34 replies to this topic

[dmj]

For some years I'm intrigued with a story that 7 Bugatti Royales were produced, six well known (I saw one last year in Geneva - wow! I immediately understood why they are so appreciated) and one that supposedly disappeared during WWII in Ex-Yugoslavia, with some rumours that it was hidden in President Tito's collection after that. But I was also told that story of 7th Royale is pure fiction, based on a novel or story about it.
I wonder if anyone knows about that novel or short story, whatever it is - I'm wishing to read it for many years! But I will just in case check if there is any truth in story... and start to dig around my house if it is!

[leegle]

Don't quote this as gospel or anything but I think I read somewhere that one was built up later using an engine from the railcars that had the same power unit.;) This might be an avenue to check or it might not.

[David McKinney]

Tom Wheatcroft built one about ten years ago

[ray b]

my best ever car spot a real royal
in the super subs parking lot
in miami on 8st [cali ocho] about 46 ave sw
back in 73 at first i thought no way itis a fake
but no it had 36 inch alloy wheels and the look only a bug has
and the real sounds of a big strait 8 DOHC monster
owned by Hennery N of miami springs a major collector/trader
wierd two tone paint black and yellow
wife bitched but i waited intill they came out
just hear it run and ask is it what i think it is
i guess thats the last time one will be seen as a daily driver.

[Hans Etzrodt]

Bugatti has built six Type 41 La Royales; Chassis Numbers 41100, 41111, 41121, 41131, 41141 and 41150. They were the most grandiose, impressive, majestetic automobiles ever manufactured. These fabulous cars were introduced in 1929 and came with a 12.7-liter straight-8 power plant. The 2¾ ton monsters were 6.3 meters long or 20 ft 6 in for non-metric folks. Even the future Maybach -should it ever be produced- has to struggle to come close.

[Pascal]

The French Musée National de l'Automobile in Mulhouse has two original Royales on display...



...but also has the Bugatti "Esders" that was entirely rebuilt from original spare parts in the museum, back when it was still a private collection owned by the Schlumpf brothers.

[Roger Clark]

Originally posted by Hans Etzrodt
Bugatti has built six Type 41 La Royales; Chassis Numbers 41100, 41111, 41121, 41131, 41141 and 41150. They were the most grandiose, impressive, majestetic automobiles ever manufactured. These fabulous cars were introduced in 1929 and came with a 12.7-liter straight-8 power plant. The 2¾ ton monsters were 6.3 meters long or 20 ft 6 in for non-metric folks. Even the future Maybach -should it ever be produced- has to struggle to come close.

Le camion le plus vite du monde.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Roger Clark


Le camion le plus vite du monde.

Nice one Roger!!!

[Patrick Italiano]

Le camion le plus vite du monde.

"Les camions les plus rapides du monde" is a quote from Bugatti referred to the Le Mans winning Bentleys. I don't think a Royale to be any match for a racing Bentley

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Patrick Italiano


"Les camions les plus rapides du monde" is a quote from Bugatti referred to the Le Mans winning Bentleys. I don't think a Royale to be any match for a racing Bentley

British humour, I'm afraid Patrick - it's called irony!!

[Lutz]

Originally six Bugatti T41 "Royale" were build.
In some older books you can actually find stories about the "seventh" Royale. If you look at the history of one special T41, i.e. chassis no. 41100, it is easy to tell how these rumors developed.
The 41100 was the prototype T41, build in 1927. It had a slightly longer chassis than the other T41. This car has a somewhat confusing history of different bodys, today it is on display in Mulhouse and known as the "Coupe Napoleon", and it now has the short chassis, like the rest of them! It was one of the cars that Ettore Bugatti used himself until his death in 1947.
Here is in brief what chassis 41100 went through in its history:
At first the prototype had an open tourer body that was taken from a 1926 Packard, this version was called "Phaeton".

In 1928 this body was replaced by a two door, three seat, coupé, a horse-carriage inspired design, like many body designs by Ettore Bugatti at that time. This version was called the "Fiacre Coupe".

A third body replaced the previous one in just a few months time. It was a four door sedan, better proportioned to the long chassis, but still in the same style as the previous. It was very much a limousine version of the second body. It was called "4-door Berline".

In 1929 a new four window coupe body was fitted by Weymann of Paris, therefore known as the "Weymann coupe".

In 1931 41100 was badly damaged in a road accident (Supposedly Ettore Bugatti fell asleep at the wheel traveling from Paris to Mulhouse).

After the accident 41100 was rebuild by Ettores son Jean, then 21 or 22 years old. It is the one you can admire today in the Mulhouse museum. For some reason the car was called " Coupe Napoleon".

