Bugatti

Foonder Ettore Bugatti wis born in Milan, Italy, an the automobile company that bears his name wis foundit in 1909 in the toun o Molsheim in the Alsace. The company wis kent baith for the level o detail o its ingineerin in its automobiles, an for their airtistic designs, gart frae the airtistic naitur o Ettore's faimily. Carlo Bugatti (1856–1940), Ettore's faither wis an important Art Nouveau furniture an jewelry designer. The company haed great success in early Grand Prix motor racin, forbye, winnin the first iver Monaco Grand Prix. The company's success culminatit wi driver Jean-Pierre Wimille winnin the 24 hours o Le Mans twice (in 1937 wi Robert Benoist an 1939 wi Pierre Veyron).

Bugatti's caurs war thocht baith as warks o airt an mechanical creations. Ingine blocks war haund scartit that the surfaces haedna mister for gaskets for sealin, mony o the exposed surfaces o the ingine compartment featurt Guilloché (ingine turnt) finishes on them, an safety wires threidit throu naurhaund ilka fastener in intricate-lacit pattrens. Raither nor bolt the springs tae the axles sic as maist manufacturers duin, Bugatti's axles war forged sic that the spring passed thru a carefully sized openin in the axle, a guid wheen mair elegant solution that needit fewer pairts. He famously describit his arch competitor Bentley's caurs as "the world's fastest lorries" for focusin on durability. Accordin tae Bugatti, "weight was the enemy".

Anerlie a few examples o each o Ettore Bugatti's vehicles wur iver produced, the maist famous bein the Type 35 Grand Prix caurs, the "Royale", the Type 57 "Atlantic" an the Type 55 sports caur.

On 2 Januar 2009, it wis revealed dick that a rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atlantic haed been foond in the garage o a deceased surgeon in England. Anly 17 o this model war made, aw bi haund.

On 10 Julie 2009, a 1925 Bugatti Brescia Type 22 which haed lain at the bottom o Lake Maggiore on the mairch o Swisserland an Italy for 75 years haes been liftit oot o the watter. The Mullin Museum in Oxnard, CA bought it at auction for $351,343 at Bonham's Retromobile sale in Paris in 2010.

Throughoot the production run o approximately 7,900 caurs (o which aboot 2,000 still exist), each Bugatti model wis designatit wi the prefix T for Type, which referred tae the chassis an drive train.

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  1938 Type 57SC Atlantic frae the Ralph Lauren collection
• 
  1933 Type 59 Grand Prix racer frae the Ralph Lauren collection

Durin the war Bugatti wirked at Levallois in northwastren suburbs o Paris, on several new projects, includin the Type 73 road caur, Type 73C single seater racin caur (5 biggit), an the Type 75. Efter Warld War II, a 375 cc superchairged caur wis canceled when Ettore dee'd.

Bugatti caurs wur extremely successfu in racin, wi mony thoosans o victories in juist a few decades. The little Bugatti Type 10 swept the tap fower poseetions at its first race. The 1924 Bugatti Type 35 is probably the maist successfu racin caur o aw time, wi ower 2,000 wins. Bugattis swept tae victory in the Targa Florio for five years straight frae 1925 throu 1929. Louis Chiron held the maist podiums in Bugatti caurs, an the 21st century Bugatti company remembered him wi a concept caur named in his honour. But it wis the final racin success at Le Mans that is maist remembered—Jean-Pierre Wimille an Pierre Veyron wan the 1939 race wi juist ane caur an meagre resoorces.

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* The Warld Constructors' Championship wis no awardit afore 1958.

In the 1930s, Ettore Bugatti got involved in the creation o a racer airplane, hopin tae beat the Germans in the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize. This wad be the Bugatti 100P,^[2][3] which never flew. It wis designed bi Belgian ingineer Louis de Monge who haed awready applee'd Bugatti Brescia ingines in his "Type 7.5" liftin body.

