Looking down that hood must be like looking down a gun’s sight. Unlike a school bus with all that real estate behind you, this one has it all up front. Photo from Bugatti.
June 18, 2023
Chevette, Corvette, what’s the difference? Well, maybe that last one is a bit ridiculous, but you get the idea. I’m a huge fan of the Model T Ford, but I’m also a fan of all the odd-ball luxury cars that were built by a ton of different companies back then. Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg, Delahaye, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, and Bugatti are just a few of them.
Back then, everything was big. Big cars with big engines that made big power and went fast. Real fast compared to everything else. The luxury touches were incredible, and everything was crafted and finessed, not simply assembled. Big engines only fit under big hoods, and with a 778 cubic inch straight-eight powering it, the Bugatti Type 41 Royale comes equipped with one of the biggest hoods of them all.
Cars back then were so wild. 778 cubic inches to make 300 horsepower. Sure, it’s inefficient by today’s standards, but it’s still 300 horsepower in the late 1920s. Sure, it weighed around seven thousand pounds and was over twenty feet long, but 300 horsepower is 300 horsepower. Supposedly, it was capable of speeds up to 200km/h, though I’m not sure the tires or the aerodynamics would allow it. Most roads of the time certainly wouldn’t.
All that power gets sent to the rear wheels through a three-speed manual, something that seems lame in a muscle car but sporty in this. It has a wheelbase of 169 inches, so you know it rides great. The front of the car would be at the destination before the rear even left, it’s that big. Inside is a mixture of leather and wood, and I’m talking genuine leather and wood. No plastic, no vinyl, just natural materials that don’t just smell “New.” They smell good forever if maintained.
I think one of my favourite details is the hood ornament, a dancing elephant on its’ hind legs. It makes sense; a car this big and this powerful has earned the right to have an elephant hood ornament. Plans were big to build a couple of dozen of these things, but it didn’t pan out. Seven were built, and being such a niche luxury car, six still survive.
Not just anyone can afford to crash one.