It is not sure whether a new chassis and engine were used for the "new" Royale, but it kept the same chassis number, 41100. This time the chassis is the "short" production version. This new 41100 might already have been under construction at the time of the accident, and merely been given the same chassis number as the damaged car.
About the Esders Royale, there was an original Royale fitted with that spectacular Jean Bugatti designed body. It was chassis no. 41111 and it was the first Royale to be sold, ordered by clothing manufacturer Armand Esders. The car was rebodied by Henri Binder of Paris, so it is known today as the "Coupe de Ville Binder". During WWII this car was lowered into the Paris Sewers and jacked up to avoid capture by the Germans. In 1999 Bugatti owner Volkswagen bought this car for about $4million.
The "Esders Royale" on display in the Mulhouse museum is, as Pascal alread wrote, was assembled mostly from original parts some years ago. This car would in fact be a "seventh" Royale, but since it was not build by Bugatti that one does not qualify.

[Mike Argetsinger]

A remarkable post. Thank you.

[dmj]

Today is obviously a good day for solving mysteries: I found an answer to original question from my first post: "The Seventh Royale" is name of a 1987 book by Donald Stanwood that, according to description is: "A historical mystery spenning four decades and three continents, this novel takes the reader into the high-stakes world of luxury automobiles, and ingeniously plaits fact and fiction into an ever-tightening cable of suspense."
Now I have only to buy and read it...

[dretceterini]

Originally posted by Lutz
Originally six Bugatti T41 "Royale" were build.
In some older books you can actually find stories about the "seventh" Royale. If you look at the history of one special T41, i.e. chassis no. 41100, it is easy to tell how these rumors developed.
The 41100 was the prototype T41, build in 1927. It had a slightly longer chassis than the other T41. This car has a somewhat confusing history of different bodys, today it is on display in Mulhouse and known as the "Coupe Napoleon", and it now has the short chassis, like the rest of them! It was one of the cars that Ettore Bugatti used himself until his death in 1947.
Here is in brief what chassis 41100 went through in its history:
At first the prototype had an open tourer body that was taken from a 1926 Packard, this version was called "Phaeton".

In 1928 this body was replaced by a two door, three seat, coupé, a horse-carriage inspired design, like many body designs by Ettore Bugatti at that time. This version was called the "Fiacre Coupe".

A third body replaced the previous one in just a few months time. It was a four door sedan, better proportioned to the long chassis, but still in the same style as the previous. It was very much a limousine version of the second body. It was called "4-door Berline".

In 1929 a new four window coupe body was fitted by Weymann of Paris, therefore known as the "Weymann coupe".

In 1931 41100 was badly damaged in a road accident (Supposedly Ettore Bugatti fell asleep at the wheel traveling from Paris to Mulhouse).

After the accident 41100 was rebuild by Ettores son Jean, then 21 or 22 years old. It is the one you can admire today in the Mulhouse museum. For some reason the car was called " Coupe Napoleon".

It is not sure whether a new chassis and engine were used for the "new" Royale, but it kept the same chassis number, 41100. This time the chassis is the "short" production version. This new 41100 might already have been under construction at the time of the accident, and merely been given the same chassis number as the damaged car.
About the Esders Royale, there was an original Royale fitted with that spectacular Jean Bugatti designed body. It was chassis no. 41111 and it was the first Royale to be sold, ordered by clothing manufacturer Armand Esders. The car was rebodied by Henri Binder of Paris, so it is known today as the "Coupe de Ville Binder". During WWII this car was lowered into the Paris Sewers and jacked up to avoid capture by the Germans. In 1999 Bugatti owner Volkswagen bought this car for about $4million.
The "Esders Royale" on display in the Mulhouse museum is, as Pascal alread wrote, was assembled mostly from original parts some years ago. This car would in fact be a "seventh" Royale, but since it was not build by Bugatti that one does not qualify.

I belive the last version of 41100 is actually enough of a new car to consider it the 7th Royale..

Stu Schaller

[D-Type]

Originally posted by ray b
my best ever car spot a real royal
in the super subs parking lot
in miami on 8st [cali ocho] about 46 ave sw
back in 73 at first i thought no way itis a fake
but no it had 36 inch alloy wheels and the look only a bug has
and the real sounds of a big strait 8 DOHC monster
owned by Hennery N of miami springs a major collector/trader
wierd two tone paint black and yellow
wife bitched but i waited intill they came out
just hear it run and ask is it what i think it is
i guess thats the last time one will be seen as a daily driver.

theshiftkeyisattheextremeleftorextremerightoftyhekeyboardintherowabovethespacebar!

[WDH74]

In one of the later Saint novels by Leslie Charteris, Simon Templar drives a Royale. If I recall correctly, he borrowes it from an Italian mechanic who keeps the car under a sheet in his garage, and claims it goes "like a sonovab!tch". Naturally I cannot remember which Saint book...I'll have to check at the library where I checked it out when I was in junior high!

-William

[Ray Bell]

ray b mentions 36" alloy wheels... I can see just from that how imposing this car must have been!

And to think, this finding by dmj would have had to be in a new thread if the archives hadn't been unlocked...

