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.
(For comparison, the Royale is about as heavy as a large modern commercial pickup truck, such as a Ford Super Duty F-450, but it is about 10% longer. When compared to the modern Rolls-Royce Phantom., it is about 20% longer, and more than 25% heavier.)
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 six. Today a Bugatti Royale is the ultimate status symbol - one of the biggest, rarest, most desirable cars in the world.
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.(For comparison, the Royale is about as heavy as a large modern commercial pickup truck, such as a Ford Super Duty F-450, but it is about 10% longer. When compared to the modern Rolls-Royce Phantom., it is about 20% longer, and more than 25% heavier.)
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 six. Today a Bugatti Royale is the ultimate status symbol - one of the biggest, rarest, most desirable cars in the world.
Design
Type 41 radiator cap
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.[1]
The prototype had a near 15-litre capacity, the production of 12.7 litres engine (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 cylinders, bored to 125 by 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 driven by a single overhead camshaft. Nine bearings were specified for reliability, but only a single custom carburettor was needed.
All Royales were individually bodied, but its cast "Roue Royale" wheels measured 610 mm (24 inches) in diameter. The radiator cap was a posed elephant.
French National Railway SNCF
The final aesthetically beautiful overhead camshaft engine, a 770 lb (350 kg) sculpture in turned aluminium, proved to be one of Ettore's greatest successes, but initially a failure commercially. To use up the remaining 23 engines after the final Royale was built, Bugatti built a rail car powered by either two or four of the eight-cylinder units. 79 were built for the French National Railway SNCF, using a further 186 engines, and remained in use until the 1960s - turning the episode from an economic failure into a success for Bugatti. One took a world average speed record of 122 mph (196 km/h) for 43.9 miles (70.7 km).
Production
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. Just six 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!"[4]
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
Chassis no.41.110, known as the Coupe Napoleon, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse
The first car is chassis number 41.110
Known as the Coupe Napoleon
Kept by Ettore Bugatti, and in his later life became his personal car
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.[1]
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 brothers Schlumpf had acquired from John Shakespeare.[1]
41.111 - Coupe de Ville Binder
250'Replica of Coupe Napoleon, made for the French film Rebus with american V8 engine' while resident in the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum
The second car is chassis no.41.111
Known as the Coupe de Ville Binder
Sold in 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.[5]
Purchased by the French politician [Paternotre]],[6] 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,[6] 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, before taking up residence in The Harrah Collection.[1]
Sold in 1986 to Californian collector General William Lyon, he offered the car during the 1996 Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas auction, 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
41.121 - Cabriolet Weinberger
Bugatti Type 41 Royale 'Weinberger Cabriolet' 1931
The third car is chassis no.41.121
Known as the Cabriolet Weinberger
Sold in 1932 to German obstetrician Josef Fuchs, who specified coach builder Ludwig Weinberger of Munich to build him a open cabriolet. Painted black with yellow, the car was
delivered to Dr Fuchs in 1931
As political tensions rose in pre-war Germany, Fuchs as a Jew relocated to Italy, then Japan; before permanently relocating to New York around 1937, bringing the Royale with him.[7]
Admired in Dr Fuchs ownership by Charles Chayne, later CEO of General Motors. Chayne later found the car in a scrap yard in New York, buying it in 1946 for $400.[7]
Chayne modified the car to make it more road usable, with the completed car featuring from 1947 onwards: a brand new intake manifold with four carburetors, instead of the original single carb setup; a new paint scheme of oyster white with a dark green trim and convertible roof
In 1957, after running the car for ten years, Chayne donated the car to the Henry Ford Museum, located in Dearborn, Michigan, where it still resides.[7] The associated placard, in its entirety, reads: "1931 Bugatti Royale Type 41 Cabriolet, Ettore Bugatti, Molsheim, France, Body by Weinberger, OHC, in-line 8 cylinder, 300 horsepower, 779 cu.in. displacement, 7,035 lb (3,191 kg). Original price: $43,000, Gift of Charles and Esther Chayne."
41.131 - Limousine Park-Ward
Chassis no.41.131, known as the Limousine Park-Ward, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse
The fourth car is chassis no.41.131
Known as the Foster car or Limousine Park-Ward[1]
sold to Englishman Captain Cuthbert W. Foster, heir to a large department store in Boston USA, through his American mother , in 1933.[1] Foster had a limousine body made for the car by Park Ward, created in the style of a 1921 daimler he had once owned.[1]
Acquired in 1946 by British Bugatti dealer Jack Lemon Burton who was forced to replace the huge tyres with ones from an artilliery piece, neccesitating the need to remove the skirting from the fenders.
Sold in 1956 to American Bugatti collector John Shakespeare, becoming part of the largest collection of Bugattis at that time.
