Bugatti type 41

The Bugatti Type 41, better known as the Royale, was a large luxury car with a 4.3 m (169.3 in) wheelbase and 6.4 m (21 ft) overall length. It weighed approximately 3175 kg (7000 lb) and used a 12.7 L (12763 cc/778 in³) straight-8 engine.

Origin

Crafted by Ettore Bugatti, the Type 41 is said to have come about because he took exception to the comments of an English lady who compared his cars unfavourably with those of Rolls-Royce. The prototype had a near 15-litre capacity engine. The production version, its stroke reduced from 150 mm (5.9 in) to 130 mm (5.1 in) had a displacement of 12.7 litres. The engine was built around a single huge block, and at (apx. 4.5 ft (1.4 m) long x 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high), is one of the largest automobile engines ever made, producing 205 to 223 kW (275 to 300 hp). Its eight cylinders, bored to 125 mm (4.9 in) and with a stroke length of 130 mm (5.1 in), each displaced more than the entire engine of the contemporary Type 40 touring car. It had 3 valves per cylinder (two inlet:one exhaust) driven by a centrally positioned single overhead camshaft. Nine bearings were specified for reliability, but only a single custom carburettor was needed. The engine was based on an aero-engine design that had been designed for the French Air Ministry, but never produced in that configuration. The chassis was understandably substantial, with a conventional semi-elliptic leaf spring suspension arrangement at the front. At the rear the forward facing Bugatti quarter-elliptics were supplemented by a second set facing to the rear. Massive brake shoes were mechanically operated via cable controls: the brakes were effective but without servo-assistance required significant muscle power from the driver.The car's cast "Roue Royale" wheels measured 610 mm (24 inches) in diameter. Reflecting some tradition based fashions of the time, the driver was confonted by a series of knobs of whalebone, while the steering wheel was covered with walnut. All Royales were individually bodied. The radiator cap was a posed elephant, a sculpture by Ettore's brother Rembrandt Bugatti.

Production

Ettore Bugatti planned to build twenty-five of these cars, and sell them to royalty. But even royalty was not buying such things during the Great Depression, and Bugatti was able to sell only three of the six made. Today a Bugatti Royale is both one of the largest and rarest cars in the world.

In 1928 Ettore Bugatti asserted that "this year King Alfonso of Spain will receive his Royale", but the Spanish king was deposed without taking delivery of a Royale, and the first of the cars to find a customer was not delivered until 1932.The Royale with a basic chassis price of $30,000, was launched just as the world economy began to sour into the 1930s Great Depression. Six Royales were built between 1929 and 1933, with just three sold to external customers. Intended for royalty, none were eventually sold to any royals, and Bugatti even refused to sell one to King Zog of Albania, claiming that "the man's table manners are beyond belief!"[5] All six production Royales still exist (the prototype was destroyed in an accident in 1931), and each has a different body, some having been rebodied several times.

41.110-Coupe Napoleon

The first car is chassis number 41.110 Known as the Coupe Napoleon This car was fitted with the larger 14.7 litre prototype engine. It originally had a Packard body but was rebodied by Paris coach builder Weymann as a two door fixed head coupe. At various stages it was also fitted with other bodies.The Coupe Napoleon was used by Ettore Bugatti, and in his later life became his personal car. It remained in the family's possession, housed at their Ermenonville chateau until financial difficulties enforced its sale in 1963. It subsequently passed into the hands of Bugatti obsessive Fritz Schlumpf.Crashed by Ettore Bugatti who in 1930 or 1931 fell asleep at the wheel traveling home from Paris to Alsace necessitating a major rebuild.Bricked up with 41.141 and 41.150 during World War II at the home of the Bugatti family in Ermenonville, to avoid being commandeered by the Nazis.Sold by L'Ebe Bugatti in the early 1960s to the brothers Schlumpf Resides in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse, alongside 41.131 that the Schlumpf brothers had acquired from John Shakespeare.

41.111 - Coupe de Ville Binder

The second car built, but the first to find a customer, is chassis no.41.111 Known as the Coupe de Ville Binder Sold in April 1932 to French clothing manufacturer Armand Esders.Ettore's eldest son, Jean, fashioned for the car a dramatic two-seater open body with flamboyant, full-bodied wings and a dickey seat, but no headlamps. In this form it became known as the Royale Esders Roadster.Purchased by the French politician Paternotre,the car was rebodied in the Coupe de Ville style by the coach builder Henri Binder.From this point onwards, known as the Coupe de Ville Binder Never delivered to the King of Romania due to World War 2, it was hidden from the Nazis by storing it in the sewers of Paris Briefly found its way to the United Kingdom after World War 2, and was then acquired by Dudley C Wilson of Florida in 1954.On his death in 1961 it passed to banker Mills B Lane of Atlantabefore in 1964 taking up residence in The Harrah Collection at Reno, Nevada.Sold in 1986 to Californian collector General William Lyon[citation needed], he offered the car during the 1996 Barrett-Jackson Auction by Private treaty sale, where he refused an offer of $11 million; the reserve was set at $15 million. In 1999, the new owner of the Bugatti brand, Volkswagen AG, bought the car for a reputed $20 million. Now used as a brand promotion vehicle, it travels to various museums and locations