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Blackhawk Collection confirms sale of Bugatti Royale

The Blackhawk Collection has sold its Bugatti Royale, the famed “The Berline de Voyage” that was hidden from the Nazis during World War II, to a European collector, and at a price that a person involved in the sale says is the most ever paid for a pre-war automobile.

The transaction was reported on Facebook by former collector car auctioneer Rick Cole after the car arrived in Europe from its previous home in the museum collection in northern California. Don Williams of the Blackhawk said Cole “was a teammate” in the sale.

While the price paid for the car has not been shared, Cole indicated it certainly was more than the previous highest amount paid for any pre-war automobile, which was the $22 million spent in 2018 for the 1935 Duesenberg SSJ roadster formerly owned by actor Clark Gable at the Gooding & Company auction at Pebble Beach.

Ettore Bugatti planned a run of 25 of his largest vehicles and dubbed them the Royales with the intention of selling them to kings and princes. But the Great Depression limited sales and only seven cars were constructed, and Bugatti sold only three of them. One was destroyed in a crash.

Chassis 41150 was the sixth of the seven Royales built. It stretches about 21 feet in length and weighs around 7,000 pounds. Like the others, it has a huge 12.8-liter straight-8 engine.

The Berline de Voyage was among the cars that did not sell initially and was kept by Bugatti and, with 41100, the “Coupe Napoleon,” was hidden away behind a brick wall at the Bugatti home in Ermenonville, France, so it would not be commandeered by the Nazis during World War II.

After the war, both cars were purchased from Bugatti’s daughter, L’Ebe, by American sportsman and racer Briggs Cunningham. With the French franc so devalued after the war, Cunningham acquired the cars for about $600 each, though he also threw in a pair of brand new General Electric refrigerators since such comforts were not available in post-war France.

Cunningham spent several thousand dollars to have the cars restored in France and finally brought them to the US in early 1951. A year later, he sold 41150 to early car collector Cameron Peck, and the car later became part of the famed Bill Harrah Collection in Reno, Nevada.

When the Harrah Collection went to auction in 1986, the Royale was purchased by Texas real-estate developer Jerry Moore for a then-record price of $6.5 million. Moore, whose car collection included more than two dozen Duesenbergs, kept the car for more than a year, then sold it for more than $8 million to Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan.

Don Williams and business partner Ritchie Clyne, who together owned the car collection showcased at the Imperial Palace hotel in Las Vegas, bought the car from Monaghan in the early 1990s.

Williams noted that people might consider themselves to be the owners of cherished collector cars, but they really are just temporary caretakers.

“There’s a time in our lives when we get to take care and have fun with the cars we like,” he told the ClassicCars.com Journal of the sale of the famed Bugatti. “We’re all just caretakers.”

But, he added, “The legacy of the cars is the good friends we make along the way.”

This article, written by Larry Edsall, was originally published on ClassicCars.com, an editorial partner of Motor Authority.

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March 25, 2021
BAGGED AUDI TT: PASSION FRUIT

This citrus-hued bagged Audi TT represents something very fruity going on up in Glenrothes. We meet serial VAG modder Carl Robinson to find out more…

Feature first appeared in Fast Car. Words: Dan Bevis. Photos: Ade Brannan.

There are garages, and there are garages. Some are in it for the cold hard cash, churning through the servicing of greyscale commuter fodder to keep the coffers bulging. But others… others do what they do for an entirely different reason. There’s a simple focus backed up by a rich complexity of history – they work on cars because that’s their passion, their calling, and it’s just that simple. All of this is bolstered by years, even decades, of automotive obsession. It’s not just twirling spanners for profit, it’s living out an achievable but very satisfying dream.

Such is the case with Carl Robinson up in Glenrothes, Scotland. Over the years he’s owned all manner of modded VAG rides, including B7 and B8 RS4s, TTs, Corrados, and somewhere between fifty-to-sixty Golfs, so it’s fair to say he knows which side his automotive bread is buttered. Carl’s new venture, along with co-owner Faezan Ali, is UnitSix8, a one-stop modding shop, and the lurid citrus TT you see here was the catalyst for finally turning this ingrained keenness into a profession.

“This car was actually meant to be a daily,” he grins. “I’ve had a few before, and was desperate for another 3.2 to use for work to try keep the miles off my RS6. I’d looked at a few but they just weren’t right for me… then I found this one – standard 3.2, DSG, but painted orange which was right up my street!”

The car was found for sale on Facebook, over three-hundred miles away from home, although Carl’s a road-trip junkie who’s always seen a number followed by a string of zeroes as an adventure and an opportunity rather than any sort of barrier. “As if by fate, we were going down to a show that weekend and the car was only thirty miles from the hotel we were staying at,” he grins. “Other than the colour change the car was completely standard, and aside from a few scratches it was in really good condition. So a deal was done and I drove it back to the hotel!”

The first thing Carl did when he got back to his room was to start Googling for parts, because that’s just how this guy rolls, and within moments he’d ordered up an air-ride kit for the TT. “The 3.2s sit so high as standard, at least with the kit ordered I was a little less embarrassed about driving into the show field the next day alongside the RS6 and my mate and now partner Faezan’s bagged A7,” he laughs.

And with a certain sense of inevitability, it quickly became obvious that the new daily wasn’t going to remain a daily for long. In fact, it took all of twenty-four hours for everything to escalate beyond all semblance of rationality, plans and ideas flying in from all angles. Once back home, the show plans were in full flow and Carl began collecting parts; “we had six weeks to get the car turned around before a 400-mile drive to Northampton for the Edition38 show,” he says.

