Bugatti La Voiture Noire: Ronaldo buys the most expensive car in the world

For eleven million euros excluding taxes, the super sports car is available to a collector and Bugatti enthusiasts have been sold. Initial rumors said the buyer was former VW boss Ferdinand Piëch. Now it seems clear: Juventus Turin superstar Cristiano Ronaldo ('CR7') has treated himself to the most expensive new car in the world. No wonder, actually, as the Portuguese and multiple world footballer of the year is a big fan of expensive and fast cars - and owns around 20 vehicles, including an B ugatti Veyron and a Chiron. However, CR7 will have to wait until 2021, because only then will Bugatti deliver the Voiture Noire. So he has enough time to save: With an annual salary of 30 million euros at Juve, he has to transfer four and a half months' salary to Bugatti.

1,500 hp, manual work and a lot of carbon fiber

But let's see take a closer look at the “LVN”: Only the drive of the “LVN” based on the Chiron remains the same. The well-known 1,500 hp W16 engine with eight liters of displacement and a torque of 1,600 Nm works here. Otherwise, Bugatti designer Etienne Salomé has created a powerful hyper sports car that is even more present thanks to the extended front end. The bonnet is extremely contoured, the windshield with the windshield wiper in the middle seems to literally merge into the side windows. The extreme beading on the front end of the car gives way to round and gentle shapes in the course of the body.

Towards the rear, the massive rear fenders lead the eye, which discovers narrow lights and a continuous LED strip. In the middle of the huge barred stern with a lower chrome clasp, six centrally arranged exhaust tailpipes adorn the end. So the Chiron shows itself as Gran Turismo. The hand-built Bugati La Voiture Noire comes with a variety of carbon fiber elements. The reminiscence of the “La Voiture Noire” from the 1930s is the body bead that extends from the bonnet to the rear.

Where is the fourth Atlantic model?

But let's look back at the original. Only four models of the Atlantic (an S and 3 SC) were made between 1936 and 1938. Three models of the expressive coupé, which were handmade at the time, still exist; they are considered the most expensive automobiles in the world. The fourth model with the chassis number 57453 is considered lost. This is exactly the model that Jean Bugatti had made for himself, just him andSelected friends were allowed to move the coupé. His trail is lost in 1938 when the German Wehrmacht invaded Alsace. It is unclear whether the model was moved to a safe place or whether it was completely destroyed. If Bugatti's own Atlantic were found, it would be worth more than 100 million euros.

Bugatti

Only four Bugatti Type 57s were ever built . One model is missing. One belongs to fashion designer Ralph Lauren.

The first Type 57 Atlantic still without a compressor with the number 57374 was sold in 2010 for 31.2 million euros auctioned off. Bugatti delivered the model to the London banker Victor Rothschild on September 2, 1936. In the 1970s, Dr. Peter Williamson the model, President of the Bugatti Club America. After his death in 2008, the 'Williamson Bugatti' was auctioned. It can now be seen in the Mullin Automotive Museum in California.

Wooden shoe model hardly original anymore

The third Atlantic was also delivered to the French Jacques Holzschuh in 1936 and received various modifications. In the 1950s, the second owner Rene Chatard was killed in this vehicle in a tragic accident at a railroad crossing. The car was destroyed, the engine could no longer be saved and finally the Bugatti ended up in a junkyard. In 1965 it was resold and extensively restored. In the classic car scene, the wooden shoe model with its many new parts is hardly considered to be original.

The fourth Atlantic was the only model that was created after 1936, more precisely in May 1938. Its first owner was the British R.B. Pope. The Pope-Atlantic with the number 57591 has belonged to the fashion designer Ralph Lauren for over 20 years.

First platform strategy

Ettore Bugatti's son Jean began to modernize the luxury brand's model policy around 1930. Instead of several models, he developed a basic model from which he derived various variants. Bugatti designed the Type 57 as a production car and as a racing variant. These included different engine variants and body styles such as Galibier (four-door sedan), Stelvio (convertible), Ventoux (two-door) and Atalante (coupé). Left by Type 57in the various versions between 1934 and the end of production in 1940 about 800 vehicles entered the workshop - the exact number is not known. The Type 57 was the most frequently built of all Bugatti models - apart from the Atlantic variant.

This model has offset wheels, the bonnet extends far forward with a total length of just 3.70 meters. The stern flows down like an oval, until it is just above the ground. Six thin tailpipes close off the rear. An upright comb, which runs vertically from the hinge of the separable bonnet to the rear end, serves as an outstanding design feature. Like a razor-sharp fin, it divides the body in the middle, rivets hold the divided sheets in place. The coupé was powered by a 3.3-liter in-line eight-cylinder with up to around 200 hp, and the top speed was over 200 km /h - at a time when carriages were still on the road on many roads.