The history of Ettore Bugatti's beautiful automobiles begins in Molsheim, Germany in 1909. Soon thereafter, Molsheim was returned to the Alsace region of France at the conclusion of WWI.

Born in Milan, Italy in 1881, Ettore moved to Alsace as a young man and began designing automobiles at De Dietrich before the age of 21. He eventually found his way to Mathis and Deutz, then, in 1910, finished the creation of the first automobile to carry his name. Dubbed the Type 13, this modest automobile carried a OHC four cylinder unit of 1.3L displacement.

As an established automaker, Bugatti designed the "Bebe" for Peugeot. Prior to 1913 Bugatti had four-piston engines of 1,368cc and 5,027cc which were built originally with two valves per cylinder and then four valves per cylinder. He also produced a straight eight of nearly three liters in 1913. From there Bugatti built his first production eight cylinder, the 2L of 1922. Later installed into the now-famous Type 35 ( in supercharged form).

The 1998 Concours on Rodeo featured two of the most famous Bugatti road car models - the larger-than-life Type 41 Royale from 1931 and a stunning 1939 Type 57 built as a wedding present.

Although the Type 41 Royale models were fit for royalty none were purchased by such and only six were crafted. A seventh chassis was finished but never bodied. Royales carry straight eights of 12-3/4L that produce 788.7 cubic inches of displacement. Power output from the monster eight is reported to be 300bhp at a trickling 1,700rpm. The wheels on this grand car measure 24 inches. Royales weigh approximately 7,000lbs! Another use for the massive, low revving eight cylinder engine was on rail cars.

The Royale was actually glimmering in Ettore Bugatti's mind as early as April, 1913, when he wrote to his friend, Espanet, that he was designing an eight cylinder with a bore of 100mm. From the letter:

"The car will be larger than the Hispano Suiza (changed by Ettore to read 'Rolls-Royce'), but at the same time lighter; the speed of the closed car will reach 150km/h. I hope to achieve perfect silence... There is no need to tell you that the production of these cars will be very limited and made with irreproachable care. All these cars will be delivered after tests of at least 1,000 km, and will have a guarantee of five years; the car will be extremely expensive, but will not be compared to any vehicle of this type"

Instead of having a body built to fit the first chassis, Bugatti had an eight cylinder Packard body placed atop his own for a fit comparison. The Bugatti chassis was so long (just over 15ft) the Packard coachwork hardly had any overhang on the mammoth Bugatti creation.

The coachwork on the Royale featured here is the second body on chassis 41111. The original body was a roadster, penned by Ettore's son Jean, and made at Molsheim. This was the first Royale to be sold. The current Coupe de Ville coachwork is by Parisian Henry Binder (circa 1938). This Royale was purchased by clothing manufacturer Armand Esders. No headlamps were fitted as Mr. Esders didn't drive after dark. Ettore's son, Jean, penned the roadster body originally placed on chassis 41111.

The Binder-bodied car made its way to America and into the hands of the Bill Harrah Collection. In 1966 Mr. Harrah entered the car in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Rules stated that cars must be driven to the concours lawn at Del Monte Lodge. Instead of trucking his masterpiece from Nevada to Pebble Beach and then driving the Royale a few miles to the show, Mr. Harrah had two of his collection's master mechanics drive the 300 some odd miles in the Royale! An oil line broke enroute but was repaired and cleaned off in time to capture the concours best of show award as well as class honors.

The elephant mascot on the tip of the horseshoe radiator was sculpted by Ettore's younger brother, Rembrandt.

The Type 57 was introduced in 1934 and saw a massive (by Bugatti standards) production run of 680 automobiles. Jean Bugatti proved his worthiness and designed three "factory" bodies for the Type 57, the Ventoux (two-window and four-window), the Stelvio, and the Atalante. In addition one could order a Type 57 with Galibier four-door bodies and the amazing Atlantic coupe (only three built). Early Galibier bodies had suicide-opening rear doors with no pillar. Later Galibier bodies had suicide-opening front doors and traditionally hung rear doors that shared a common pillar. Numerous other bodies could be had but these are the predominant examples.

To help the car handle Jean designed an independent front suspension set-up only to have the elder Bugatti demand it be fixed and made into the traditional Bugatti front axle. Badly needed hydraulic brakes were introduced in 1938, just about one year prior to the end of production.

Jean Bugatti was killed on August 11, 1939 at the age of 30, while testing a Type 57C tank-bodied racer near Molsheim. Ettore, still designing (road cars, race cars, boats, and machining tools) at the age of 66, died on August 21, 1947. The Bugatti factory continued to produce under the direction of Pierre Marco. Lackluster automobiles ensued as did a poor attempt to return to racing in the mid-1950s.

In all, approximately 7,800 automobiles were produced carring the Bugatti name.

The Bugatti mystic was revived in the late-1980s when Romano Artioli began creation of a new Italian-based supercar. In 1991 the astounding EB 110 (to mark the 110th anniversary of Ettore Bugattis birth) was introduced to the world as the most technically advanced supercar ever produced. True, as the EB 110 had quad-turbocharging (15.2psi per bank), 12 cylinders in V formation, 3.5L of displacement producing 611bhp at 8,250rpm, 480lb-ft of torque, 5 valves per cylinder (yes, 60 in all - 36 intake and 24 exhaust), four-wheel drive controlled by a six-speed transmission, carbon fiber chassis, and aluminum body, to mention but a few aspects. All this good for 215mph!

Because no modern supercar can have normal forward-hinged swing-out doors (except Ferraris) the EB 110 has forward-hinged, tilt-up-and-forward doors, like that of a Lamborghini Countach or Diablo.

The EB 110 carried on the Bugatti tradition of sports car racing. Derek John Hill, son of American former Formula 1 Champion Phil Hill, was one of three drivers on the team when an EB 110 competed in the States at the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona. Click here for photos from 1996 Daytona endurance event.

Miscellany - Life for the revived marque was not the smoothest. Bugatti purchased Lotus from General Motors in August of 1993 and was making plans to go public in the summer of 1994. Artioli was principal of Bugatti-Lotus Group.

Production for 1993: 80 EB 110s made while were 65 sold (Switzerland and European Community only as US homologation wasn't expected until the end of 1994.

Feelings were high early in 1994 when Formula 1 driver, Michael Schumacher, stopped by to pick up his banana yellow EB 110 Super Sports. This did little, if anything, to help the struggling firm.

Buagtti (as well as Bentley and Lamborghini) is now in the hands of Volkswagen. VW chairman, Ferdinand Piech, has plans to produce an 18 cylinder Bugatti, dubbed the EB 118, for the upper-most reaches of the automotive well-to-do.

Gool luck and God speed.