The Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Legend Black Bess is the latest exclusive version of Bugatti. More precisely, the 5th, of the six special versions that pay homage to the legends of the Bugatti universe.
Like previous Bugatti Legends series, the Legend Black Bess is a tribute to the names and models that have marked Bugatti's historic past. In this specific case, the Bugatti Type 18.
The Type 18 is one of Bugatti's most important cars ever, and eventually one of the most remarkable man-made machines. The Type 18 was famous for being the equivalent of the Bugatti Veyron, but more than 100 years ago.
It was precisely in the year 1912, just before World War I, that Bugatti shocked the world with a road car, capable of a performance unparalleled for the time. The technical sheet impressed the world! Equipped with a 5l in-line 4-cylinder engine, the Bugatti Type 18 delivered over 100 hp and was capable of reaching a top speed of 160 km/h.
At a time when horses and carts were the dominant mode of transport, these numbers were impressive.
The Type 18 saw several sporting successes with Ettore Bugatti at the wheel. Even so, only 7 units were produced of this exclusive model, as Ettore Bugatti only sold his Type 18 to very special customers.
Among them was Roland Garros, the French civil aviation pioneer responsible for crossing the Mediterranean by plane in 1912. Garros fell in love with the model as soon as he learned of its characteristics and Ettore knew how to make the most of it. He managed to sell him a Type 18 and at the same time ensure proper publicity, since Roland Garros was associated with the best engineering could offer.
Currently only 3 units of the Type 18 survive, which can be seen at the Lowman Museum, all of them from a private collection.
Returning to the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Legend Black Bess, the interior refinement is superb and the quality has once again been raised to an impressive level, where attention to detail has not been spared. The new manual skin painting process is a Bugatti patent and was specially developed to withstand the material resistance stress without the skin losing the color of the applied paints.
On the outside we find a construction entirely in carbon fiber and like its predecessor, the Type 18, the chosen color for the paint job is black, with details in golden color to remind us that this is the tribute edition «Black Bees» (reminiscent of horse racing times). As icing on the cake, some components of the Bugatti Veyron are plated in 24-karat gold, for example the front grille.
The performance of the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Legend Black Bess is maintained, and the exclusive price for 1 of the only 3 units that will be produced starts at 2.15 million euros.
