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Journey to the heart of Bugatti

Despite being Italian by birth, Bugatti's heart is buried in Dorlisheim, his adopted homeland. Eternally resting in the small Alsatian town, a stone's throw from Molsheim and near the head of the Strasbourg airport, Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947) could observe the flight of the storks and the planes that approach over the new a factory that, although not directly linked to his family, has perpetuated the production of the most exclusive cars in the world.

The paradise of many motorists would be an Eden populated by Bugattis. It is an Eden, as we say, located near the heart of Bugatti, and also the rest of its mortal body, but its legacy lives in immortality in which only the works of the genius creators enter that have developed the technique and marked the way to continue for motorsport in all its expressions, sporting or prestigious individual transport.

The Escudería has had a privileged access to that Eden, if not totally forbidden, certainly reserved, on one of the very rare occasions when the Bugatti factory in Molsheim is opened to the layman, especially if they do not arrive by private jet at the neighboring Strasbourg airport to continue by helicopter and land in the large garden surrounding the factory; and, of course, with an unlimited bank guarantee letter in your pocket signed by the president of one of those banks that did not fail in the euro crisis.

Bugatti manufactures
Ettore Bugatti remembered in a square in Molsheim

Symbol of the most advanced technology of the interwar period, Bugatti is synonymous with all superlatives in automotive engineering and design. Because Ettore did not limit himself to manufacturing and assembling his cars with a certain rigor of quality, but he designed every last of his pieces with a particular attention that made them individually considered works of art.

So much so that some owners of the exclusive Alsace cars have gone to the extreme of removing the bodywork to expose the frame and the mechanical assembly. It is true that, in a first stage, Bugatti did not dress its cars and the bodies were more or less fortunate according to the customer's choice. The buyer received the frame and engine assembled and was free to choose the bodybuilder of their choice. Later, Jean Bugatti (1909-1939), Ettore's favorite son, made some bodies, in particular for the Type 57s that have passed into the pantheon of classicism.

[su_note note_color = »# e9e9e9 ″]Family tragedy

With the premature death of his son Jean, the difficulties of World War II, and his forced exile from Molsheim, Ettore Bugatti came to the end of his days in Paris with the sad prospect that his work would have no future. An ending that his fans consider unfair and that perhaps motivated the rebirth of the brand.

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The first unsuccessful attempt to resurrect the brand began with the EB110. In the image, a specimen in the current factory itself

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Years later, a financial group recovered the Bugatti name with the permission of the Ettore family, and relaunched the production of a supercar in Italy, the EB110, introduced in 1991. The number 110 recalled the years since the birth of Ettore Bugatti.

For several reasons the car was not profitable or economically viable and the brand, on the brink of bankruptcy, was acquired by the Volkswagen Group in 1998. It was a shame that the launch of such an ambitious project was clouded by the rumors that ran in abundance at the time about a possible money laundering operation .

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Rebirth

With its arrival at a time when its activities were expanding into the luxury car segment, such as Bentley and Bugatti, Volkswagen managed not only to clean up the accounts of the old managers but also to relaunch an image of seriousness and efficiency for its new products.

Bugatti manufactures
Bugatti manufactures
1- Exterior facade of the new Bugatti factory, west face
2- Exterior of Saint Jean with illustrious visitors

After new investments and restoration of the emblematic buildings in the park of the Château Saint Jean in Molsheim, adjacent to the old factory, Volkswagen focused the final assembly of its flagship, the Bugatti Veyron, in Dorlisheim, a municipality where, as indicated, are the graves of Ettore Bugatti and his family.

If work at the factory did not meet rigorous noise limitation criteria, Ettore Bugatti could hear from his grave across the road the clatter of hammers putting the finishing touches on body sheet metal and engines running by first time after mounting.

In reality, the properties acquired by Ettore Bugatti when he settled in France in 1909 are distributed between the neighboring municipalities of Molsheim and Dorlisheim, whose dividing line is the flow of a stream.

Bugatti manufactures
Apparently there are no doubts about the authenticity of the Bugatti Royale acquired by Volkswagen and kept by the factory

Precisely the water from the river served the needs of an old leather tanning factory, acquired by Bugatti to convert it into its car factory. Next to the factory is the family residence and, separated by a few hundred meters, the Saint Jean palace with the large gardens that surround it. The palace, called Château Saint Jean, served Ettore Bugatti to receive his most prestigious clients and present his finished cars.

