Bugatti

Bugatti

The Bugatti logo

Former type

Private

Industry

Automotive

Fate

Sold to Hispano-Suiza (1963)

Sold to Volkswagen Group(July 1998)

Founded

1909

Founder(s)

Ettore Bugatti

Defunct

1963

Headquarters

Molsheim, Alsace, France

Key people

Ettore Bugatti

Jean Bugatti

Products

Automobiles

Net income

120 million (2008 est.)

Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a French car manufacturer of high-performance automobiles, founded in
1909 in Molsheim, Alsace by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti. Bugatti cars were well known for their design beauty
(Ettore Bugatti was from a family of artists and considered himself to be both an artist and constructor) and for
the large number of races that they have won. The death of Ettore Bugatti in 1947 proved to be the end for the
marque, and the death of his son Jean Bugatti in 1939 ensured there was not a successor to lead the factory.

No more than about 8000 cars were made. The company struggled financially, and released one last model in
the 1950s, before eventually being purchased for its airplane parts business in the 1960s. In the 1990s, an
Italian entrepreneur revived it as a builder of limited production exclusive sports cars. Today, the name is
owned by German automobile manufacturing group Volkswagen.
Contents
[hide]

1 Under Ettore Bugatti

1.1 Design

1.2 Most important models built

1.3 Gallery

1.4 Results in races

1.5 1956 Formula One

1.6 Notable finds in the modern era

2 Attempts at revival

3 Modern revivals

3.1 Bugatti Automobili SpA 19871995

3.2 Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. 1998present

4 See also

5 References

6 External links

[edit]Under

Ettore Bugatti

Founder Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan, Italy, and the automobile company that bears his name was founded
in 1909 in the town ofMolsheim located in the Alsace region which was part of the German Empire until 1919.
The company was known both for the level of detail of its engineering in its automobiles, and for the artistic way
in which the designs were executed, given the artistic nature of Ettore's family (his father, Carlo Bugatti (1856
1940), was an important Art Nouveau furniture and jewelry designer). The company also enjoyed great success
in early Grand Prix motor racing, winning the first ever Monaco Grand Prix. The company's success culminated
with driver Jean-Pierre Wimille winning the 24 hours of Le Mans twice (in 1937 with Robert Benoist and 1939
with Pierre Veyron).
Famous Bugattis include the Type 35 Grand Prix cars, the Type 41 "Royale", the Type 57 "Atlantic" and
the Type 55 sports car.

Bugatti cars were extremely successful in racing. The little Bugatti Type 10 swept the top four positions at its
first race. The 1924Bugatti Type 35 is probably the most successful racing car of all time, with over 2,000
wins.[citation needed] Bugattis swept to victory in the Targa Florio for five years straight from 1925 through
1929. Louis Chiron held the most podiums in Bugatti cars, and the modern marque revival Bugatti Automobiles
S.A.S. named the 1999 Bugatti 18/3 Chiron concept car in his honour. But it was the final racing success at Le
Mans that is most rememberedJean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron won the 1939 race with just one car
and meagre resources.
In the 1930s, Ettore Bugatti got involved in the creation of a racer airplane, hoping to beat the Germans in
the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize. This would be the Bugatti 100P,[1][2] which never flew. It was designed by
Belgian engineer Louis de Monge who had already applied Bugatti Brescia engines in his "Type 7.5" lifting
body.
Ettore Bugatti also designed a successful motorised railcar, the Autorail (Autorail Bugatti).[3]
The death of Ettore Bugatti's son, Jean Bugatti, on 11 August 1939 marked a turning point in the company's
fortunes. Jean died while testing a Type 57 tank-bodied race car near the Molsheim factory.
World War II left the Molsheim factory in ruins and the company lost control of the property. During the war,
Bugatti planned a new factory at Levallois, a northwestern suburbs of Paris. After the war, Bugatti designed
and planned to build a series of new cars, including the Type 73 road car and Type 73C single seat racing car,
but in all Bugatti built only five Type 73 cars.
A 375 cc supercharged car was canceled when Ettore Bugatti died on 21 August 1947. Following Ettore
Bugatti's death, the business declined further and made its last appearance as a business in its own right at
a Paris Motor Show in October 1952.[4]
After a long decline, the original incarnation of Bugatti ceased operations in 1952.

