In the same spirit as the previous posts of listing which cars of a certain manufacturer or model I have seen, we move onto one of the most prestigious names in the business, Bugatti. Founded in France in 1909, Bugatti have had a rollercoaster of a history building some of the most sought after luxury cars around, winning grand prix races and eventually becoming defunct in 1963 due to lack of funding after the deaths of both Ettore Bugatti (the founder) and his son Jean. Reborn from the ashes in 1987 under the ownership of VW, they have become what many believe to be the pinnacle creator of hypercars and supercars holding the top speed record four times in their reborn history and creating a new high for all petrolheads around the world. I have seen only eight Bugatti models of the reborn but all of them have incredibly interesting stories to go with them.
In 2017, I saw my first Bugatti which happened to be a Veyron 16.4. This was the second car Bugatti made under the VW ownership and released it in 2005 after many, many delays by VW to perfect the serum. When the car was shown in production form it created a new type of supercar as people labelled it as the world's first hypercar. It has a W engine layout which is where three or four cylinders use the same crankshaft meaning that it creates a W shape from the front. It is usually used for aircraft engines so a W layout on a car was unheard of. Much like the 8.0 quad turbo layout of this W16 engine producing 1000bhp to all four wheels, this car was revolutionary and even motoring experts such as Jeremy Clarkson and James May ridiculed it at first before realising it was truly a masterpiece. It was the first car since the McLaren F1 to hold the prestigious speed record for highest top speed of a production car at 254mph and could brake from 186mph to standstill in 17 seconds showing it was fast but very safe. Only 252 units of the original 16.4 were made and each of them cost just over £1million new. The Veyron I saw had undergone an even more expensive treatment though. It began as a standard Veyron finished in the classic two tone with blue over silver, however when the owner sold it it ended up in the hands of vehicle modification business, Oakley Design. They took the Veyron and finished it in full black carbon fibre over yellow metal flake and added yellow touches to the front grill, engine bay and rear diffuser. It also received a power upgrade to the specification of the Grand Sport with 1200bhp. It was one of the most expensive custom cars at the show it was attending (Autosport International) and the metal flake on it was simply sublime. It currently resides in Germany as the only Oakley Design Bugatti Veyron in the world as the run of five specials was cancelled due to cost issues. It was production number 77 of the 282 run.
The next Bugatti came a year later at one of my favourite dealerships, Redline Specialist Cars in Knaresborough. Over the years, I cannot name the number of times I have visited this dealership and seen incredible cars every single time. In mid 2018, they acquired a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 and that gave me the incentive to visit the dealership again. At the back of the showroom is where they typically keep all of the expensive models and as I walked in behind a black Mercedes McLaren SLR, 991.2 GT3 RS and a few Porsches under a cover, I spotted it. Once again finished in the Bugatti two tone colour scheme in black metallic over blue metallic with a cognac leather inside. I believe it was for sale for just under £800,000 and was at the dealership for little over a year and a half before it sold. It was the second Bugatti I saw and in the last two years the numbers of Bugattis I have seen has shot up. This was production number 76 of 252.
Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018 brought two more Bugattis to the roster of cars I have seen beginning with the third Veyron 16.4 featured in the central feature on the lawn in front of the house. In 2018, the Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrated its 25th anniversary and because of that they had one car representing each year of the Festival in a gathering. Amongst the Koenigseggs, Alfa 8Cs and McLarens, there was a Bugatti Veyron hidden in the crowds to represent, I believe 2006. Finished in the black and red two tone it is one of the standard Bugatti specs and is a very common spec on a Veyron. It currently resides in London and being perfectly honest was not a very memorable car but that's probably because it was next to a Lamborghini Reventon, Ferrari F50, Pagani Zonda 760 and a Bristol Fighter.
Next is a more unique Bugatti as it comes from a time before the Veyron. In 1993, Bugatti were their own manufacturer after Romano Artioli acquired the Bugatti title in 1987 and in 1990, they unveiled the EB110. Designed by Gandini, Bertone and Giugiaro, the EB110 named after Ettore Bugatti and the fact that it was released at the Geneva Motor Show 110 years after the birth of Ettore. In 1992, the Supersport variant of the EB110 was announced and it became the fastest car in the world with a production top speed of 221mph. The car became a classic supercar of the 1990s helped by the fact Michael Schumacher owned a yellow example of the car, giving Bugatti lots of publicity. However whilst attempting to acquire Lotus and produce the EB112, a four door EB110, Artioli fell on financial troubles and the company was bankrupt before VW bought out the Bugatti brand. The example I saw happened to be the EB110 SS at the Goodwood 2018 Cartier Style et Luxe alongside a red McLaren F1 and the only V12 Jaguar XJ220 in existence. It is owned by the internet famous Tax The Rich who created viral videos such as drifting a Ferrari Enzo around a muddy farm and playing tug of war with two Ferrari F50s. It is finished in Bianco Monaco with light grey leather interior and was originally delivered to Monte Carlo. There are images of this car in Monaco with silver wheels yet when I saw the car the wheels were black meaning that Tax The Rich changed the wheel colour which does look nicer and more unique than the original silver. It remains to be the only Bugatti EB110 I have seen and was production number 27 out of only 31 Supersports.
