Bugatti Royale at the Petersen

The name Bugatti captivates the imagination of car enthusiasts, whether their interest is focused on the modern sports cars, the famous pre-war racing cars, or the magnificent coach-built road-going masterpieces.

The largest car built by Ettore Bugatti was the Type 41, the Royale, the car of kings.  Originally Bugatti intended to build twenty-five of these monstrous machines but in fact only seven were built, and only three were sold in period, none to royalty.
 

The 169-inch (over 14 feet) wheelbase chassis was sold without the body at a cost of $30,000 (over $400,000 today) during the Great Depression.   The straight-eight Bugatti Royale engine, an aircraft inspired design, with the block and head as a single casting displaces 778 cubic inches.  The massive powerplant which developed perhaps 285  horsepower at a leisurely 1700 revolutions per minute (RPM) was connected to a 3-speed manual transmission

Consider that this one engine displaces more cubic inches than the engines of eight Miller 91 race cars. The engine with just three main bearing a single overhead camshaft and a single carburetor develops 300 horsepower at a sedate 2000 revolutions per minute. The cast-aluminum wheels are 24 inches in diameter integrally cast with the brakes drums. Understandably the cable-actuated brakes without any power assistance were extremely difficult to use to slow the 7000-pound machine.  

This was the first Royale sold in 1931, and was initially fitted with a roadster body with a rumble seat and no headlights designed by Ettore’s eldest son Jean Bugatti. Initially this Royale was known as the ‘Royale Esders Roadster’ after its buyer French textile manufacturer Armand Esders. After its ownership by a French politician who had it re-bodied as it appears today; a coupe for the passengers with the chauffer in an open cockpit.

 

Each Bugatti Royale is named; the example on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum through October is known as the ‘Coupe de ville Binder,’ named after the Parisian coachwork company that crafted its second and current body, Henri Binder.

 

 

The Royale’s radiator cap is a posed elephant from a sculpture by Ettore’s younger brother Rembrandt Bugatti who committed suicide in 1916 in Paris
Click the photograph to enlarge  

After World War 2 during which time it was hidden reportedly in a Paris sewer, the Binder Bugatti made its way to United States where it was owned at various times by Floridian Dudley Wilson, Atlanta banker Mills Lane, and casino owner William Harrah. Homebuilder and United States Air Force Reserve General William Lyon listed the car at auction in 1996 with an unmet reserve of $15 million. The current owner of Royale Coupe de ville Binder is Volkswagen AG, the owner of the modern Bugatti brand which uses the car as a promotional vehicle.

 

Reproduction of an Auto Rail Poster

courtesy of the Bugatti Trust

 

The author recalls reading an article as a child about the Bugatti Royales that noted that due to poor sales, several Royale engines were used to power locomotives. The truth is that the line of Bugatti Auto Rail trains saved the Bugatti company from certain financial ruin. Ettore designed an aerodynamic luxurious rail car with innovative automotive type suspension and braking systems.  

 

 

 

Powered by four of the mighty Bugatti Royale engines the Auto Rail prototype attained 106 miles per hour in testing in the spring of 1933. More than 80 of the railcars were built, with a dozen powered by just two Royale engines. Unbelievably these trains were still in service as late as 1956; the remaining example is in the Cité du Train in Mulhouse France, but the Petersen has one of the rail engines on display.        

 

All photos by the author except as noted