Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan on September 15th 1881. His father Carlo was a famous sculptor and artistic carpenter. He created furniture influenced by Arabic designs, which sold throughout Europe.
In 1897 having been to school and the Academy of Art in Milan, the young Ettore joined the bicycle manufacturer Prinetti and Stucchi. He was however more interested in making motorcars which had only been recently invented. At the tender age of 17 he fitted a motor to a tricycle and then another one with twin DeDion motors. Before the end of the century Ettore raced his first vehicle.
These are the kind of vehicles he would have been working on at that time.
Not exactly steamlined eh?
In 1901, Ettore Bugatti presented his first self-made automobile at the international exhibition in Milan. This was built with the help of the Gulinelli brothers, and awarded the 'T2' prize by the French Automobile Club. After some initial problems the licence for the production of the vehicle was sold to the De Dietrich Company, located in Niederbronn in the Alsace region. Ettore's father had to sign the contract with de Dietrich, because his son was still not yet 21, but in the following years the young Bugatti developed five further vehicle models for the Deutz company in Cologne.
I'm guessing that these models would look something along the lines of this Type 2.
A bit more recognisable as a motorcar.
Unfortunately the De Dietrich Company was not satisfied with the amount of time Ettore was devoting to designing racing cars. They thought he should have been concentrating his efforts on series production so in 1905 they fired him.
Ettore then went to work for Emil Mathis, and designed a new automobile with a four-cylinder engine, but he soon came to loggerheads with Emil Mathis and they parted company too.
Now free to work on pretty much anything he fancied, Ettore continued with his work designing racing cars and in 1906 he developed an automobile with a 50 hp engine. In July 1907 he offered the design to Deutz, a company that built petrol engines. They obtained the licence to build the car and Bugatti was put in charge of production in Cologne.
Meanwhile he continued to work in his spare time in the basement of his apartment where he developed his first little 'Type 10' also known as the 'Pur Sang' (I believe it means 'Thoroughbred' in French). Here are a couple of pictures.
I don't reckon much to the bonnet mascot in the first photo. The second picture shows a recently refurbished car with much lower side panels. It must have felt a bit like sitting in a tin bath. Imagine racing one in a Grand Prix! No seat belts either, Health and Safety would have field day!
In January 1909 the still young Bugatti borrowed some money and opened a business in a disused dyeing works in the town of Molsheim in Germany. With yet more borrowed money he built ten automobiles and five aircraft engines. He sold the first five cars in 1910 and his friend and assistant Ernest Fridrich started driving the cars in races. They had a very successful series of race wins in 1911 and they surprised everyone when the Type 10 came second in the French Grand Prix against many cars with much more powerful engines. This is the little engine that beat all but one of the more powerful competitors.
In
the same
year,
Bugatti
signed a
license
contract
with the
Peugeot
Company
to
produce
the
'Bebe'
Peugeot
with the
Bugatti
Type 19
engine
installed.
This
proved
very
successful
and the
Type 19
was
subsequently
built
into a
large
majority
of
Bugatti
models
(several
thousand).
This is
what the
'Bebe'
looked
like.
During the First World War (1914-1918) Ettore Bugatti designed various airplane engines for the American and French governments. The money he made from licencing the production of these engines allowed him to start proper manufacturing in his factory in Molsheim after the war was over. He increased production dramatically and employed over a thousand people.
1921 was a big year for Bugatti. Their cars achieved first, second, third, and fourth place in the Voiturettes Grand Prix in Brescia, Italy. This huge success was what really put Bugatti on the map with the Type 13 car and ever since that time every 16-valve engine built by Bugatti carries the name 'Brescia' in the model designation in memory of this amazing victory. Here are a few examples of the Type 13. First the basic racing car....
Then the same sort of car, but with lights on, presumably for day and night-time racing like in the 'Le Mans' competition....
...and
finally
a longer
wheelbased
private
owner's
2-seater
road car
version.
1922
brought
the Type
29-30
which
was the
first
racing
car that
Bugatti
built
with an
8
cylinder
engine.
It also
had
hydraulic
brakes
and a
revolutionary
chassis
construction
in the
shape of
a cigar.
This car
was
raced
for the
first
time in
the 1922
ACF
Grand
Prix and
made
second
place!
