The Allure of the Automobile Exhibit at the High Part 8, the Bugatti Atalante

1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante

This is pretty much awesomeness, personified and a very strong offering by Bugatti. Jean Bugatti designed the Atlante as a production Grand Tourer on the Type 57 chassis. This is one of about forty built before World War II which halted all production. This example was restored in 1996 to its original color scheme, placing second in its class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in that year.

The placard notes: "Ettore Bugatti was a mildly eccentric and utterly brilliant Italian engineer who, from 1911 to 1939, built automobiles of uncompromising elegance and sporting competence. Bugatti's cars were expensive, temperamental, technically complex, and - in the case of this example - hauntingly beautiful."

My favorite bits on this beautiful car are the heavily distended front fenders, the rounded rear and the utterly awesome tail-pipes - we should all have 6 come out back there...

Next up, the 1938-1939 Porsche Type 64

-- John