The Bugatti Type 57 and later variants (including the famous Atlantic and Atalante) was a grand tourer built from 1934 through 1940. It was an entirely new design created by Jean Bugatti, son of founder Ettore. A total of 710 Type 57s were produced.
Type 57s used a straight-8 twin-cam engine of 3.3 L (3257 cc/198 in³) displacement. Bore and stroke were 72 mm by 100 mm based on that of the Type 49 but heavily modified by Jean Bugatti, unlike the single cam engines of the Type 49 and earlier models.Jarraud, Robert: Bugatti Doubles Arbres, Editions de l'Automobiliste, 1977, page 44 The engines of the Type 50, 51 used bevel gears at the front of the engine to transmit power from the crankshaft, whereas the Type 57 used a train of spur gears at the rear of the engine, with fiber gear wheels on the camshafts to achieve more silence in operation.
There were two basic variants of the Type 57 car: The original Type 57 The lowered Type 57S/SC
The Type 57 chassis and engine was revived in 1951 as the Bugatti Type 101. A rediscovered Type 57 was sold for 3.4 million euros at auction on 7 February 2009 at a motor show in Paris.
Type 57
The original Type 57 was a touring car model produced from 1934 through 1940. It used the 3.3 L (3,257 cc; 198 cu in) engine from the Type 59 Grand Prix cars, producing 135 hp (100 kW). Top speed was .
It rode on a wheelbase and had a wide track. Road-going versions weighed about . Hydraulic brakes replaced the cable-operated units in 1938, a modification Ettore Bugatti hotly contested. 630 examples were produced.
The original road-going Type 57 included a smaller version of the Royale's square-bottom horseshoe grille. The sides of the engine compartment were covered with thermostatically-controlled shutters.
Dimensions: Wheelbase: Track: Weight:
Type 57T
The "tuned" Type 57T pushed the performance of the basic Type 57. It was capable of reaching .
Type 57C
A Type 57C racing car was built from 1937 through 1940, with about 96 produced. It shared the 3.3 L engine from the road-going Type 57 but produced 160 hp (119 kW) with a Roots-type supercharger fitted.
Type 57G Tank The 2nd incarnation Tank, this time based on the Type 57C, won Le Mans again in 1939. Shortly afterwards, Jean Bugatti took the winning car for a test on the Molsheim-Strasbourg road, on 11 August. Swerving to avoid a drunken bicyclist on the closed road, Bugatti crashed the car and died at age 30.
Type 57S/SC
The Type 57S/SC variants are some of the most iconic Bugatti cars. The "S" stood for "Surbaissé" ("Lowered") and the "C" for "Compresseur" (a supercharger introduced by Bugatti as a result of customers' desire for increased power). It included a V-shaped dip at the bottom of the radiator and mesh grilles on either side of the engine compartment.
Lowering the car was a major undertaking. The rear axle now passed through the rear frame rather than riding under it, and a dry-sump lubrication system was required to fit the engine under the new low hood. The 57S had a nearly-independent suspension in front, though Ettore despised that notion.
Just 43 "Surbaissé" cars and only two supercharged Type 57SC's were originally manufactured. But most 57S owners wanted the additional power afforded by the blower. Therefore, most of the original Type 57S cars returned to Molsheim for the installation of a supercharger, pushing output from 170 hp (125 kW) to 200 hp (147 kW) and top speed from to .
Dimensions: Wheelbase: Track: Weight:
Type 57S/SC "Aérolithe" concept and Atlantic production cars The Type 57S Atlantic body featured flowing coupé lines with a pronounced dorsal seam running from the front to the back end of the vehicle. It was based on the 1935 Aérolithe concept car designed by Jean Bugatti which was built on a prototype chassis, more specifically, a standard Type 57 chassis shortened to what would eventually become the Type 57S chassis. Like the Type 59 Grand Prix car, the Aérolithe used Elektron composite for its body panels, known for being a very lightweight and durable material, but also for being extremely flammable when exposed to high temperatures. Therefore, being unable to weld the body panels, the engineers riveted them externally, a technique frequently used in the aviation industry, thus creating the signature seam.
However, the production Atlantics, just four built, used plain aluminium, but the dorsal seams were retained for style and have led to the car's present fame. Three of the original four Atlantics are known to survive and each had been restored. Two of them were awarded "Best of Show" awards at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1990 and 2003, respectively.
The model was named after Jean Bugatti's friend, French pilot Jean Mermoz, one of the pioneers in aviation and the first to cross the South Atlantic by air. In December 1936, he and his crew crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after a supposed engine failure. Originally, the Atlantic model was named "Coupé Aero" after its predecessor, the Type 57 Aérolithe. The first two production units already bore that name, but after hearing the tragic news, Jean Bugatti commissioned to change the name of the model to "Atlantic Coupé".
Bugatti's past during the pre-war and World War II era is often considered as being somewhat imprecise. Therefore, initially, it was believed that only three Atlantic cars were manufactured, as the popular belief hinged on the idea of No. 57453 (2nd Atlantic) and No. 57473 (3rd Atlantic) being the same car, for they were closely related in terms of production date and both being painted black by the Bugatti factory. However, in 2004, renowned Bugatti historian Pierre-Yves Laugier confirmed their separate identities, a research thoroughly comprised in his book entitled "Bugatti: les 57 Sport", along with an elaborate illustration of each vehicle's past.
