One-Off Riva Powerboat by RM Auctions at Villa d’Este

This spring RM Auctions will sale some very beautiful, special and exclusive cars at the upcoming Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este by the spectacular Lake Como in Italy. However, cars are not the only things that bidders will be fighting for at the auction. One of the most impressive lots of the sale will be a gorgeous Riva Tritone ‘Speciale’ Cadillac Powerboat from 1960.

Carlo Riva built his wooden powerboats during the 1950 and 1960 and they became symbols of the Italian high life. The world’s most famous and important people soon discovered their charm and fell hopelessly in love with them. Sofia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, and Peter Sellersare only some of the celebrities who enjoyed these beautifully crafted boats.

One customer, however, was like none of the other Riva enthusiasts. He was a wealthy industrialist who loved exclusivity and wasn’t afraid to demand it. He was Achille Roncoroni from Como, the first owner of the powerboat that will soon be sold at Villa d’Este. He commissioned a one-off creation, a boat that would be larger than all the other Riva watercrafts, and he even went so far as to ask the maker never to design custom boats for other clients.

That’s a bit bold, we have to say, but his commission was accepted and thus the Tritone ‘Speciale’ Cadillac was born. It flaunted an8.3 meter (27.2 foot) hull, which remained the largest for a long time. Powering the Speciale was the most powerful engine of that time, a Cadillac Crusader Marine V-8 delivering 325 HP and ensuring a top speed of 96 km/h (almost 60 mph).

The customized vessel flaunted a white inside hull instead of the classic grey, as well as red engines instead of the usual blue ones. Also part of the personalization program were the red, white and blue interior and the new lettering for the dashboard and hull. It really is no wonder why specialists believe that the one-off custom boat could fetch as much as $980,000 in May.