The next car is possibly one of the best specced Bugattis in the world. At the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed there was a line up of supercars displayed outside the drivers lounge, featuring a Lamborghini Miura, a Ferrari F40, a McLaren F1 and this certain Bugatti. It was my first of the Grand Sport Vitesse models I had seen which was a targa top version of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and had the specifications of the SuperSport such as 1200bhp, 0-60mph in 2.6 seconds and a top speed of 258mph making it officially the fastest convertible car in the world, overtaking the Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722S at 219mph. This however was no ordinary Grand Sport Vitesse as it was the Tiffany one off. This was a car commissioned by Jiang Xin in Hong Kong in the famous Tiffany & Co 'Robin Egg' colour scheme and was therefore specified in black carbon fibre with Tiffany blue accents on the side skirts, grille, wheels and engine bay. When it was owned by the original owner in Hong Kong it only had delivery mileage on it and even when he sold it to Romans International in 2019, it still had no miles on it. The blue elements continue in the interior as many of the seat leathers and stitching is in this exorbitant colour. It was production number 48 of 92 Veyron GSVs and quite possibly the best specced example I have ever seen.
The next car may not seem the most interesting on the surface, but with the information on Exclusive Car Registry, it is one of the most interesting of all of them. It is a Veyron 16.4 which was the third 16.4 I had seen and it was on the stand of a car insurance company at Goodwood 2019 (because no other car would suffice). It is finished in another standard colour scheme of dark blue metallic over silver with a dark blue leather interior and was a very early car. When delving into the history of this car, it turns out it was the first UK delivered Bugatti Veyron and was displayed at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed in the supercar paddock as a Bugatti representative car. It was then registered in London on the very expensive number plate of B1 (which is now registered on a Smart Fortwo), residing in London for six years before being sent to Monte Carlo for the RM Sotheby's Monaco auction. It had an estimate of €690,000 to €790,000 but it failed to meet its estimate and failed to sell. It was then put up for sale at Tom Hartley Cars where it did sell and then was shown at Goodwood where I saw it. However this isn't the end of the story as since Goodwood it was offered in the Bonhams Bond Street sale in late 2019 when it still failed to sell, not meeting the estimate of £850,000 to £1.25million, with the value increasing due to the low chassis number. It currently is for sale at DD Classics for the asking price of £899,950 and I do not think its the last time I will see this car.
This next car is probably the most meaningful of the cars to me as I have a special memory linked to this car. It is a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport which is was the worlds fastest car with a top speed of 268mph until the Hennessey Venom GT beat it with 270mph. It was pumped up to 1200bhp and was able to do a standing quarter mile in 9 seconds which is dragster fast. This example is finished in a very unique chocolate brown with cognac/brown leather interior. It was originally delivered to Switzerland and for the next 4 years bounced around dealerships in Switzerland, Dubai and Monaco until it finally ended up at the Bonhams Goodwood Revival auction in 2018 , failing to sell at an estimate of £1.4million to £1.8million. It wasn't the only hypercar not to sell at this auction as a LaFerrari Coupe and Aperta both failed to sell. It was later spotted in Paris crossing the block yet again at the RM Sotheby's auction in the capital where it yet again failed to sell with an estimate of £1.5million to £1.7million. It was however auctioned alongside an EB110 SS, a Grand Sport Vitesse and a Chiron. Somehow in 2019 this car ended up at Redline Specialist Cars making it the second Veyron to be at Redline and meaning I could see it. My first visit it was behind ropes cordoned off so I couldn't get close but even so it had a special presence around it that it was the fastest car in the world at some stage and it was at a price that meant it was the third highest price of a car in the UK as it is currently for sale for £1,995,000. It is no longer the third highest priced but its still not cheap. The connection comes when my friend and I were doing a dealership run to celebrate his 18th and the car was out of the corner. We took out photos and spoke to the salesmen who we were friendly with when one of them asked, as it was my friend's birthday, whether they wanted a seat in any of the cars. I was hoping he'd choose the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake but he chose the Veyron. So as he was sat in it, the salesman told me to get myself in it so I sat in a near £2milllion Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, felt the wheel in my hands and felt the power even without the ignition on. It was production number 38 of only 48 cars which makes the experience even more special.
The final Bugatti I have seen is another 16.4 which is a very nice car but one feature about the car doesn't make it as special as the others as some of the prestige is taken out of the car. It was originally delivered to China and owned by someone called JC as that name was stitched into the headrests of the car. It was finished in full pearl metallic, meaning it had no two tone effect, with a dark blue leather interior. The car was then moved to Switzerland before its current owner acquired it from Coutts Automobiles in London. It was displayed at the 2020 Autosport International show in which I attended and saw what the owner had done to it. It is currently fully wrapped in red and black camo which I don't think treats the brand as it should be as it reminded me slightly of BMW i8s and Audi R8s that are wrapped to make people look at them and be envious of them when it looks fairly naff. The reason he had done it however was so that the wrap matched the same wrap that he has on his Brabus Mercedes 700 6x6, which was a modified version of the six wheeled Mercedes G-Wagon that was built in very small numbers. I was fine with the Brabus modification as it gave the car stiffer suspension, massive springs, marbled carbon fibre on the badging (much like ALA on Lamborghinis) and standard carbon fibre absolutely everywhere; and with the car standing at 6ft 8, it caused a massive scene. The wrap on the other hand is questionable as I am not a fan of them unless they look special and to me camo is just plain. This was production number 266 out of the 300 made and is the final Bugatti I have seen.
NOTE -- I have seen more Bugattis than this, however I am using Exclusive Car Registry to find the numbers and the statistics as well as the actual cars and because they do not have sections for vintage Bugattis, I have not included them.
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