Volkswagen has restored to the palace its former protocol mission in house diplomacy and public relations. Today, important clients are welcomed to the 1857 Château and an adjoining older building that bears the Maltese Cross insignia, built in 1788, a year before the start of the French Revolution, today perfectly restored and which serves as shelter for a spectacular Bugatti Royale. And one whose authenticity leaves no room for doubt, an extreme not always assured when it comes to Bugatti, one of the brands most exposed to recreations and reproductions of good appearance.

The excellent Alsatian Pinot Noir wine offered to the lucky visitors of the Château Saint Jean is also appropriate, with its label especially dedicated to the thoroughbreds of yesterday and today, to be tasted while admiring the beautiful bodies of yesteryear or paying more attention to the latter. models left from the neighboring factory.

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A blackboard shows a Bugatti from the Ettore era

Excellence

Volkswagen has wanted to preserve Bugatti's bond with its old historic buildings, adapting them to new needs to disseminate a prestigious image capable of attracting the attention of its customers and their bulky petrodollar checks.

As we have briefly pointed out, the current Bugatti factory is, more properly speaking, a collection and final assembly center for the various Veyron parts that arrive from various Volkswagen manufacturing and supply points. Too is a quality control center for the finished product, as well as the workshop where the revision and follow-up operations are carried out, especially the Bugatti Veyron.

The impressive engine in the Veyron, for example, is made in Germany. The tires, exclusively Michelin Pilot, were specially designed and developed to fit the Veyron's alloy wheels. Rims that, like the tires, will be changed at all car reviews, even if they are in good condition.

Bugatti manufactures
Bugatti manufactures

1- The attention paid to each assembly phase is unsurpassed
2- Rear view of a Veyron in the process of manufacture

Bugatti's argument for replacing parts in good use is that it cannot minimally risk endangering buyers of a vehicle capable of exceeding 400 km / h. A speed that you may never be able to cope with in your real life, but it is a figure that is at least mathematically achievable that prominently adorns the luxurious car presentation catalog, like a medal that very few cars in world production, even competition, they can flaunt.

A diploma hanging on a factory wall certifies that the Guinness Book of Records registered the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport as the fastest production car in the world, driving 431,072 km / h on the Volkswagen test track in 2010.

Entering the final assembly center of a car of such characteristics does not leave the lucky visitor indifferent who can cross the different barriers carefully controlled by the agents of the company's internal security service, to arrive in the heart of a true temple of advanced technology.

Bugatti manufactures
Bugatti manufactures

1- The cabin is suitably reinforced in terms of rigidity and passive safety
2- The 16-cylinder V engine is the heart that beats in a Bugatti

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Personalized attention

To get an idea of ​​the personalized attention that Bugatti reserves for its customers, it is enough to know that a specialist from the house is on permanent alert to fly anywhere in the world when a request for help is received related to a mechanical problem from a Veyron.

Contrasting with the historic buildings that surround it, the factory is modern and functional in design, visible from the road from Molsheim to Strasbourg. Arriving along the Altorf road and after having passed the various security controls, the visitor enters the interior after a short walk in the vicinity of the trees that shelter the Saint Jean Palace.

Non-Bugatti cars must be parked outside the inner circle, which is only accessed by those admitted for inspection because, in addition to its mission of final finishing and delivery of vehicles, the center is entrusted with the inspections and maintenance of the cars sold. , as we have noted previously.

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Bugatti manufactures
Bugatti Veyron in the process of finishing

[su_note note_color = »# f4f4f4 ″] The central nave of the assembly line is completely open-plan and the technicians work with daylight thanks to the huge windows on the façade facing Saint Jean Street - west orientation. [/ su_note]

The assembly line

As is known, in the car factories formerly the operators worked moving around the car until it was finished. The car remained fixed and the mechanics moved from one side to the other completing the different assembly phases, looking for themselves the parts scattered in different parts of the factory.

The rationalization of modern assembly lines changed the old system completely: at a later stage, it was no longer the employees who moved around the car, but the cars that were dragged from one work point to another along of the production chain. On a modern assembly line, the mechanics stay put, complete their specialized part of the job, and the car continues on its way to the next phase. The operator does not move from the site during the working day and has everything necessary at hand, even to save unnecessary movements.

Later evolution substituted robots for human labor, at least where possible.

