One to Buy: ex-Gildo Pallanca Pastor 1999 Bugatti EB112
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Despite disappointingly slow sales for the recently launched EB110 and an economic outlook that remained gloomy, during 1992 the Bugatti organisation revived under Italian industrialist Romano Artioli decided to add a four-door super saloon to its range.
The resultant EB112 broke cover at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1993 and combined a state-of-art mechanical specification with a nostalgic art deco-inspired body over an opulently equipped interior. With a projected top speed comfortably in excess of 180mph and 0-62mph time of 4.3 seconds, the EB112 was expected to reside in a class of its own.
Underneath the aluminium skin that drew heavily from some of Bugatti’s most illustrious Berline Coupes of the 1930s, the EB112 was based around a carbonfibre chassis that drew heavily from lessons learnt with the EB110. Lightweight suspension was via double wishbones all round.
In the engine bay was an enlarged, six-litre, normally aspirated version of the EB110’s 3.5-litre quad turbo V12. Said to produce a peak output of 455bhp at 6300rpm and 435lb-ft at 3000rpm, this latest iteration of Bugatti’s in-house developed V12 was hooked up to a six-speed manual gearbox and fed to the road through a permanent all-wheel drive system.
Unfortunately, by the time Bugatti filed for bankruptcy in September 1995, no further copies of the EB112 had been completed beyond the original fully functional prototype (chassis 39001). However, two cars were in the assembly stage, chassis 39002 and 39003, both of which were acquired, along with a substantial stock of parts, by Monegasque industrialist, Gildo Pallanca Pastor, whose Monaco Racing Team had campaigned an EB110 in endurance events during the months prior.
Ultimately, both chassis 39002 and 39003 were completed by Pallanca Pastor’s operation.
Finished during 1999 in the handsome combination of Nero Intenso with a matching Nero interior, chassis 39003 was retained by Gildo Pallanco Pastor until 2015. At this point the car (along with EB110 SS 39017 and the EB110 SC racer 39044) were sold to a French Bugatti enthusiast who has retained it ever since.
EB112 chassis 39003 will be going under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s Monaco sale on April 26th and heads to auction with a little under 400km on the odometer. Accordingly, it remains in effectively as-new condition throughout.
The car is accompanied by two pieces of luggage, a tool roll and its special umbrella with famed Rembrandt Bugatti elephant mascot handle.
