have gone to Team Arsham x Ikuzawa for their Porsche 904 that was frequently followed by a fresh fountain of snow.

After the ultimate hot lap around the ice, the illustrious crowd swarmed up the hill for a sneak peek of the new Daniel Arsham book at the ERG launch party before ending the weekend in true St. Moritz style by celebrating until the break of dawn at the iconic King’s Club below the Badrutt’s Palace or the mythical Dracula Club – and finally heading down the ice canal for the mandatory Sunday-morning wake-up slide at the Cresta Run. Even F. Scott Fitzgerald or William Somerset Maugham would not have been able to write a more adequate finale for the sub-zero collector car bonanza that is the International Concours of Elegance St. Moritz.