[dmj]

Just found short description of book's plot:
The winds of war brought Italian race car driver Elio Cezale and American movie maker Alan Escher face to face on the North African desert. An obsession would keep them together across four decades and three continents. For the world believed that only six Bugatti Royales -- the most fabulous and expensive car ever built -- existed. But somewhere there was a seventh . . . and finding it would lead a desperate man and a passionate woman back into the decadent center of Hitler's most intimate circle and forward into a vortex of sex, betrayal, and death.

Book is published in 1987. and ace's name is Elio! A nice touch, IMHO. I'm not expecting it to be any good but anyway couldn't resist ordering it...

Back to real Royales it's nice to know that VW owned example is these days actually being demonstrated around, even driven to some events on public roads! Ok, they probably simply don't have a trailer big enough but it is certainly worth of a praise.

[Arthur Anderson]

Originally posted by Lutz
Originally six Bugatti T41 "Royale" were build.
In some older books you can actually find stories about the "seventh" Royale. If you look at the history of one special T41, i.e. chassis no. 41100, it is easy to tell how these rumors developed.
The 41100 was the prototype T41, build in 1927. It had a slightly longer chassis than the other T41. This car has a somewhat confusing history of different bodys, today it is on display in Mulhouse and known as the "Coupe Napoleon", and it now has the short chassis, like the rest of them! It was one of the cars that Ettore Bugatti used himself until his death in 1947.
Here is in brief what chassis 41100 went through in its history:
At first the prototype had an open tourer body that was taken from a 1926 Packard, this version was called "Phaeton".

In 1928 this body was replaced by a two door, three seat, coupé, a horse-carriage inspired design, like many body designs by Ettore Bugatti at that time. This version was called the "Fiacre Coupe".

A third body replaced the previous one in just a few months time. It was a four door sedan, better proportioned to the long chassis, but still in the same style as the previous. It was very much a limousine version of the second body. It was called "4-door Berline".

In 1929 a new four window coupe body was fitted by Weymann of Paris, therefore known as the "Weymann coupe".

In 1931 41100 was badly damaged in a road accident (Supposedly Ettore Bugatti fell asleep at the wheel traveling from Paris to Mulhouse).

After the accident 41100 was rebuild by Ettores son Jean, then 21 or 22 years old. It is the one you can admire today in the Mulhouse museum. For some reason the car was called " Coupe Napoleon".

It is not sure whether a new chassis and engine were used for the "new" Royale, but it kept the same chassis number, 41100. This time the chassis is the "short" production version. This new 41100 might already have been under construction at the time of the accident, and merely been given the same chassis number as the damaged car.
About the Esders Royale, there was an original Royale fitted with that spectacular Jean Bugatti designed body. It was chassis no. 41111 and it was the first Royale to be sold, ordered by clothing manufacturer Armand Esders. The car was rebodied by Henri Binder of Paris, so it is known today as the "Coupe de Ville Binder". During WWII this car was lowered into the Paris Sewers and jacked up to avoid capture by the Germans. In 1999 Bugatti owner Volkswagen bought this car for about $4million.
The "Esders Royale" on display in the Mulhouse museum is, as Pascal alread wrote, was assembled mostly from original parts some years ago. This car would in fact be a "seventh" Royale, but since it was not build by Bugatti that one does not qualify.

Lutz,

Great reading! However, your accounting of the various Type 41 Royale's is missing an important car, the one that has resided in the Henry Ford Museum since the late 1940's. This one was fitted with what we in the US call a "Convertible Victoria" body. By most accounts this car was originally painted in a very, very dark (almost black) green, with a fairly bright green beltline molding, but when restored, the bodywork was painted a creamy white color, with dark green trim, in which form it stands today in the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, Michigan.

I don't know all the details of this car, of course, but it was imported into the US sometime in the 1930's, and more or less disappeared from public view, until it was discovered in an automobile scrapyard in 1943, more or less complete, but its engine missing it's carburetor and intake manifold. The person who "rescued" this car from a certain fate of providing scrap metal for the war effort (something which claimed many a Classic Car during WW-II) had a custom intake manifold built, with 4 downdraft carburetors, which I understand the car still has. Which chassis was this body style built on, in your references?

Art Anderson

[dmj]

Ford museum car is Fuchs' one, #41121.

