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Bugatti

Ettore Bugatti was born on September 15, 1881 in Brescia[?], Italy. Although born in Italy, the automobile company he founded was located in Molsheim[?], in the Alsace region of France. The company was known for its advanced engineering in its premium road cars and its success in early Grand Prix racing, winning the first ever Monaco Grand Prix and with driver Jean-Pierre Wimille[?] they won the 1937 and 1939 24 hours of Le Mans.

Table of contents

1 Under Ettore Bugatti

2 Under Romano Artioli

3 Collectors

4 External links

Under Ettore Bugatti

Bugatti Royale

Only a few models of each of Ettore Bugatti's vehicles were ever produced, the most famous being the Type 35 Grand Prix car, the huge "Royale[?]", and the Type 55 sports car.

Bugatti also designed a successful motorized railcar, the Autorail, and an airplane, but it never flew.

Ettore Bugatti died on August 21, 1947 and is buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery , Paris, France.

Under Romano Artioli

In 1987 the Bugatti name was sold to Romano Artioli, an Italian entrepreneur. He commissioned a car that was to become the world's fastest, the Bugatti EB110 (so named to honour the 110th anniversary of Ettore Bugatti's birth).

Bugatti EB 110

The completed car was ready in 1990 but the unveiling was delayed until the anniversary date of September 15, 1991. The car had a quad turbo V12 3500cc engine of 611bhp, powering all four wheels through a six speed gear box, and was capable of 212 mph.

At a price of £340,000 it wasn't going to be anything but exclusive. Built using carbon fibre, five aluminium chassis pre-production prototypes were built, followed by eight with composite chassis, before ninety-five production models were rolled out.

Bugatti purchased Lotus Cars from General Motors in 1993. A luxury saloon (EB112) was planned, but never got beyond the prototype stage. The company went bankrupt in 1995.

In 1998 the Bugatti name was bought by VAG, but by mid-2002 only a handful of prototypes had been produced.

Collectors

Today Bugatti cars are amongst the most sought after in the world by collectors, fetching prices as high as US$10 million.

The best-known collectors of Bugatti were Hans and Fritz Schlumpf, two brothers who ran a textiles business in Mulhouse[?], close to the Bugatti factory. Between 1958 and 1975 (when their business failed) they secretly amassed a remarkable collection of the cars. Now known as the Schlumpf Collection[?], it has been turned into one of the world's great car museums, the Musée Nationale de l'Automobile.