A Beautiful Bugatti

By far the most photogenic car at Retromobile was the Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic Spider. It is a triumph of the style of design that seeks to honour the materials and construction methods by allowing them to form the shapes and patterns of the object unadorned. I'm always a sucker for welded and rivetted metal sculpture, and this is precisely what this vehicle is, designed by someone who had thought about every curve, angle and plane in three dimensions. I have absolutely no interest in what its top speed is or how much noise it makes or even how much fun it is to drive. It is an objet de vertu.

I love the way the exhaust pipes sweep out from under the bonnet and dive into a sheath tucked in behind the wheel arch. I love the simple stainless steel grill bonnet vents that allow you to see through to the engine.

The body has been painted, but in silver grey metallic, so that your impression is of brushed stainless steel. There were other Bugattis at the show, but none of them had the visual impact that this one did. The difference between silver grey metallic and the battleship grey gloss on a standard L57 Atlantic is remarkable, for instance.

This is a sort of replica - it is a proper L57 Atlantic which has been rebodied with a "Spider" body. I can understand why you might want to do this - the last time an original L57 Spider Atlantic was on the market , it sold for $30 million USD. Once assumes this will be a little less expensive.[EDIT] You're too late, some lucky person has just bought this car.

Susan