[Scuderia CC]

Story of the Armand Esders roadster replica :

On 27th April 1991 Jean-Claude Delerm, director of the Musee National de l'Automobile, Collection Schlumpf in Mulhouse and Pierre Macoin, member of the board of directors of the Enthusiastes Bugatti, described the evolution of the reconstitution of the Esders Royale by the museum. The Esders Royale #41111 was the first of the three Royales ordered by a customer. It was delivered in April 1932 to Armand Esders, a French textile manufacturer. The car was a two door roadster designed by Jean(Gianoberto) Bugatti and is by many people considered as the most beautiful car ever built. This Royale was rebodied in 1938-39 by Henri Binder, the Parisian coach builder, as a coupé de ville. It was for many years owned by General William Lyon and was the Gem of his extensive car collection in Trabuco Canyon, California, near LA. It was recently bought by Volkswagen and is now their property! In the early seventies Fritz Schlumpf already envisaged the reconstitution of the Esders Royale. He had Alsthom, the Belfort manufacturer that had made the chassis for the six existing Royales, produce a chassis for the reconstitution in conformation with Royale specifications. Upon that chassis Fritz placed an autorail engine, which he had found had been tested by the Bugatti factory at an earlier date. An autorail engine is the same as the Royale type 41 engine, the main difference is that the autorail engine has got single ignition in place of the double ignition of the Royale! Fritz used a large number of original factory mechanical parts with the engine and chassis, and it's believed that he purchased these parts, along with the numerous cars he bought in 1963 from the Bugatti family when they sold the factory to what became Messier-Bugatti. The original parts included the clutch, transmission, suspension,steering, wheels and brakes and certain accessories. Fritz then made a try at having a new wooden body frame, together with a hood made of lightweight metal alloy, and fenders/wings consisting of small pieces of metal put together, rather than fenders made from a single piece of steel as was the case with the original Esders roadster in 1932. Delerm inherited this partially finished reconstitution from the Schlumpf brothers with the other vehicles in the huge collection when he took office as museum director in 1982. The idea to pursue the reconstitution to completion fascinated him for several reasons. The Esders would be a fantastic beautiful car, it would run and could participate in various events Worldwide! Delerm decided to show the unfinished car to the public in 1984, and it was so exhibited for three years. Then it was decided to finish the reconstitution, and Pierre Macoin who was former with Bugatti, was put in charge of this huge task, to complete this important reconstitution.

By the end of 1988 Delerm had obtained a financing package from the French Culture Ministry, the city of Mulhouse, the Departement du Haut-Rhin and the region of Alsace, amounting to one Million French Francs, the amount needed to finish the reconstitution. In view of the cultural aspect of the project, Delerm's suppliers charged fees lower than usual, considering it an honour and a challenge to participate in the reconstruction of this, perhaps the World's most beautiful automobile for the World's most important car museum. From January to December 1988 Pierre Macoin and his assistant, Guy Brodbeck, examined and tested all mechanical parts and elements of the car, together with the museum's assistant director Patrick Garnier. They found that much of the work performed by Fritz Schlumpf needed redoing. By 15th June 1988 the bare chassis with only the seats mounted was ready to be tested for the road. In complete secrecy on a disused airport runway, one hundred and fifty metres wide and three kilometres long, Delerm, Garnier, Macoin and Brodbeck each drove the running chassis. They were all tremendously pleased and impressed by their common achievements! The final and no doubt most difficult step was to recreate the bodywork. This difficult task was entrusted to André Lecoq the Famous and wellknown Carrossier in Saint Ouen near Paris, famous for the quality of his work! André Lecoq gave design responsibility to Paul Bracq (See Painting posted by Scuderia CC) the designer who, with the complicity of the museum made drawings from the few simple photos of the original roadster that were available. Bracq is a former collaborator of Mercedes and BMW and has also been responsible for styling at Peugeot. In the early nineties he published a book entitled "Carrosseries Passions" in which he devoted a full chapter to the reconstitution of the Esders Royale. André Lecoq worked on the Bodywork from 19th January 1989 until the end of June 1990, and the fully reconstituted Esders Royale Roadster was returned to the Mulhouse Museum on 4th July 1990, and the car was officially presented on the 27th July 1990 in a World premiere prior to the cars permanent exposition in the museum. All considered opinion agreed that the car was indeed a "Chef d'oevre". The "Esders operation" had permitted Jean-Claude Delerm to make the acquaintance of Bernard Esders, the son of the original owner of the Royale, who's recollection of his father's Royale appeared to be vivid and precise. Bernard, back then in his seventies, also remembered the color scheme of the two-tone green that was used on all of the cars in his father's collection that had also included a massive Hispano Suiza J12 and many other great vehicles! Delerm spared no effort to make sure of the historical accuracy of this reconstruction. Delerm believes that the rumble-seat(charateristic of the roadster) was in fact rarely, if ever, used by Esders. In order to get in the rumble-seat it's necessary to use two small metal steps mounted on the left side of the car near the rear portion of the one-piece fender/wing. Delerm tried to use the steps, but found it nearly impossible to get into the seat using the two steps.

