One to Buy: 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show Bugatti EB110 GT
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Few could argue the attempt to revive Bugatti and create a carbonfibre-tubbed all-wheel drive supercar complete with bespoke quad turbo V12 didn’t rank among the 20th century’s most ambitious automotive plans.
Headed by Italian industrialist Romano Artioli who acquired Bugatti’s naming rights in 1987, the lavish operation was based not in France, but at a state-of-art factory in Campogalliano in the Province of Modena.
For a short while, things looked rosy for Artioli and Bugatti; a red hot collector car market during the late 1980s saw high end machinery rapidly escalate in price as orders for many of the latest Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins and Porsches flowed in from speculators looking to capitalise on the latest asset class.
Unfortunately, by mid 1990 the party was over and, when Bugatti finally launched the EB110 GT in Versailles during September 1991, most major economies had nosedived into a major recession.
As a consequence, buyers for Bugatti’s rather curious looking and wickedly expensive new offering were few and far between. With a certain inevitably, the Italian Bugatti outfit filed for bankruptcy in late 1995.
By the time the doors were closed at Campogalliano, less than 100 examples of the EB110 had been produced in GT trim, one of which will be going under the hammer at Bonhams’ Scottsdale auction on January 17th.
Chassis ZA9AB01E0PCD39033 was completed in July 1993 having been ordered by German collector Walter Eder in the trademark EB110 colour scheme of Blu Bugatti with duo tone Grey upholstery.
Although delivery was delayed owing to an incident with an elderly lady’s small car which necessitated one of the front wings be repainted, chassis ‘33’ was dispatched to Germany in time to star at the Frankfurt Motor Show which took place between September 9th and 19th. It appeared on the Bugatti stand alongside EB112 prototype chassis 39001 and EB110 SS chassis SS39005, after which the blue GT was delivered to Herr Eder who retained it until July 1997.
At this point, chassis ‘33’ (which had covered 9000km) was sold to Alberto Di Garnerone who exported the car back to Italy where it remained for the next 15 years.
Since then, chassis ‘33’ has spent time in France and Scandinavia. It heads to auction with a fully documented history and a little over 17,000km on the odometer having most recently been serviced in 2018.
