RR Fact Files : The mystery of Chassis 57453 

Now we're not the first place you might think of for insanely high-value classics, one thing we do love though is a bit of mystery and a bit of history.

One of the most enduring mysteries to the world of car hunters is the fate of "La Voiture Noire" one of the five Bugatti Type 57S built. The Bugatti Atlantic is a car built by a company at the height of its prowess, sleek deco lines fashioned from a magnesium alloy called elektron, draped over a 3.3 inline 8 producing 200bhp. The whole car sat lower than a standard Type 57, which is what the S stands for, "Surbaissé" for those with more than GSCE French. The C on the 57SC models was for the supercharger.

Only 5 chassis exist, the Prototype 57331. 57374 an aero coupe that can be seen at the Mullin Automuseum in California. 57473 which at one point in its storied life was hit by a train, but got rebuilt and isn't considered an "original" model anymore. 57453 "La Voiture Noire". Finally, 57591 which is owned by Ralph Lauren. There exists such things as Bugatti scholars and they don't know the whereabouts of La Voiture Noire.

The story starts out straightforwardly enough, the car is ordered by a Greek racing driver called Nico E. Embiricos in 1936. Then for reasons unknown he decides that he'd rather have a 2 seater convertible on the chassis, so the conversion is done and the original body returned to Bugatti, which is then paired up with chassis 57453. Already this car is two different cars.

The car mainly lived with Jean Bugatti and William Grover-Williams for a few years, before adding Robert Benoist to the list of co-owners. In 1940 all three of them headed to England ahead of the invasion of France by Germany. The car headed back to the factory in Molsheim, it got a little use, but no actual owner at this point. As the war raged in Europe apparently the decision was taken to move the cars to storage in Bordeaux, it is on the list of cars being sent on 18th February 1941 by train. There is no record after that, and no proof that the car arrived. Did it disappear en route, did it arrive then end up destroyed during the war, did it even make it onto the train? Bordeaux appears to be an odd place to send a car for storage in 1941 when the British bombed that part of Bordeaux in 1940. That could also be an error as the storage facility in Bordeaux is on boulevard Alfred-Daney, the area the British bombed could actually have been rue Alfred Danat. All these little inconsistencies add up to a very muddy picture of the whereabouts of chassis 57453. It may even have made it on to a ship at Bordeaux and ended up sunk by a U-boat.

Tantalisingly the possibility is that chassis 57453 exists out there somewhere in some form. If you do stumble across it you'll be looking at the large end of a hundred million dollar car. Get hunting.