[edit]Design
Bugatti's cars noticeably focused on design. Engine blocks were hand scraped to ensure that the surfaces
were so flat that gaskets were not required for sealing, many of the exposed surfaces of the engine
compartment featured Guilloch (engine turned) finishes on them, and safety wires had been threaded through
almost every fastener in intricately laced patterns. Rather than bolt the springs to theaxles as most
manufacturers did, Bugatti's axles were forged such that the spring passed though a carefully sized opening in
the axle, a much more elegant solution requiring fewer parts. He famously described his arch
competitor Bentley's cars as "the world's fastest lorries" for focusing on durability. According to Bugatti, "weight
was the enemy".

[edit]Most

important models built

Prototypes

Racing Cars

Road Cars

19001901 Type 2

19101914 Type 13/Type 15/17/22

1910 Type 13[5]

1903 Type 5

1912 Type 16 Bb

19121914 Type 18

1908 Type 10 Petit Pur Sang

19221926 Type 29 Cigare

19131914 Type 23/Bresc

1925 Type 36

1923 Type 32 Tank

19291930 Type 45/47

19241930 Type

Type 56 (electric car)

1939 Type 64 (coupe)

19271930 Type 52 (electric racer for children)

19271933 Type 41 Roy

1943/1947 Type 73C

19361939 Type 57G "Tank"

19291939 Type 46/50/50

19371939 Type 50B

19321935 Type 55 (road

19311936 Type 53

19341940 Type 57/57S/T

19311936 Type 51/51A/54GP/59

19551956 Type 251

Tourer(roadster)

19221934 Type

30/38/40/43/44/49(touring

35/35A/35B/35T/35C/37/39 Grand Prix

57SC(touring car)

19511956 Type 101 (cou

19571962 Type 252 (2-se

convertible)

[edit]Gallery

1913 Bugatti 22, 3 seat Vinet

1938 Type 57SC Atlanticfrom the Ralph Laurencollection

1933 Type 59 Grand Prixracer from the Ralph Lauren collection

[edit]Results

in races

Year

Race

Driver

Car

1921 Voiturettes Grand Prix

Ernest Friderich

1925 Targa Florio

Bartolomeo Costantini

Type 35

1926 French Grand Prix

Jules Goux

Type 39 A

Italian Grand Prix

Louis Charavel

Spanish Grand Prix

Bartolomeo Costantini

Targa Florio

Bartolomeo Costantini

Type 35 T

1927 Targa Florio

Emilio Materassi

Type 35 C

1928 French Grand Prix

William Grover-Williams

Type 35 C

Italian Grand Prix

Louis Chiron

Spanish Grand Prix

Louis Chiron

Targa Florio

Albert Divo

Type 35 B

William Grover-Williams

Type 35 B

1929 French Grand Prix

German Grand Prix

Louis Chiron

Spanish Grand Prix

Louis Chiron

Monaco Grand Prix

William Grover-Williams

Targa Florio

Albert Divo

1930 Belgian Grand Prix

Louis Chiron

Type 35 C

Czechoslovakian Grand Prix Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen and Hermann zu Leiningen

French Grand Prix

Philippe tancelin

Monaco Grand Prix

Ren Dreyfus

1931 Belgian Grand Prix

Type 35 C

William Grover-Williams and Caberto Conelli

Czechoslovakian Grand Prix Louis Chiron

French Grand Prix

Louis Chiron and Achille Varzi

Monaco Grand Prix

Louis Chiron

1932 Czechoslovakian Grand Prix Louis Chiron

1933 Czechoslovakian Grand Prix Louis Chiron

Monaco Grand Prix

Achille Varzi

1934 Belgian Grand Prix

Ren Dreyfus

Type 51

1936 French Grand Prix

Jean-Pierre Wimille and Raymond Sommer

Type 57 G

1937 24 hours of Le Mans

Jean-Pierre Wimille and Robert Benoist

Type 57 G

1939 24 hours of Le Mans

Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron

Type 57 C

[edit]1956

Formula One

(key)
Year

Chassis

Engine(s)

Tires

Drivers

Points WCC

ARG MON 500 BEL FRA GBR GER ITA

1956

Bugatti Bugatti StraightType 251

8

0*
Maurice
Trintignant

-*

Ret

* The World Constructors' Championship was not awarded before 1958.

