Bugatti’s lineup effectively consists of one car, and that car is getting a bit long in the tooth. It’s for that reason that Bugatti is working the special-edition scene to keep the Veyron breathing until a replacement arrives. The latest such Veyron, a 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, is part of a six-model run of commemorative limited-edition cars conspicuously dubbed “Legends.” The first Legend debuted at this year’s Pebble Beach festivities, and now this Legend Jean Bugatti edition is taking a bow at the 2013 Frankfurt auto show.
Like the other Legend cars, the Jean Bugatti is named after a significant figure in Bugatti’s history. In this case, the car harks to Ettore Bugatti’s son, Gianoberto Carlo Rembrandt Ettore Bugatti, who apparently was known simply as “Jean.” Ettore’s son was the brains behind the achingly avant-garde Type 57SC Atlantic, a car you might know better as the old Bugatti that recently sold for more than $30 million at auction. He ran the company for a time from the ripe young age of 27. Interestingly, Bugatti chose not to commemorate the high-profile surviving Atlantic, and instead modeled the Grand Sport Vitesse Jean Bugatti—the car’s official title—after Jean’s personal Atlantic La Voiture Noire, a murdered-out Type 57SC that was lost sometime during World War II.
According to Bugatti, despite the original Voiture Noire (Black Car, in French) being lost to the sands of time, or sunk to the bottom of the ocean, or whatever, it was able to piece together the car’s look from a few photographs and documents. The basics: It was Jet Black (duh), had lightweight aluminum bodywork, a brown and tan interior, and a 200-hp supercharged straight-eight engine. As such, the Veyron Legend wears equally forward-thinking bodywork rendered from exposed Jet-Black carbon-fiber and black diamond-cut wheels. The dark theme is punctuated by a platinum grille surround and “EB” logo on the rear decklid. Jean Bugatti’s signature, presumably reproduced, is etched onto the gas and oil caps, which also are painted a contrasting Arctic Grey color.
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Inside, the Legend Jean Bugatti is decked out with chocolate-colored leather seats, instrument panel and center console, steering wheel, dashboard, and door panels. Beige silk leather in the footwells, on parts of the door panels, and door handle scallops set the brown-on-brown theme off, and a similar hue is used for contrasting stitching for the chocolate-brown elements. Hyper-luxury touches abound: the steering-wheel Bugatti logo is platinum, the gear lever is rosewood, and silhouettes of the Type 57SC are stitched into the door panels. Just to remind occupants of this Legend’s specialness, the sill plates bear Jean Bugatti’s signature and likeness.
Bugatti plans on building just three Legend Jean Bugatti edition Grand Sport Vitesses, with each ringing in at a steep €2.28 million—nearly $3 million at current exchange rates. That sort of profit potential should help keep the lights on at Bugatti a little while longer as it readies the Veyron’s replacement.
Source: CarAndDriver
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