Facing financial problems, in 1963 Shakespeare sold his entire car collection, and he found a willing buyer in Fritz Schlumpf
Part of the Schlumpf Collection [8]
Resides in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse, alongside 41.110 that the brothers Schlumpf had acquired from the Bugatti estate.[1]
41.141 - Kellner car
The fifth car is chassis no.41.141
Known as the Kellner car
Unsold, it was kept by Bugatti
Bricked up with 41.110 and 41.150 during World War II at the home of the Bugatti family in Ermenonville, to avoid being commandeered by the Nazis.[1]
Sold together with 41.150 by L'Ebe Bugatti in 1950 to American Le Mans racer Briggs Cunningham, in return for a small but undisclosed sum of money, plus a couple of new General Electric refrigerators, then unavailable in post-war France.[1]
After closing his museum in 1986,[9] in 1987 the car was sold direct from Briggs Cunningham's collection by Christie's for £5.5 million at the Royal Albert Hall, to a Swedish property tycoon named Hans Thulin
On collapse of his empire, Thulin sold the car in 1990 to Japanese conglomerate the Meitec Corporation,[10] and it resided in their modern building basement before being offered for sale for £10million by Bonhams in 2002.[1]
Ownership is presently unknown, but it has been shown in recent years by Swiss broker Lukas Huni.[11]
41.150 - Berline de Voyage
The sixth car is chassis no.41.150
Known as the Berline de Voyage
Unsold, it was kept by Bugatti
Bricked up with 41.110 and 41.141 during World War II at the home of the Bugatti family in Ermenonville, to avoid being commandeered by the Nazis.[1]
Sold together with 41.141 by L'Ebe Bugatti in 1950 to American Le Mans racer Briggs Cunningham, in return for a small but undisclosed sum of money, plus a couple of new General Electric refrigerators, then unavailable in post-war France.[1]
On their arrival in the United States, Cunningham sold 41.150, which found its way into The Harrah Collection.[1]
In 1991, Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, sold 41.150 for US$8,000,000, which was actually less than the £5.7 million (US$8.4 million) he purchased it for in 1986
Presently believed to be in the hands of a South Korean investor.[12]
Replica cars
The brothers Schlumpf replica of the Royale Esders Coupe on display at the 2006 Paris Motor Show
In light of the rarity of the Type 41 and its associated price, it is unsurprising that some replicas have been made.
The Schlumpf brothers so liked the original Dr Armand Esders coupe body on chassis 41.111, using original Bugatti parts they had a replica made of the car. It now resides with the two originals they purchased at the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse.[6]
Tom Wheatcroft commissioned Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations to build an exact replica of Bugatti's personal car, the Coupe Napoleon (chassis number 41110), for his Donington Grand Prix Collection in England. So good was the replica, that when the Kellner car needed a replacement piston, its then Japanese owners commissioned South Cerney Engineering part of AKVR to provide a replacement.[1] On May 24th 2008, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim of Denmark on the day of his wedding to Princess Marie (formerly Marie Cavallier) had Wheatcroft's replica waiting outside Møgeltønder Church to drive the newly married couple to Schackenborg Manor.
80th anniversary
In 2007 to celebrate the Royale's eightieth anniversary, five of the six cars were on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.[6]
Type 41 radiator cap
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.[1]
The prototype had a near 15-litre capacity, the production of 12.7 litres engine (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 cylinders, bored to 125 by 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 driven by a single overhead camshaft. Nine bearings were specified for reliability, but only a single custom carburettor was needed.
All Royales were individually bodied, but its cast "Roue Royale" wheels measured 610 mm (24 inches) in diameter. The radiator cap was a posed elephant.
French National Railway SNCF
The final aesthetically beautiful overhead camshaft engine, a 770 lb (350 kg) sculpture in turned aluminium, proved to be one of Ettore's greatest successes, but initially a failure commercially. To use up the remaining 23 engines after the final Royale was built, Bugatti built a rail car powered by either two or four of the eight-cylinder units. 79 were built for the French National Railway SNCF, using a further 186 engines, and remained in use until the 1960s - turning the episode from an economic failure into a success for Bugatti. One took a world average speed record of 122 mph (196 km/h) for 43.9 miles (70.7 km).
Production
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. Just six 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!"[4]
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
Chassis no.41.110, known as the Coupe Napoleon, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse
The first car is chassis number 41.110
Known as the Coupe Napoleon
Kept by Ettore Bugatti, and in his later life became his personal car
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.[1]
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 brothers Schlumpf had acquired from John Shakespeare.[1]
41.111 - Coupe de Ville Binder
250'Replica of Coupe Napoleon, made for the French film Rebus with american V8 engine' while resident in the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum
The second car is chassis no.41.111
Known as the Coupe de Ville Binder
Sold in 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.[5]
Purchased by the French politician [Paternotre]],[6] 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,[6] 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, before taking up residence in The Harrah Collection.[1]
Sold in 1986 to Californian collector General William Lyon, he offered the car during the 1996 Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas auction, 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
41.121 - Cabriolet Weinberger
Bugatti Type 41 Royale 'Weinberger Cabriolet' 1931
The third car is chassis no.41.121
Known as the Cabriolet Weinberger
Sold in 1932 to German obstetrician Josef Fuchs, who specified coach builder Ludwig Weinberger of Munich to build him a open cabriolet. Painted black with yellow, the car was
delivered to Dr Fuchs in 1931As political tensions rose in pre-war Germany, Fuchs as a Jew relocated to Italy, then Japan; before permanently relocating to New York around 1937, bringing the Royale with him.[7]
Admired in Dr Fuchs ownership by Charles Chayne, later CEO of General Motors. Chayne later found the car in a scrap yard in New York, buying it in 1946 for $400.[7]
Chayne modified the car to make it more road usable, with the completed car featuring from 1947 onwards: a brand new intake manifold with four carburetors, instead of the original single carb setup; a new paint scheme of oyster white with a dark green trim and convertible roof
In 1957, after running the car for ten years, Chayne donated the car to the Henry Ford Museum, located in Dearborn, Michigan, where it still resides.[7] The associated placard, in its entirety, reads: "1931 Bugatti Royale Type 41 Cabriolet, Ettore Bugatti, Molsheim, France, Body by Weinberger, OHC, in-line 8 cylinder, 300 horsepower, 779 cu.in. displacement, 7,035 lb (3,191 kg). Original price: $43,000, Gift of Charles and Esther Chayne."