[edit]Notable

finds in the modern era

Relatives of Dr. Harold Carr found a rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante when cataloguing the doctor's
belongings after his death in 2009. Dr. Carr's Type 57S is notable because it was originally owned by British
race car driver Earl Howe. Because much of the car's original equipment is intact, it can be restored without
relying on replacement parts.[6]
On 10 July 2009, a 1925 Bugatti Brescia Type 22 which had lain at the bottom of Lake Maggiore on the border
of Switzerland and Italy for 75 years was recovered from the lake. The Mullin Museum in Oxnard,
California bought it at auction for $351,343 at Bonham's Retromobile sale in Paris in 2010.

[edit]Attempts

at revival

The company attempted a comeback under Roland Bugatti in the mid-1950s with the mid-engined Type
251 race car. Designed with help from Gioacchino Colombo, the car failed to perform to expectations and the
company's attempts at automobile production were halted.
In the 1960s, Virgil Exner designed a Bugatti as part of his "Revival Cars" project. A show version of this car
was actually built by Ghiausing the last Bugatti Type 101 chassis, and was shown at the 1965 Turin Motor
Show. Finance was not forthcoming, and Exner then turned his attention to a revival of Stutz.

Bugatti continued manufacturing airplane parts and was sold to Hispano-Suiza, also a former auto maker
turned aircraft supplier, in 1963. Snecma took over Hispano-Suiza in 1968. After acquiring Messier, Snecma
merged Messier and Bugatti into Messier-Bugatti in 1977.

[edit]Modern
[edit]Bugatti

revivals

Automobili SpA 19871995

Bugatti EB110 (1996)

Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli acquired the Bugatti brand in 1987, and established Bugatti Automobili
SpA. Bugatti commissioned architect Giampaolo Benedini to design the factory which was built
in Campogalliano, Italy.
By 1989 the plans for the new Bugatti revival were presented by Paolo Stanzani and Marcello Gandini,
designers of the Lamborghini Miura and Lamborghini Countach. Bugatti called their first production vehicle
the Bugatti EB110 GT. Bugatti advertised the EB110 as the most technically advanced sports car ever
produced.
Famed racing car designer Mauro Forghieri served as Bugatti's technical director from 1992 through 1994.
On 27 August 1993, through his holding company, ACBN Holdings S.A. of Luxembourg, Romano Artioli
purchased Lotus Cars fromGeneral Motors. Bugatti made plans to list the company's shares on international
stock exchanges.
Bugatti presented a prototype large saloon called the EB112 in 1993.
Perhaps the most famous Bugatti EB110 owner was seven-time Formula One World
Championracing driver Michael Schumacher who purchased an EB110 in 1994. Schumacher sold his EB110,
which had been repaired after a severe 1994 crash, to Modena Motorsport, a Ferrari service and race
preparation garage in Germany.
By the time the EB110 came to market, the North American and European economies were in recession. Poor
economic conditions forced the company to fail and operations ceased in September 1995. A model specific to

the United States market called the "Bugatti America" was in the preparatory stages when the company ceased
operations.
Bugatti's liquidators sold Lotus Cars to Proton of Malaysia. German firm Dauer Racing purchased the EB110
license and remaining parts stock in 1997 in order to produce five more EB110 SS vehicles. These five SS
versions of the EB110 were greatly refined by Dauer. The Campogalliano factory was sold to a furnituremaking company, which subsequently collapsed before moving in, leaving the building unoccupied. [7] After
Dauer stopped producing cars in 2011, Toscana-Motors GmbH of Germany purchased the remaining parts
stock from Dauer.

[edit]Bugatti

Automobiles S.A.S. 1998present

Bugatti Veyron 16.4

Main article: Bugatti Automobiles

Volkswagen AG acquired the Bugatti brand in 1998.
Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. commissioned Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign to produce Bugatti's first concept
vehicle, the EB118, a coup that debuted at the 1998 Paris Auto Show. The EB118 concept featured a
408 kilowatts (555 PS; 547 bhp), W-18 engine, the first W-configuration engine in any passenger vehicle.[citation
needed]

After its Paris debut, theEB118 concept was shown again in 1999 at the Geneva Auto Show and

the Tokyo Motor Show.

Bugatti introduced its next concepts, the EB 218 at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show and the18/3 Chiron at the
1999 Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA).
Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. began assembling its first regular-production vehicle, the Bugatti Veyron EB
16.4 (the 1001 BHP super car with an 8-litre W-16 engine with four turbochargers) in September 2005 at the
BugattiMolsheim, France assembly "studio".[8][9]