1935 Bugatti Type 57 Aérolithe Chassis No. 57331 Prototype
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Code-named the "Elektron Coupé" or "Competition Coupé" at launch, this Bugatti prototype had a very short existence. It was finished around the end of July 1935 and only four months later, it made its first public appearance at the Paris Motor Show. The car was a faithful recreation of Jean Bugatti's stunning Art Deco-inspired "SuperProfile coupé" design, but due to its seemingly bizarre shape, the vehicle has brought attention to a very limited audience, thus there were only four Atlantics built the years after. A few people, however, had the chance to sit in the vehicle next to Bugatti race driver William Grover-Williams while he offered them a "quick" tour of Paris and were surprised by the vehicle's performance and looks, so they called it "La Aérolithe" after the phrase "Rapide comme une aérolithe" ("Fast as a meteorite"), a name that was later adopted by Bugatti.
A few weeks later, the vehicle was displayed at the British International Motor Show in Olympia, London. The prototype remained in London until the spring of 1936, being frequently driven and tested by William Grover-Williams. Beyond this point, historians lose its tracks, but as Bugatti's chief mechanic Robert Aumaître stated a few decades later, the car was, essentially, just a styling concept with no technical interest, thus being transported back to France at the Bugatti factory where it was disassembled for components.
Over the span of five years, from 2008 to 2013, Canadian car restoration team from The Guild of Automotive Restorers, led by David Grainger, had built a 1:1 exact replica of the Type 57 Aérolithe, having only 11 photographs, 2 blueprints and a painting at their disposal from which they gathered all the dimensions of the vehicle. It was built on the No. 57104 chassis and its body was crafted entirely out of Elektron alloy.
1936 Bugatti Type 57S(+C) Coupé Aero Chassis No. 57374
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It was completed on 2 September 1936 and sold to Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild. Painted a metallic gray-blue, No. 57374 was supposedly built using various components from the Aérolithe prototype, the most notable being the chromed elements on either side of the engine grille. In 1939, at the request of Victor Rothschild, the car was brought back to Molsheim in order to have the "C" specification supercharger fitted. He used the car until October 1941, when he abandoned it in the middle of a field after the engine exploded when the supercharger malfunctioned.
It was sold to a mechanic, who repaired it without the supercharger. In 1945, a wealthy American doctor who had just arrived in England bought the car, and a year later he brought it to the US and sold it to Bugatti enthusiast Mike Oliver. He brought the car up to U.S. specifications and painted it a dark red. In 1953, Oliver shipped the car to Bugatti and had a replacement supercharger fitted.
Before Oliver died in 1970 he sold the car to Briggs Cunningham, American entrepreneur, championship car racer, and pilot, owner of the "Costa Mesa" car collection. A year later it was sold for $59,000 to collector Peter Williamson, who owned it for 32 years, during which time he returned the car to its original state. Eventually, it was exhibited at the 2003 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance where it won the "Best of Show" award.
Williamson died in 2004, and No. 57374 was sold in 2010 to a private collector associated with the former Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, for $30 million.
1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Coupé Aero Chassis No. 57453
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Also known as "La Voiture Noire" (French for "The Black Car"), this is the second Atlantic that was manufactured. Apart from its first years after production, the car's history and current whereabouts remain mostly unknown. Due to its past and exclusivity, experts had estimated the value of this car at around $114 million.
On 10 March 1936, Greek racing driver Nico E. Embiricos ordered a Bugatti Type 57S Coupé Aero bearing chassis No. 57375 and engine No. 3S which was completed on 24 August 1936 and then shipped to his residence in London. By some unclear reason, once received, the car was sent to Corsica Coachworks for the conversion to a two-seater convertible racing body, this process coming to an end on 4 September 1936. The Coupé Aero bodywork was sent back to the Bugatti workshop, where it was eventually mounted on chassis No. 57453 with engine No. 2SC.
Being the only Atlantic already fitted with the "C" specification supercharger straight from the factory, No. 57453 was completed on 3 October 1936. During the winter of the same year, the car was mostly driven by Jean Bugatti, racing driver William Grover-Williams and his wife, Yvonne. Subsequently, No. 57453 was photographed for the company's 1937 promotional catalogue and was also exhibited at the Nice and Lyon Motor Shows in the spring of 1937.
Brought back to Molsheim, it was proudly driven by Jean Bugatti until the end of July, when he offered it as a gift to Bugatti race driver Robert Benoist after winning the 1937 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Being a very close friend with the Grover-Williamses, Benoist used the car alongside them. In the spring of 1940, all three of them fled to England before the Germans took over France and the car was returned to the factory. Even though it was frequently driven, No. 57453 never had a registered owner. The last mention about it was on a list of cars that were to be sent via a train to Rue Alfred Daney in Bordeaux on 18 February 1941, during the French exodus, being registered "1244 W5" and bearing chassis No. 57454.