Jean-Claude Delerm explained that, because no drawings remain of the original Esders Royale and only about half a dozen black and white photos, there are two areas on the car that remain unsure: The dashboard and the seats. Macoin designed the dashboard of the recreated car according to his ideas as to how a Royale roadster dashboard might have been designed at the time. His design appear to be appropriate! As to the seats, Lecoq made them in white leather. Close examination of the few existing photos of the original car seems to show a seat material that was not leather, but this remains unsure ! And what about the missing headlight??? The press had released photos of the recreated car with headlights mounted to the car.....why??? Jean-Paul Caron the photographer who had taken pictures of the recreation at various stages during the reconstruction of the car, photographed the completed car with headlights attached to permit normal driving. These photos were taken at daybreak before there was any time to remove the headlights prior to transporting the car back to Mulhouse. Delerm explain that headlights had actually existed for the original Esders Royale, similar to those on other Royales, even though Armand Esders preferred to drive without them! It appears that when Esders travelled in one of his cars, he was usually driven by a chauffeur, even when travelling in his racy Royale roadster. He would also be accompanied by another car in case of need!!! The headlights for the Royale were carried in the car that accompanied it, usually at the instigation of the chauffeur, in the event that the Royale would have to be driven at night. Most of the classic car World hailed the reconstitution as a major automotive event and a complete success. World-wide demand for loans of the car is unprecedented. Among other events, the Royale recreation, was the star of the Essen Motor Show, Germany in December 1990, and the car is, together with the two original Royales in the collection, the Chef d'Oevre in this "The Worlds Most Important Car Museum"

[Scuderia CC]

Interesting small history on the limousine Park Ward #41131 :

http://www.bugattire...vue24/light.htm

[McGuire]

Originally posted by Arthur Anderson
Lutz,

Great reading! However, your accounting of the various Type 41 Royale's is missing an important car, the one that has resided in the Henry Ford Museum since the late 1940's. This one was fitted with what we in the US call a "Convertible Victoria" body. By most accounts this car was originally painted in a very, very dark (almost black) green, with a fairly bright green beltline molding, but when restored, the bodywork was painted a creamy white color, with dark green trim, in which form it stands today in the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, Michigan.

I don't know all the details of this car, of course, but it was imported into the US sometime in the 1930's, and more or less disappeared from public view, until it was discovered in an automobile scrapyard in 1943, more or less complete, but its engine missing it's carburetor and intake manifold. The person who "rescued" this car from a certain fate of providing scrap metal for the war effort (something which claimed many a Classic Car during WW-II) had a custom intake manifold built, with 4 downdraft carburetors, which I understand the car still has. Which chassis was this body style built on, in your references?

Art Anderson

Art,
The Royale at The Henry Ford is #41121, originally sold to a Dr. Joseph Fuchs, a German psychologist, for a reported $US 43,000. The cabriolet bodywork is by Ludwig Weinberger of Munich. In 1935 he emigrated to the USA, taking the Royale with him. There are reports he attended the Vanderbilt Cup races at Roosevelt Raceway in 1938 with the Royale, though I haven't seen any photos which attest to this. (Or if I did I have forgotten. )

During the war the Royale reportedly resided under a tarp in Dr. Fuch's back yard, then was donated to the scrap drives. It was found in a Long Island junkyard in 1943 by Charles A. Chayne, a GM executive (footnote: said to be responsible for Buick's fender portholes) who treated it to a period-typical restoration and officially donated it to the museum in 1959. Unfortunately the block was badly damaged at some point (ice, I am told) so it will probably never run again as the museum, having other priorities, seems resolved to that condition. For many years the landau irons were installed upside-down, rendering the top amusingly inoperable. (Evidently they looked "better" in that position to someone.) The top irons were put rightside-up for the Bugatti Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1999, where the Weinberger Cabriolet was certainly the largest objet on display, if not the centerpiece.

[Arthur Anderson]

It wasn't Chayne who was responsible for the famed "trademark" Buick portholes (legend has it that around GM, those were called "Mouseholes", but rather stylist Ned Nickles, who had worked on the 1949 Buick styling.

It seems that Nickles had an earlier Buick convertible, on which hood sides he'd installed 4 portholes each. Nickles then added a small light bulb in each, connected them to the ignition, so they'd flash in time with the sparkplugs. Reportedly, Harlow Curtice, then General Manager of Buick Division, saw them, liked them, and they were included in not only the '49 Buicks, but were a trim feature, in many and varying shapes, for the next 25 years or so (sans the flashing lights!).

Art

[Doug Nye]

Written a long time ago, on the ex-Cunningham Collection Kellner Coupe Royale, to my mind the most discreetly handsome of those cars:

"The Royale Kellner Coach is physically a truly immense motor car; its radiator badge stands virtually chest-high to a six-foot man, the running board is level with his shin and the roof gutter with his forehead!

"Yet despite such dimensions, that gloriously subtle Kellner coachwork is remarkably well-balanced and handsome when seen ‘live
‘ in the aluminium. Those enormous cast-aluminium road wheels – 980mm in diameter - put it all into beautiful proportion.

"Open that long centre-hinged, fish-gilled bonnet and the Royale’s majestic straight-eight cylinder engine glistens, all surfaces turned and polished. The one-piece straight-eight block is fully 4ft. 7ins. long. The engine breathes through a single twin dashpot Bugatti carburettor on the right-side, and there is a 16-point ignition distributor firing two spark-plugs screwed into the right-side of each fixed-head combustion chamber.