This is
when
they
really
started
to look
like
racing
cars.
Look at the rear end on that, it's like a rocket ship.
The next year Ettore Bugatti caused a lot of excitement at the ACF Grand Prix in Tours. He introduced a car with another revolutionary chassis - a blade profile with covered wheels. It was known as the 'Tank' and had a very short wheelbase and an even more powerful 8-cyinder engine. Ettore's friend Ernest Fridrich drove the 'Tank' to an impressive third place. Now they were 'cooking with gas!'
In 1924 in an attempt to make a more attractive racing car Bugatti presented a vehicle with a more traditional chassis. This was the Type 35 again using an 8-cylinder engine with a 2-litre capacity (later expanded to 2.3 litres). It was the first car to run on the now famous aluminium hoop-spoked wheels. This car was produced and raced in great numbers. If you actually take into account all of the variations of the Model 35 it was in fact the most successful racing car of all time with two thousand racing victories! Even now you can see dozens of these at classic racing meetings. They must be so much fun to drive.
Apart from his racing and sports cars, for many years Ettore Bugatti had aspired to build the best, most luxurious automobile ever. In 1926 the 'Royale' with a 12.7 litre 8-cylinder engine delivering 300hp was the realization his dream. Even by today's standards the 'Royale' was the most expensive automobile of all time, but it came at the worst possible time just as the world was entering the Great Depression. There were only ever three of these fantastic automobiles sold and Bugatti was almost financially ruined. But somehow they survived and won the contract to build a new high-speed train for the French government.
Bugatti began manufacturing railcars and found they could, after all, use the engines that had been developed for the 'Royale' car, putting them into trains. The French government were very pleased with the results and Ettore Bugatti solved his financial problems into the bargain.
It's not difficult to believe that the engine from one of these could pull a train.
Imagine trying to get one round a tight corner in Paris or Milan though.
While this was happening Bugatti was only producing one automobile model which was the Type 57. This sedan model was their last big production success, selling about 750 altogether. It came with a variety of body shapes by different coachbuilders. Here are a few examples.
In 1936 Bugatti fell victim to industrial action. The factory workers went on strike for better pay and working conditions. Ettore Bugatti had always had a good relationship with his workers. He paid them above average wages and extra social benefits and so he was particularly upset by the strike, which, it transpired, was actually managed from outside his company. From this point on he distanced himself from his employees and worked almost exclusively from his Paris office. Ironically, one of the results of the strike was actually lower pay for inexperienced new workers and the friendly working environment at Molsheim was gone forever.
In 1937 Bugatti were victorious at Le Mans with a Type 57 G 'Tank' and Ettore again experienced the thrill that his team had enjoyed in the 1920's. I couldn't find many phographs of this amazing racing car except this one showing 3 'Tanks' posed in a row before the French Grand Prix in 1936. Their drivers were the now legendary Robert Benoist, Raymond Sommer and of course Pierre Veyron after whom the latest Bugatti supercars are named.
This one is just a model, but it's a very good one and gives you an idea of what the cars actually looked like.
Unfortunately by the end of the 1930's Ettore Bugatti was in financial difficulty again. His son Jean, however, convinced him to enter a team at Le Mans using a car made from a 57 series with a compressor(supercharger)and a chassis similar to a 'Tank' with which they had already won Le Mans in 1937. Drivers Jean Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron won this important race yet again in 1939 with only one vehicle at their disposal. This was the last big win for Ettore Bugatti. On the 11th of August 1939 his son Jean was killed during a test-run in the same car and then a few days later the Second World War began.
After
the
Second
World
War
several
halfhearted
attempts
were
made to
resume
production
at
Molsheim
but lack
of funds
made it
impossible
to
develop
new
products.
Finally
on
August
21 1947
Ettore
Bugatti
died of
a lung
infection
in a
military
hospital
in Paris
at the
age of
66. Only
about
7900
automobiles
were
built in
Ettore
Bugatti's
time,
but many
of these
vehicles
have
proudly
survived
to this
day as
testaments
to the
genius
of the
man and
his
incomparable
contribution
to
motoring
history.
I've
posted a
few more
pictures
of
various
models
produced
throughout
Ettore
Bugatti's
lifetime.
A 1926
Type
39-35B
Racer.