Ettore Bugatti an aa designed a successfu motorised railcaur, the Autorail. His son, Jean Bugatti, wis killed on 11 August 1939 at the age o 30, while testin a Type 57 tank-bodied race caur near the Molsheim factory. Subsequently the company's fortunes began tae decline. Warld War II ruined the factory in Molsheim, an the company lost control o the property. Durin the war, Bugatti planned a new factory at Levallois in Paris an designed a series o new caurs. Ettore Bugatti dee'd on 21 August 1947.

The company attemptit a comeback unner Roland Bugatti in the mid-1950s wi the mid-engined Type 251 race caur. Designed wi help frae famed Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, an Maserati designer Gioacchino Colombo, the caur failed tae perform tae expectations, an the company's attempts at automobile production wur haltit.

In the 1960s, Virgil Exner designed a Bugatti as pairt o his "Revival Cars" project. A show version o this caur wis actually biggit bi Ghia uisin the last Bugatti Type 101 chassis, an wis shawn at the 1965 Turin Motor Show. Finance wis no fortcomin, an Exner then turned his attention tae a revival o Stutz.

Bugatti continued manufacturin airplane pairts an wis sauld tae Hispano-Suiza (anither auto maker turned aircraft supplier) in 1963. Snecma teuk ower in 1968, later acquirin Messier. The twa wur merged intae Messier-Bugatti in 1977. i no how tae spell

Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli acquired the famous Bugatti name in 1987, an establisht Bugatti Automobili SpA. The new company biggit a factory designed bi the architect Giampaolo Benedini in Campogalliano, Italy, a toun near Modena, hame tae ither performance-caur manufacturers De Tomaso, Ferrari, Pagani an Maserati.

Bi 1989 the plans for the new Bugatti revival wur presentit bi Paolo Stanzani an Marcello Gandini, famous designers o the Lamborghini Miura an Countach. The first completit cur wis labelled the Bugatti EB110 GT, advertised as the maist technically advanced sports caur iver produced.

Frae 1992 throu 1994 famed racin caur designer Mauro Forghieri wis technical director.

On 27 August 1993, throu his hauldin company, ACBN Holdings S.A. o Luxembourg, Romano Artioli purchased the Lotus caur company frae General Motors. The acquisition brocht thegither twa o the greatest historical names in automotive racin, an plans wur made for leetin the company's shares on internaitional stock exchynges. Bugatti an aa presentit in 1993 the prototype o a lairge saloon cried the EB112.

Bi the time the EB110 came tae mercat the North American an European economies wur in recession, an operations ceased in September 1995. A model specific tae the Unitit States mercat cried the "Bugatti America" wis in the preparatory stages when the company closed. Bugatti's liquidators sauld Lotus tae Proton o Malaysie.

In 1997 German manufacturer Dauer Racing bought the EB110 license an remainin pairts stock tae Bugatti in order tae produce five mair EB110 SS units, awtho thay wur greatly refined bi Dauer. The factory wis later sauld tae a furniture-makin company, which an aa collapsed afore thay wur able tae muive in, leavin the biggin unoccupied.^[4]

Aiblins the maist famous Bugatti EB110 awner wis the German racin driver Michael Schumacher, seiven-time Formula Ane Warld Champion, who bought the EB110 in 1994 while racin for the Benetton team. In 2003 Schumacher sauld the caur—which haed been repaired efter a severe crash the year he bought it—tae Modena Motorsport, a Ferrari service an race preparation garage in Germany.

Volkswagen AG purchased the richts tae produce caurs unner the Bugatti marque in 1998. Thay commissioned ItalDesign tae produce the Bugatti EB118 concept, a tourin saloon (sedan), which featurt a (555 PS; 547 bhp), an the first W-configuration 16-cylinder ingine in ony passenger vehicle, at the Paris Auto Show.

In 1999, the Bugatti EB 218 concept wis introduced at the Geneva Auto Show; later that year the Bugatti 18/3 Chiron wis introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA). At the Tokyo Motor Show, the EB 218 reappeared, an the Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron wis presentit as the first incarnation o wha wis tae be a production road caur.

• Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse, hame o the Schlumpf Collection o Bugatti caurs
• Bugatti Type 8

• Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.
• Bugatti bibliography Archived 2008-04-12 at the Wayback Machine
• The Bugatti Trust
• Bugatti at LeMans