Double 110th anniversary for Bugatti

Legendary car designer Jean Bugatti was born today 110 years ago – the same year his father founded the iconic French company.

Jean was the eldest son of Bugatti founder Ettore, and is one of the most distinguished figures in the company’s long and proud history.

Not only was he the creator of the most renowned Bugatti model ever, by the age of 27 he’d taken over the reins of his father’s company.

Jean Bugatti was born on January 15, 1909, in Cologne. His full name was Gianoberto Carlo Rembrandt Ettore Bugatti – a nod to his family’s Italian roots. Yet he went by the name Jean due to his French home because in the autumn of the same year, the Bugatti family moved to Molsheim, France, where Ettore opened his own firm in a disused dye works.

By the late 1920s, Jean was already an essential part of the company, succeeding his father as the head of Bugatti in 1936.

Jean is perhaps best known for designing many of the brand’s most iconic models, making Bugatti one of the greatest names in motor manufacturing.

The revolutionary Type 57 SC Atlantic was Jean Bugatti’s most iconic creation. It featured flowing coupe lines and a unique riveted spine with significantly lower ground clearance.

It is considered to be one of the world’s most exclusive and astonishing sport coupés. With only four models built and and two surviving with original parts, it’s also one of the most expensive vintage models.

The second Atlantic out of the four was the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC – Aéro Coupé. Known as “La voiture noire”, it’s arguably the most mythical car in history because it disappeared during the Second World War.

Jean Bugatti himself didn’t live to see the dramatic loss of his beloved car. On August 11, 1939, at the age of only 30, he was driving on one of his usual test drive routes not far from the factory near the village of Duppigheim. He was in collision with a cyclist and crashed into a tree. Today, a monument at the site is a reminder of the tragic loss.

Bugatti has had its ups and downs over the years, but now it’s firmly established as one of the world’s most exclusive marques, currently producing the Chiron and Divo.