41.131 - Limousine Park-Ward
Chassis no.41.131, known as the Limousine Park-Ward, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse
The fourth car is chassis no.41.131
Known as the Foster car or Limousine Park-Ward[1]
sold to Englishman Captain Cuthbert W. Foster, heir to a large department store in Boston USA, through his American mother , in 1933.[1] Foster had a limousine body made for the car by Park Ward, created in the style of a 1921 daimler he had once owned.[1]
Acquired in 1946 by British Bugatti dealer Jack Lemon Burton who was forced to replace the huge tyres with ones from an artilliery piece, neccesitating the need to remove the skirting from the fenders.
Sold in 1956 to American Bugatti collector John Shakespeare, becoming part of the largest collection of Bugattis at that time.
Facing financial problems, in 1963 Shakespeare sold his entire car collection, and he found a willing buyer in Fritz Schlumpf
Part of the Schlumpf Collection [8]
Resides in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse, alongside 41.110 that the brothers Schlumpf had acquired from the Bugatti estate.[1]
41.141 - Kellner car
The fifth car is chassis no.41.141
Known as the Kellner car
Unsold, it was kept by Bugatti
Bricked up with 41.110 and 41.150 during World War II at the home of the Bugatti family in Ermenonville, to avoid being commandeered by the Nazis.[1]
Sold together with 41.150 by L'Ebe Bugatti in 1950 to American Le Mans racer Briggs Cunningham, in return for a small but undisclosed sum of money, plus a couple of new General Electric refrigerators, then unavailable in post-war France.[1]
After closing his museum in 1986,[9] in 1987 the car was sold direct from Briggs Cunningham's collection by Christie's for £5.5 million at the Royal Albert Hall, to a Swedish property tycoon named Hans Thulin
On collapse of his empire, Thulin sold the car in 1990 to Japanese conglomerate the Meitec Corporation,[10] and it resided in their modern building basement before being offered for sale for £10million by Bonhams in 2002.[1]
Ownership is presently unknown, but it has been shown in recent years by Swiss broker Lukas Huni.[11]
41.150 - Berline de Voyage
The sixth car is chassis no.41.150
Known as the Berline de Voyage
Unsold, it was kept by Bugatti
Bricked up with 41.110 and 41.141 during World War II at the home of the Bugatti family in Ermenonville, to avoid being commandeered by the Nazis.[1]
Sold together with 41.141 by L'Ebe Bugatti in 1950 to American Le Mans racer Briggs Cunningham, in return for a small but undisclosed sum of money, plus a couple of new General Electric refrigerators, then unavailable in post-war France.[1]
On their arrival in the United States, Cunningham sold 41.150, which found its way into The Harrah Collection.[1]
In 1991, Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, sold 41.150 for US$8,000,000, which was actually less than the £5.7 million (US$8.4 million) he purchased it for in 1986
Presently believed to be in the hands of a South Korean investor.[12]
Replica cars
The brothers Schlumpf replica of the Royale Esders Coupe on display at the 2006 Paris Motor Show
In light of the rarity of the Type 41 and its associated price, it is unsurprising that some replicas have been made.
The Schlumpf brothers so liked the original Dr Armand Esders coupe body on chassis 41.111, using original Bugatti parts they had a replica made of the car. It now resides with the two originals they purchased at the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse.[6]
Tom Wheatcroft commissioned Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations to build an exact replica of Bugatti's personal car, the Coupe Napoleon (chassis number 41110), for his Donington Grand Prix Collection in England. So good was the replica, that when the Kellner car needed a replacement piston, its then Japanese owners commissioned South Cerney Engineering part of AKVR to provide a replacement.[1] On May 24th 2008, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim of Denmark on the day of his wedding to Princess Marie (formerly Marie Cavallier) had Wheatcroft's replica waiting outside Møgeltønder Church to drive the newly married couple to Schackenborg Manor.
80th anniversary
In 2007 to celebrate the Royale's eightieth anniversary, five of the six cars were on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.[6]
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