The book "Bugatti Magnum" has a photo of this car that appears to show it as a single color, certainly not the black and yellow combination it bears today. Does anyone on this forum happen to know what the original color might have been?

Best Regards,

Dave VanderWal

Hi David

I suspect the single colour was a respray done after Briggs Cunningham brought the car over from France, having bought two Royales from Ettore's daughter shortly after the war, the other being the Kellner 2-door saloon.

The Bugatti family also kept the Coupe Napoleon but L'Ebe felt, rightly so, that it should not leave France.

Briggs Cunningham kept the Kellner car and sold the Berline de Voyage, but I am sitting at work at the moment and for the life of me, I cannot remember to whom. If you go to the Bugatti Trust's website, click on Photo Gallery, pick album 11, and go to photo 163. You will see a two-tone finish very similar to the present finish. I have also seen a photos of it in storage, before it went to America, with this two-tone finish.

Incidentally, Herman has pointed out to me that the radiator is very similar to the prototype's before Ettore's little mishap. There is a lot of mystery surrounding the Berline de Voyage, not least of which is the chassis number : 41150 while the rest are 41111; 41121; 41131; 41141. The prototype is 41100, very odd.

But I am reasonably sure that the present finish is very similar to the way it was originally; the single colour being the choice of a previous owner.

Hope this helps.

Regards
Johan Buchner