"A shaft-and-bevel drive powers a single overhead camshaft, actuating three valves per cylinder. The cylinder block extends down far enough to incorporate the nine plain main bearings for the huge two-piece crankshaft assembly. A bottom sump and base unit casting fits up around the base of this block like a glove.

"Kellner’s exquisite styling of this enormous body is difficult to demonstrate in two-dimensional photography, but in three-dimensional reality its subtle
curves moulded around the rear-end of the shell, and its carefully-profiled roofline, succeed brilliantly in ‘lightening’ the entire appearance of the car.

"So successful, and so subtle, is Kellner’s styling that Royale chassis ‘41’ looks balanced and well-proportioned from almost any angle – perhaps perversely apart from head-on where Bugatti’s own rendition of the traditional horseshoe radiator provides a towering, cliff-like aspect.

"DRIVING THE BUGATTI TYPE 41 ROYALE KELLNER COACH

"The Royale Kellner Coach drives remarkably easily. Like all Bugattis it is right-hand drive. All of Ettore Bugatti’s Molsheim-built thoroughbreds were always renowned for their light, sensitive and well-balanced steering, and despite the Royale’s great size and weight, it is no exception.

"Amazingly it steers very nearly as well as the finest of lightweight vintage sports cars.

"Its tan leather seats are soft and sagging with age as their original stuffing has packed down over the long years that it has seen. Without an extra cushion to lift the driver, his eyeline over that two-metre-long bonnet towards the distinctive prancing elephant radiator cap mascot – crafted in Sterling silver and unique to the Royales - actually passes beneath the rim of the car’s enormous four-spoke steering wheel.

"With an extra cushion beneath, the driver can at last see over the rim instead of under it, those great Pacific-surf billows of front fenderline arch clearly into view upon each side, with the enormous Scintilla headlamps standing to attention down below…

"Now imagine yourself in that imposing Kellner Coach – seated behind that steering wheel…

"Feel where the four steering wheel spokes each join the rim. Beneath each of them is a tiny button for the electric horn. The minimum instrumentation is provided - arranged diamond-style on the centre dash. Clutch unit oil pressure is presented in hectogrammes on the far left; amperes charge above water temperature in the centre with a turreted panel-light in between, and engine oil pressure over there, just by the driver’s left hand.

"The Royale’s steering column is a massive steel shaft looking like an artillery gun barrel, protruding from a rubber-collared cushion mount in the fascia to aim squarely between the driver’s eyes.

"The three bare metal foot-pedals are all conventional, a large left-foot clutch, slightly lower centre footbrake and a lower-still right-side throttle pedal.

"To the left, sprouting tall from the floor centreline, is a conventional ratcheted hand-brake lever and an enormous gearchange topped by a comfortable ivory ball-grip.

"Ettore Bugatti chose to fit his Type 41 Royales with a simple three-speed transaxie, combining the gearbox assembly into the live rear-axle. Thus the centre gearchange lever vanishes through the floor to connect with long
remote selector rods which run back to this transaxie. What is more, Bugatti relied upon the enormous promised torque of his 12- and 14-litre Type 41 engines to render gearchanging virtually unnecessary.

"Hence his offering only three-speeds, with a low starting bottom ratio, very high overdrive top gear, and in between a direct-drive 1-to-1 intermediate.

"With this concept, Mr Bugatti was working towards automatic transmission motoring – for once his gargantuan limousines were rolling, there was little need to change gear. The driver needed merely to modulate the throttle, and use the engine’s torque.

"Another interesting feature of the Royale is its clutch, which is a multi-plate affair so immense it occupies a completely separate cast casing of its own, one mounted remote from the engine, back beneath the front floor.

"From underneath the car it looks as if this assembly should be the gearbox, but it is clutch and clutch alone. It is driven by a short flexi-jointed shaft from the back of the engine, and has its own separate oil sump and pressure pump which in action sprays a very fine lubricating mist over the clutch plates. This mist is then free to drain out total-loss through a drilled vent in the centre of a threaded plug beneath.

"In operation, it hardly drips at all, evidence of how fine the oil-mist really is. It’s the nearest system that Bugatti could come to providing a truly dry multi-plate clutch, without it being dry at all…to smooth its operation.

"So, seated now behind that gargantuan steering wheel, simply ****** the ignition by lowering the nearest quadrant lever. Click the ignition key, right, then right again for dual-ignition; push in…and that magnificent and enormous engine briefly stirs, then fires almost instantly.

"It awakes initially into a slightly lumpy idle.

"Slightly advance the ignition, raise the slow-running lever, weaken the mixture control, winding it gently (towards the right.
Twelve-point-seven litres of seventy-year-old straight-eight happily settle into a smooth, rich and creamy ‘tick-over’.