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One of the famous in-line eight-cylinder engines, at the Bugatti Foundation (which we will talk about later)

In Bugatti everything seems to go back to the past. Of course there are no robots, everything is done with the intervention of traditional labor but, in addition, there is no assembly line, but the mechanics return to take care of the entire process in the traditionally artisan way. The car remains stationary and the technicians take the necessary time to complete the various assembly phases, moving around the car.

Cleanliness is extreme, with the workstations that resemble operating rooms where a patient was operated on.

At the time of the author's visit, one could closely observe engine number 131 and chassis numbers 8.043 and 8.083 in the course of assembly, as well as other finished vehicles in the absence of the last details for their delivery.

There were also sold cars that were returning for a review. It was practically impossible to distinguish new cars from used ones.

Bugatti manufactures
One of the key pieces of quality control. The finishing booth with well thought-out lighting

An opportunity

As a last detail, in the various and rigorous quality controls, in its final phase, the car undergoes a meticulous visual inspection under carefully studied lighting so that not even the smallest detail of finishing is overlooked. The specially designed cabin it is in itself an unusual sight in a car factory.

Although traditional materials such as aluminum, leather or wood are still used, new alloys intervene in the engine and the frame does not make any concessions to the past, being entirely carbon except for the metal structures to couple the mechanical assemblies and front and rear axles. .

The treatment that these practically unique pieces receive is what could be expected for products that are sold for amounts in the environment - above or below - of two million euros.

Although the factory is not open to the public every day, this chronicler can consider himself lucky to have accessed an occasion when the doors could not have remained closed, since he agreed with a group of people including Michel Bugatti, son of Ettore, as well as other personalities linked to the family and the brand.

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With Michel Bugatti (center) as a recommendation card, the factory doors are open

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Other places of interest

The visit to the factory also allows you to walk around and visit, within a radius of a few kilometers, the most significant places in the history of the Bugatti family, such as:

→ The Bugatti foundation, in the center of Molsheim. With an exhibition of the historical Bugatti heritage, photographs, plans, objects related to the brand, even two or three vehicles and engines are part of the permanent exhibition.

→ The hostel «Pura Sangre»: Guest chalet and carports purchased by Ettore Bugatti to accommodate his guests.

→ The monorail train. Axles, tires and running gear of a Bugatti train located on the side of the road, in front of the Pura Sangre chalet.

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The city of Molsheim is proud to host Bugatti, as evidenced in several of its squares
The city of Molsheim is proud to host Bugatti, as evidenced in several of its squares

[su_note note_color = »# e9e9e9 ″]→ The Dorlisheim cemetery, place of pilgrimage of all the Bugatti car rallies that frequent the area, where are the tombs of the Bugatti family made in pink granite of the Vosges.

→ The place of the accident of Jean Bugatti. The loss of his son Jean was for Ettore the coup de grace that prematurely announced the end of his business activity.

Jean Bugatti was killed in August 1939 at the wheel of the car he was setting up for the next 24 hours of Le Mans.

Jean Bugatti frequently drove testing the cars on the country roads between the factory and Strasbourg and went off the road in a completely straight, safe section near the Strasbourg airport. It was said at the time that Jean tried to avoid a cyclist who crossed his path. Other explanations for mechanical failure or driving confusion were excluded.

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Bugatti manufactures
Simple reminder at the authentic place of Jean Bugatti's accident

[su_note note_color = »# e9e9e9 ″]There are two Jean Bugatti memorials, one at the false crash site but more affordable for tourists, with a large monolith on the side of the Molsheim-Strasbourg road, and another at the true crash site, which is located about five hundred meters inland looking for the head of the airport runway. It is a simpler monument, with a tombstone that was left off the main road due to the access works to the highway. In the small town of Entzheim, the country road to Duppigheim is now named after Jean Bugatti.

→ The château Saint Jean, more properly a palace than a castle, a prestigious place for the receptions of important clients, the presentations to the press of the new models and a meeting place for authorized Bugatti clubs.

→ The family home, Bugatti family residence, adjacent to the old factory.

→ The old factory, located between the new and the city of Molsheim and currently serves as an aviation parts assembly center for the Airbus consortium.

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Written by mario laguna

Mario Laguna, author of the book "The Pegaso Adventure", scholar and observer of the history of motor racing, brands and characters. Regular visitor to automobile competitions, whether of current or historical categories, international contests of elegance, lecturer ... Read more

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