Automobiles E. Bugatti Founded 1909
Although born in Italy, Bugatti established his eponymous automobile company, Automobiles E. Bugatti, in the town of Molsheim in the Alsace region of France. Automobiles E. Bugatti was known for the advanced engineering of its premium road cars and its success in early Grand Prix motor racing. A Bugatti was driven to victory in the first Monaco Grand Prix.
While displaced from his home in Alsace by World War I, Bugatti designed airplane engines, notably the somewhat baroque 16-cylinder U-16 which was never built in any large number and was only installed in a very few aircraft. Between the wars Ettore Bugatti designed a successful motorized railcar dubbed the Autorail Bugatti, and an airplane, the Model 100, which never flew.
Ettore Bugatti's son, Jean Bugatti, was killed on 11 August 1939 at the age of 30 while testing a Bugatti Type 57 tank-bodied race car near the Molsheim factory. After that, the company's fortunes began to decline. World War II ruined the factory in Molsheim, and the company lost control of the property. During the war, Bugatti planned a new factory at Levallois in Paris and designed a series of new cars.
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Famous quotes containing the words automobiles and/or founded:
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