"Now, first gear – clutch out, pull that tall centreline lever left-handed towards you, then forward - upwards in fact due to the geometry of the lever.

"Rev gently, ease out the clutch - it’s surprisingly smooth and progressive in its engagement - and the mighty Royale draws away from rest.

"Some lofty treatise on the Royales have described them as ‘hard-sprung’ and ‘appallingly heavy to steer’.

"From our experience of the unique Kellner Coach example – this simply is not true.

"The real surprise of our long drive, was how lightly and accurately this great car steers, and how comfortably it rides.

"Although its suspension is always taut and firm it was never rough nor harsh.

"Out on the public road, this Royale amazingly seems to shrink around its driver as he drives. It goes readily where the driver aims it with that quite low-geared yet sensitive big-wheel steering. He can just sight along that tapering bonnet to aim that legendary ‘prancing elephant’ radiator-cap mascot through the turns.

"The thin-rimmed four-spoke steering wheel just shimmers comfortably in his bands, delicately alive.

"The vast road wheels, with their angled brake-cooling vanes and detachable rims retained by 32 separate nuts, are real masterpieces of 1920s casting technology, and a combination of their simple yet well-developed and
nicely set-up suspension and the enormous 170-inch wheelbase provides a very stable pitch- free ride.

"Nor is there any noticeable body roll in corners, and another real surprise is the car’s faithfulness as it changes direction so readily - without excessive body roll - through varying severe ess-bends.
Its enormous drum brakes lack servo-assistance of any kind, yet with admittedly heavy pedal pressures we found they were in fact reassuringly powerful and quite capable of hauling-in this three-tonne monster with very little drama . . . and not a sound of protest from squealing drums or chirping 7.00-24 US Royal Eleetway Rayon tyres down below.

"We would go further and report that we were surprised what gentle pedal pressures it demands from a car of this size and period.

"Despite negotiating both rough and entirely unsurfaced roads-very similar to
those which the Royale might have encountered in the 1930s’ South of France - there was no severe kick-back from that well-geared and gossamer-damped steering, quite unlike most large cars of this period on such punishing road surfaces.

"The Royale Kellner Coach’s three-speed centre gearchange is unusual, and not easy.

"First is selected left-handed, towards the driver and up. To pick-up ‘intermediate’ - the direct drive – the driver has to pull back, guide across to the left, then round the corner and up again, while double-declutching of course to synchronise the gears and hopefully achieve smooth engagement.

"As the great car’s road speed increases in intermediate - which on the flat it does quite briskly despite the Royale’s age and weight - the driver can double-declutch the gearshift straight back through its left-side plane, to engage ‘top gear’ – that overdrive third.

"In this ratio, the Royale is simple crying out for the sight of an arrow-straight
poplar-lined, flat as a billiard table, French Route Nationale…

"This most grand of all Grands Routiers simply beats along with a muffled eight-cylinder note that is strong and even (but never quiet)…

"To cruise this supercar for the mega-wealthy of seven decades past at 65-70 m.p.h. seems utterly normal and the Royale feels perfectly happy to maintain such speeds all day.

"As the great car’s mechanisms warmed and freed-off with use, it displayed quite vivid mid-range acceleration which made the drivers of many modern cars gaze open-mouthed in awed surprise as we drew away from them, or came beating by with all sail set…

"Impetus is the secret, the art of driving the Royale as smoothly as Ettore had intended and exploiting its good handling to maintain the momentum already gained.

"But above all the Royale is perhaps the most imposing limousine that any of the world’s automotive engineers have ever succeeded in creating.

"Here is a car of simply immense stature; a car to be seen in, today a legendary classic to preserve and cherish.

"Yet when new within its period, here also was a Grand Routier which was clearly intended to be driven by its owner rather than by a chauffeur, for there is no division between driver and passengers.

"Perhaps Mr Bugatti’s reasoning was that an owner-driver wealthy enough to
afford such magnificence would surely not over-extend it, and a stately driving style, and stately but oh so comfortably sustained cruising speeds on the grandes routes of Europe were surely what was intended for La
Royale?

"Above all, this ex-Briggs Cunningham Bugatti Royale that we are now privileged to offer here for sale by private treaty is an immensely well-mannered, cultured and elegant Grand Routier – honed and crafted by Bugatti and Carrosserie Kellner in the most grand cost no object manner.

"Indeed this Royale Kellner Coach is absolutely a ‘Master of the Road’ ear; a running, living, masterpiece - a work of art created, fine-tuned and finish-honed by the hands of many craftsmen, every one of whom has left his signature in every beat of that enormous engine, and every line of Kellner’s lovely, subtle coachwork."

Written for the vendor, but I remember driving the bolide with considerable (somewhat surprised) affection...

DCN

[jgm]

There was a Royale parked in the paddock at the Goodwood revival meeting. Was this the genuine article or Tom Wheatcroft's replica?