You’re right, this is a man whose work ethic would make a sweatshop employee blush, and there wasn’t a moment to lose. With the new Air Lift Performance setup pencilled in, complete with dual Viair compressors and twin tanks, it was time to consider the perfect wheels to complete the aired-out vibe. Helpfully, Carl already had a set of BBS LMs from a previous Mk4 Golf project, which he highlighted as being the perfect design for the look – although they were bright green, so clearly a colour-change was in order to ensure that the bagged Audi TT didn’t end up looking like a cartoon packet of Skittles. The centres were duly re-finished in crackle black, with chrome hardware and the lips a shimmering gloss black.

“I knew just what I wanted it to be like inside,” Carl continues. “I had the Recaro Pole Positions already waiting for a car to go in, so then I went looking for the ’cage; the 4-point harnesses followed to add to the style I was looking for, and after a few weeks of planning, two weeks before the show we started work at what is now UnitSix8. The interior was stripped out and we fitted the air-ride, then test-fitted the ’cage and started on the custom seat delete and air install.” The speed at which this slick team works is really quite phenomenal, and this is far from a case of getting it thrown together in order to meet a deadline – they may be quick, but Carl and his crew go to incredible lengths to ensure that every inch of the car is perfect. An unimpeachable finish, nothing less will do.

As such, the guys realised that a little spruce up of the paint would be in order for it to match the quality of the other upgrades. “The person who sold the car didn’t know what shade it was, and thought it was a Lamborghini colour,” says Carl. “We took it to our friend Scott at SJH Bodyworks, and discovered that it’s actually Honda Repsol orange! Scott repainted both sides of the car and the roof to ensure it was all flawless; meanwhile, the seats along with the boot build were sent to Del at Optimus to be trimmed, opting for an old Ford fabric to complement the orange exterior.”

While the car and interior were off being revivified, the UnitSix8 crew split down the wheels to be refinished along with the seat mounts, ’cage and fuel filler – all in crackle black. “It helps when your mate and business partner owns a powder-coating business!” says Carl. And so, one week before the mooted show debut, the bagged Audi TT was sat there in the shop next to a small mountain of parts that needed refitting. It took a lot of late nights and plenty of early mornings, everybody pitching in to help, and it looked touch-and-go for a while… but of course these people are go-getters, there was never any jeopardy here. Twelve hours after the build finished, Carl was four-hundred miles away in the TT, debuting the car in Northampton. “People seemed to really love it at the show, especially sat next to the RS6 – it even picked up a top-15 trophy,” he beams. And that is pretty much the perfect definition of hard work paying off – there was no messing about here, no panicking about deadlines or compromising over quality, the TT simply got done right and done fast. If this is what we can expect from the fledgling UnitSix8 outfit, then this is clearly a company we’ll need to keep an eye on.

Tech Spec: Bagged Audi TT

Engine:

3.2-litre VR6, DSG

Power:

250bhp

Chassis:

8.5×19-inch 2-piece BBS LM – with crackle black centres, chrome bolts and gloss black lips, Air Lift Performance struts and bags, 3P management, Viair 444c dual compressors, twin seamless tanks, sectioned subframe and engine spacers to raise engine

Exterior:

Full respray in Honda Repsol orange (inside and out), US-spec plate recess cover, crackle black fuel cap, textured-finish V6 spoiler extension

Interior:

Recaro Pole Position seats – retrimmed by Optimus Automotive Trimmers in black and orange cloth, Alcantara and orange stitch, doorcards, kneepads and air build trimmed to match, side-mounts finished in crackle black, TRS 4-point harnesses, custom Quattro Sport-style seat delete – trimmed in headlining fabric, Safety Devices 4-point rollcage – finished in crackle black

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March 25, 2021
ALPINA B8 GRAN COUPÉ UNVEILED WITH 621HP

Thought the BMW M8 was a bit much? Say hello to the Alpina B8 Gran Coupé, a four door luxury car with a thumping 620hp, twin-turbo V8 engine. In other words, Alpinas bread and butter.

Subtlety and luxury are two words that Alpina holds dear to its heart. Throughout countless BMW models, the memo has always been to produce not only a fast car, but one that embodies German luxury and comfort as well as having the driving dynamics down to a T.

So say hello to its latest model, the Alpina B8 Gran Coupé. Featuring a similar 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 as found in the BMW M8, its tuned to 620hp, which makes it just 5hp less than the M8 Competition, with an equal 590lb ft of torque. Alpina has tweaked the engine by “optimising turbocharging and cooling systems”, which includes a new intercooler.

That power is transferred to the ground via a 8HP76 automatic gearbox, which has been co-developed alongside ZF, and down to all four wheels for a 0-60mph sprint time of just 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 201mph! But it’s the chassis modifications that make all the difference.

New front axle struts with hydro mounts help ride comfort, while Eibach springs, stiffer suspension strut support mounts, reinforced sway bars on the front axle and stiffer low wishbone mounts complete the overhaul that, which according to Alpina, results in “excellent lateral dynamic properties.” In other words, it should handle pretty bloody well!

Interestingly, Alpina has also opted to use BMW’s Integral Active Steering (four-wheel steering), which is seen in the 850i but not on the BMW M8. Alongside ZF’s Active Kinematics Controls System, the rear wheels can move up to a maximum of 2.3 degrees left or right, which improves agility.

Elsewhere, 21-inch classic wheels hide Brembo brakes, while the front end gets a bigger intake. At the back, a sports exhaust system sits alongside a new rear diffuser and small rear lip spoiler.

The kicker? The Alpina B8 Gran Coupé costs an eye-watering £134,950, over £10,000 more than the BMW M8 Competition. Which would you pick?

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March 25, 2021