Bugatti Type 41

The Bugatti Type 41 is a Berline, coupé, cabriolet, roadster, brougham, coupé de ville from Bugatti, built from 1927 to 1933, the vintage years, when coachbuilders still shaped most of what was sold. Under the bonnet: 12763 cc I8.

Where it came from

The Bugatti Type 41, better known as the Royale, is a large luxury car built by Bugatti from 1927 to 1933, With a 4.3 m (169.3 in) wheelbase and 6.4 m (21 ft) overall length, it weighs approximately 3,175 kg (7,000 lb) and uses a 12.763 litre (778 cu in) straight-eight engine. For comparison, against the Rolls-Royce Phantom VII (produced from 2003 to 2017), the Royale is about 20% longer, and more than 25% heavier. This makes the Royale one of the largest cars in the world.

It had a total production run of seven vehicles. Ettore Bugatti planned to build twenty-five of these cars and sell them to royalty as the most luxurious car ever, but the Great Depression undermined his effort: only three of the seven made were sold; six still exist, with one wrecked in a crash. Unused engines were installed in newly constructed high-speed railcars for the French National Railway (SNCF).

Under the skin

Power comes from 12763 cc I8. It weighs ~3175 kg. It shifts through a 3-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is ~4.3 m. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

In context

Its family tree is legible: assembly was at Molsheim, Alsace (Usine Bugatti de Molsheim), France. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Hispano-Suiza Type H6 B (32 cv) coupé-chauffeur, the Vauxhall 20-60, the Tatra CS Class M 120.2 — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Bugatti catalogue sit the Bugatti 57 Galibier and the Bugatti 8-cylinder line.

What it costs now

MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Bugatti Type 41 has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.