THE EMPIRE
I saw a headline the other day on an automotive site that said “Make Bugatti Great Again”. I stopped and nearly read the article, before realising it was just a fantasy piece, a dream of a time now gone, and an impossible wish that a brand like Bugatti could produce cars like they did in the 1930s.
But they can’t. Bugatti can no more produce cars with the same emotion, soul and aesthetic impact they used to have, as Delahay, Triumph or TVR can. Or any other classic marque that has since fallen by the wayside.
The great Bugatti’s of the 1930s did not come from the brand name, just like the classic english sports cars of the 1950s and 60s were not a result of the badge on the front. The ideas and motivations behind the design and construction of classic Italian sports cars did not come from a name at the top of a ledger, and the inspiration for American cars of the 1920s did not come from a board of directors.
The ideas, the designs, the inspiration and leadership to make the cars that made classic marques into classics came from people. A small number of people, in many cases, like Bugatti, it came from one person. The Bugatti brand we know today, part of the VW Audi Group, takes its name from the Bugatti company, a company that took it’s name from it’s founder, Ettore Bugatti. The company made some of the most famous and the most significant race and road cars of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Founded by Ettore Bugatti in 1909, the cars were based on his designs and manufactured using his processes under his leadership. While the company employed talented designers and engineers, it was Ettore who provided them with the direction and leadership. He was the inspiration for their creations, offering the vision that gave them direction.
To prove just how critical he was to the company and the cars it produced, after his death in 1947 the company rapidly ran into financial trouble and was sold in the early 1960s. Without Ettore Bugatti at the helm the company lost direction, it had no vision to continue following and it failed. The same is true of many great car makers from the early and mid 20th century, they simply failed to survive the passing of their founders. The people who made the companies great went away, and the greatness went with them.
That is why you can not make Bugatti great again, or any of those classics from history. Thier time has passed.
-Moppie
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