1932 Type 50 Drophead Coupe.
1944 Type 73c.
1939 Type 57c 'Gangloff' Coupe.
1928 Type 44.
With Ettore's death the myth of Bugatti declined until the sale of the factory in Molsheim to Hispano-Suiza in 1963. As far as I can find out, nothing very much happened until 1987 when the legendary marque was revived by Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli who acquired the Bugatti name and established Bugatti Automobili SpA.
A new factory was built in Campogalliano, Italy close to Modena and in 1989 a new prototype design was produced by Paolo Stanzani who famously designed both the Lamborghini Miura and Countach models. The new Bugatti ID90 (Ital design) was a streamline 2-seater sports car with a carbon fibre frame and an aluminium body. This is what it looked like. It reminds me a bit of the Jaguar XJ220.
Using this prototype a road going model was produced in the spring of 1992. It had a centrally located 3500cc 12 cylinder engine assisted by 4 turbochargers which produced a huge 550bhp resulting in a top speed of around 210mph. It achieved the world speed record for a car approved for road use. In honour of Ettore Bugatti’s 150th anniversary the car was named the EB 110 GT. Here it is.
The car was sold to the public, but only in small numbers to very wealthy enthusiasts and then July 1992 brought the even more powerful EB 110 SS (Super Sport) whose engine developed 600 bhp and who weighed 200kg less than it’s predecessor. It looked pretty much the same with just the odd detail different.
In March 1993 at the Geneva Motor Show Bugatti unveiled a four-door model equipped with a 6-litre V12 engine developing 460bhp. The rear end of the EB 112, as it was known, somewhat resembled that of one of Ettore Bugatti’s old 1930s designs, the Type 57 or ‘Atlantic’. What do you think?
Take a look from the rear,
Actually, I quite like it, but it's a totally different different kind of car to look at. Much smoother and elegant, but probably a bit too much 'Cap and Pipe' if you get my meaning.
On August 27 1993 Romano Artioli bought the Lotus from General Motors thus putting together two of the greatest names in motor racing. Unfortunately economic and financial factors meant that yet again the business remained essentially dormant for several years. It was planned to start production of the EB112 in 1996, but Bugatti Automobili SpA went bankrupt in 1995.
Eventually in 1998 Volkswagen bought the Bugatti name and established Bugatti Automobiles SaS. They produced the EB118 which was a 2-door model along similar lines to the EB112, not quite as 'Cap and Pipe', but still rather tame.
Then
there
was the
EB18-3.
Another
of my
personal
favourites.
They
then
went on
to push
the
frontiers
of motor
engineering
past
anything
that
anyone
else has
attempted
thus far
with the
astounding
Bugatti
Veyron,
named of
course,
after
Bugatti’s
famous
racing
driver
Pierre
Veyron.
What on
earth he
would
have
thought
of this
monster
of a car
is
anyone’s
guess.
A
concept
version
of the
Veyron
was
revealed
at the
1999
Tokyo
Motor
Show and
it has
been
steadily
honed
and
improved
over the
years
even
though
there
were
doubts
that it
would
ever
actually
be sold.
The
latest
Veyron
is an
all-wheel-drive
2-seater
sports
car with
a
lightweight
carbon
fibre
body and
a
16-cylinder
engine
producing
1,001bhp!
It is
faster
than a
Formula
One car
accelerating
from 0
to 60mph
in 2.5
seconds
and
carrying
on with
incredible
rapidity
to a top
speed of
around
250mph!
But if
you’re
thinking
of
buying
one
it’ll
set you
back
over a
million
dollars,
if you
have a
family,
don’t
worry,
the
company
has
announced
that it
will
build a
four-door
version
of the
car in
the
future.
Oh, well
that’s
OK then.
The
Bugatti
name
originated
with a
company
that
built
high-performance
cars
from
1910 to
1956.
Bugatti
now
operates
in the
same
Alsace
region,
now part
of
France,
in which
the
original
Bugattis
were
made.
The
cars,
although
very
different
from
those
designed
by
Ettore
Bugatti
are
nevertheless,
just
like
his, at
the very
forefront
of
automotive
technology.
A
fitting
tribute
to one
of the
greatest
names in
the
history
of the
automobile.
Courtesie grumpybloke