AbgTutor dot Com: Bugatti Veyron Jean Bugatti

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Bugatti Veyron Jean Bugatti – only 3 units, RM9.9 mil

Following the launch of its Les Légendes de Bugatti (Bugatti Legends) series at this year’s Pebble Beach show, Bugatti unveiled the second model of the range at Frankfurt. The “Jean Bugatti” is based on the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, which 8.0 litre W16 engine generates 1,200 PS and 1,500 Nm of torque, is good for 0-100 km/h in 2.6 seconds and can break the 400 km/h barrier.

The Bugatti Grand Sport Vitesse “Jean Bugatti” is a celebration of the oldest son of company founder Ettore Bugatti and his most famous creation, the Type 57SC Atlantic. Like the other five models in the Legend series, the “Jean Bugatti” is limited to three units and costs 2.28 million euros (RM9.9 million) a pop. The first in the series was the Jean-Pierre Wimille edition.

Here’s a bit of history. Gianoberto Carlo Rembrandt Ettore Bugatti, known as Jean, was the eldest son of Ettore Bugatti and the most gifted of his four children. From the late 1920s onwards, Jean used his own structural and design ideas to exert more and more influence over the development of the company located in Molsheim, Alsace.

In 1936, he took over as head of the company at the age of 27. By the time of his tragic accidental death in 1939, Jean had secured his place in automotive history thanks to his pioneering engine and chassis designs and concepts for vehicle bodies.

One of the most extraordinary designs created by Jean has to be the Type 57SC Atlantic, which ranks among the most expensive vintage cars in the world today. Today’s Legend model is a call back to La Voiture Noire (The Black Car), an Atlantic model which was driven by Jean Bugatti himself and has been lost since World War II.

“Jean Bugatti was a gifted car designer who knew to mirror the 1930s style of avant-garde in the design of the Bugatti car bodies. His jet black La Voiture Noire was more than just Jean’s ‘private’ car. It was also his most impressive work of art – breathtakingly sporty dimensions paired with fluid, elegant lines and the unmistakeably expressive Bugatti DNA,” explains Achim Anscheidt, chief designer at Bugatti.

The body of the Jean Bugatti Vitesse Legend Edition is constructed entirely from jet black, clear-coated carbon fibre. The Bugatti horseshoe on the front grille and the EB logo on the rear is crafted from platinum, the first time the metal is used on a modern Bugatti. The signature of Jean Bugatti is lasered onto the fuel and oil cap and painted Arctic grey.

Inside, the Vitesse features the same beige and brown tones that were present in the Type 57SC Atlantic. The silhouette of the Type 57SC is embroidered onto the chocolate brown doors using contrasting beige silk thread. From a bird’s eye view, the Atlantic’s silhouette is immortalised using brown thread for decorative stitching on the rear storage compartment. A nice touch is the gear lever, which is rendered in rosewood.

Additional specific Legend Edition feature is the leather insert embossed with the lettering “Les Légendes de Bugatti” in the extended section of the centre console, and door sill plates displaying the likeness and signature of Jean Bugatti.