The Atlantic on the road during the Pebble Tour. It attracted as much attention there as it did on Ocean Avenue and on the lawn at Pebble Beach. Whatever one thinks about its provenance, this is one impressive piece of machinery. Credit: Dale LaFollette
Photos and Captions by Michael T. Lynch unless othewise noted.
Two weeks ago we shared some information on the Bugatti Type 57S Atlantic 57473 and brought you some pictures of the car under restoration. The public debut of the completed car was during the Monterey Automobile Festival Week. Here it is seen on Ocean Avenue in Carmel last Thursday during the lunch stop on the Pebble Beach Tour. Among the faces in the admiring crowd are VeloceToday supporters and noted motorcycle collectors, Bob and Shelley Peters, at the very left of the frame. Credit: Michael T. Lynch
With Stillwater Cover and Pescadaro Point in the background, the Bugatti Atlantic wows the spectators at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Credit: Michael T. Lynch
The rear three-quarter view shows the effects of the Figoni and Falaschi restyling. Credit: Michael T. Lynch
The interior of the Atlantic is a cross between Bugatti and Talbot-Lago practice. It took me back to 1949, when I first thought of sitting in such a car after reading the following quote from Ken Purdy's Kings of the Road, ‘Let us consider the fabulous Bugatti, prince of motors. Imagine a string-straight, poplar-lined Route Nationale in France on a summer's day. That growing dot in the middle distance is a sky-blue Bugatti coupé, rasping down from Paris to Nice at 110 miles an hour…’ Credit: Michael T. Lynch
Does this now mean that the ex-Serri, Ralph Lauren Alfa 8c2900 B MM is now worth this kind of money?? 🙂
Yes, well worth the revival effort. The pontoon fenders and the fins bring it home for me. Very attractive and well done.
OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!
thanks for putting it on the road and not in a wharehouse!!!!!!!!
What a beautiful car and superb photographs but is that a Tatra I see lurking behind ? Some time ago there were pictures in magazines of a similar car to the Bugatti but it was a Lancia Astura with the same fin over the top and sloping back, made I beleive for the son of Mussolini. What happened to that car ? What a pair they would make.
In my opinion Figoni and Falaschi did this Atlantic no favors. The rear looks incredibly heavy handed with the addition of the ‘fender skirts’ and by removing the spectacular wrap around design of the rear fenders. The original Atlantic is an out-and-out sports car, not sure what this version really is.
Off the subject, but is Jay Leno’s Atlantic a ‘bitsa’ or…?
To add to my earlier comment . I have just seen the design for the new Morgan ! surely something of a homage to the Atlantic ?
As F. Biba commented, the rear fenders extended to pontoon shape are not as appropriate to this car (57473) as the original design, which was the same as the other three — 57374, 57453, and 57591 — as well as on the Aerolithe, which preceeded them.
To answer Mr. Biba’s question: Jay Leno’s Atlantic is a replica begun by Erik Koux, which wasn’t completed by him. An English coachbuilder, Crailville, used Erik’s fiberglass mock-up make the aluminum body for it. The mechanicals are almost all Bugatti; the interior and whatever other original Bugatti parts were not available were re-manufactured to Molsheim specs, some by Erik and others by those who took over the project.
An earlier replica of 57473 resided in the Seydoux collection in France for many years, painted a very dark brown leaning toward aubergine, and bits of it are supposedly included in the current replica, which reproduces the appearance of the car before it was demolished in the accident with a railcar (not a Bugatti railcar as ironists wuuld have it) at an unguarded crossing near Gien, France in August, 1955.
By the way, Jonathan, warehouse hase only one ‘h’. You must be thinking of another kind of house that has two ‘h’s in it.
It is interesting to note that because the auto historian Christian Huet who edited a book describing the history of the Atlantic 57473 and its recreation assumes that the body changes might be due to Figoni & Falaschi it suddenly becomes a fact that this is what it is. This does not change the fact that the job performed by Paul Russell and his team recreating this car is absolutely perfect.
Erik Koux
It is with great pleasure to inform you that I am working on a secret project and anyone reading this please keep it to yourself ? I am negotiating a deal with one of the two T57SC “Atlantic” owners whereby we will scrap the car. We believe we can easely “restore” 500 “Atalantic’s” ( perhaps even a few more ) That way everyone can have the pleasure of owning one at relatively low cost. Of course this will all take a bit of time but we estimate that in 2016 we will be able to celebrate the 80th birthday of the “Atlantic’s” at Pebble Beach honoring the car by showing 500 perfectly restored examples of this great automobile.Jack Braam Ruben.