[McGuire]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Written for the vendor, but I remember driving the bolide with considerable (somewhat surprised) affection...

DCN

Thanks for the wonderful first-hand report. An exclusive club indeed: the handful of people in all the world who have actually driven a T41.

There is a parallel account by Tom Milton III, about getting the Kellner prepared for the Pebble Beach sale. (1990?) He mentions your drive, and totally affirms your assessment after some early reservations owing to all his problems with the car. Have you seen it?

[Doug Nye]

No - but it would be interesting.

DCN

[McGuire]

Originally posted by Arthur Anderson
It wasn't Chayne who was responsible for the famed "trademark" Buick portholes (legend has it that around GM, those were called "Mouseholes", but rather stylist Ned Nickles, who had worked on the 1949 Buick styling.

It seems that Nickles had an earlier Buick convertible, on which hood sides he'd installed 4 portholes each. Nickles then added a small light bulb in each, connected them to the ignition, so they'd flash in time with the sparkplugs. Reportedly, Harlow Curtice, then General Manager of Buick Division, saw them, liked them, and they were included in not only the '49 Buicks, but were a trim feature, in many and varying shapes, for the next 25 years or so (sans the flashing lights!).

Art

Quite right, Ned Nickles was the creator of the portholes, and is due all credit in that regard. He installed the ports, complete with blinking lights, on his own personal Buick Roadmaster convertible. (He reportedly got the idea watching war movies.)

But from there the story becomes amusingly complicated (or so I have been told). Curtice would have never learned of the mouseholes, except that Ed Ragsdale (chief of manufacturing) went to complain to him -- Nickles had screwed up one of their perfectly good Buicks with these hokey fake exhaust ports with blinking lights. But Curtice liked the portholes (and he didn't like Ragsdale's approach, or so it is said) so he put Chayne (chief engineer) on it. Chayne was close to Harley Earl and that was all she wrote. Ragsdale's position was er, totally marginalized, as they say nowadays. As you say, they went on the very next model. In Buick-speak the mouseholes are officially called "ventiports."

[McGuire]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
No - but it would be interesting.

DCN

It's a little long to post here -- eleven page PDF. Just tell me where you would like it sent. (I don't see a place for attachments on the Atlas email form -- am I missing something?)

[eldougo]

Originally posted by D-Type

theshiftkeyisattheextremeleftorextremerightoftyhekeyboardintherowabovethespacebar!

[robert dick]

Cunningham Royale :
http://www.bugattire...ue24/royale.pdf

[Doug Nye]

Very interesting. Now I understand why Milton didn't send a copy to Nick Baldwin and me ...

DCN

[dmj]

Originally posted by jgm
There was a Royale parked in the paddock at the Goodwood revival meeting. Was this the genuine article or Tom Wheatcroft's replica?

AFAIK VW brought their (original) Royale to Godwood this year so it had to be it.

[Frank S]

This thread and a spate of Royale photos in alt.binaries.pictures.autos
and alt.binaries.pictures.autos.oldtimers spurred a thus-far fruitless search
for my 1960 photo of a Royale. Which car would this be?

It was summer, less than a week after I was demobbed and before full-on
school. My brother and I had been in Los Angeles visiting friends, and
headed back to San Bernardino on a Tuesday morning. Even before my
55-mph cruiser MG TD I always preferred surface streets when no
time-pressure was present, and we were eastbound on whatever street was
eventually developed into a major east-west freeway through Eastern Los
Angeles County and Western San Bernardino County, a few miles south of
the mountains. If I-10 goes past the (former) Ontario Motor Speedway, I think
this was the next one south, maybe California 60.

There at the north side of the road, on the edge of a grape field (OK,
vineyard) near Asti or Guasti, California, was a shabby building with a faded sign
I had seen a number of times, but never obeyed: "See the KINGS OF THE
ROAD Museum !" Well, why not? We did a u-ee and parked on a dirt apron a
few yards from the highway.

I don't remember if there was an admission charge, but if it was more
than a couple dollars, we'd never have got inside, where it was cool but
dusty. There, for our exclusive viewing, was a small (a dozen or fewer
?) collection, but a potent one. The only cars I remember in particular
were the Horch, which had placards about, featuring Adolf H. with a
stiff-arm and a smug mug, and the R O Y A L E !

That was a dark sedanish car I am remembering as deep red in the body
with black wings and bonnet. A bonnet over which I could not see, even
on tiptoe from my usual 6' 2" platform. A bonnet that was a few inches
longer than my MG TD from which I had not yet removed the bumpers and
luggage rack.

That's it, except for the dust motes dancing in a flood of sun from
smudged windows. I bet we didn't spend twenty minutes there, indicating
the likelihood that admission was free, and that I had no idea how to
spend my seemingly endless supply of time.

I swear I will find the photos. Handheld Kodachrome in a high-contrast
environment will probably look better after some p-shopping.

--
Frank ess