Bugatti has undertaken what it says is the brand’s most challenging bespoke project yet to create a special one-off that celebrates its rich heritage.
This intricate one-off, named the Chiron Super Sport Golden Era, took over 400 man hours at the company’s Molsheim facility to complete, and Bugatti says it spent over two years perfecting entirely new design techniques.
It is set to be officially handed over at the Monterey Car Week to the enthusiast customer who commissioned it.
It is perhaps the most extreme example of Bugatti’s ‘Sur Mesure’ offering which allows customers to customise their vehicles in collaboration with the in-house design team.
Specific moments in the French brand’s history are represented on the Golden Era’s bodywork, including the founding family era of Ettore, Jean, and Roland Bugatti, as well as the rejuvenation of the brand from 1987.
Exactly 45 models were hand-sketched directly onto the car, 26 on the passenger side depicting the brand’s founding years, and 19 on the driver’s side telling the story of the marque after it became Bugatti Automobili S.p.A in the 1980s.
A bespoke gold shade named Doré has been used for the bodywork, with a gradient fade into a Nocturne Black at the front.
The sketchbook design is continued throughout the interior, where three Bugatti models, the modern EB110, Veyron, and Chiron on the driver’s side, facing the Type 35, Type 57 SC Atlantic, and Type 41 Royale of the past.
Other interior details include Golden Era stitching on the headrests and a ‘one-of-one’ motif on the centre console.
The customer for the Golden Era unsurprisingly has an affinity for the Bugatti brand’s history and the ‘intricate engineering of the W16 engine’.
Bugatti bid farewell to the 8.0-litre W16 engine – the only 16-cylinder engine to be used in a production car – almost a whole year ago with the W16 Mistral Roadster.
The collector specifically chose a Chiron Super Sport to pay homage to the combustion engine capabilities, before the brand moves into its next era of electrified hypercars.
The W16 engine in the Super Sport boasts 1176kW of power and 1600Nm of torque.
Power is fed through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and the Super Sport can reportedly hit 200km/h within 5.8 seconds and 300km/h in 12.1s.
The model’s top speed is electronically limited to 430km/h.
The former Bugatti design director in charge of this model, Achin Anscheidt, said: “Given the vision and exacting nature for this project – and the fantastical ideation we wanted to realise – ‘Golden Era’ is probably the most demanding piece of tailored personalization work that my team and I have ever worked on.”
