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How an 18-cylinder engine and the Porsche 917 shaped the Bugatti Veyron

On the surface, Volkswagen's resurrection of Bugatti looks like one of the many chess-like moves made in its bold quest to expand its portfolio of brands during the late 1990s. In a way, it was; branching out into new segments motivated executives to buy a once-venerated French brand that hadn't made a car in years. On a secondary level, the acquisition allowed one man to fulfill his dream of developing the world's most prestigious car. Bugatti opened its archives to tell the story of how its first 21st-century car, the Veyron, was born.  Ferdinand Karl Piech (1937-2019), a brilliant engineer who rose to the top of the Volkswagen Group during a long and illustrious career, sketched out an 18-cylinder engine in 1997, on the back of an envelope, while riding the bullet train between Tokyo and Nagoya. It consisted of three VR6 cylinder banks separated by 60 degrees and tuned to deliver 555 horsepower. The 6.25-liter engine was naturally aspirated and envisioned for high-end luxury cars -- the kind that would make Mercedes-Benz (who also experimented with an 18-cylinder engine) blush. There was one big problem: Volkswagen Group didn't have a suitable car to put it in. Rolls-Royce would have been an option, but BMW unexpectedly ended up with the name (though not the factory nor the Spirit of Ecstasy) after a bitter bidding war. Although Volkswagen had bagged Bentley, Piech set his mind to buying the dormant Bugatti brand, which belonged to Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli, after Piech's son gave him a model of a Type 57 SC Atlantic while vacationing in Majorca. He talked Volkswagen's financial department into clearing the funds needed to buy the brand right after he returned to Germany, and the transaction was completed in 1998. With an engine and a name, Piech set the ball rolling. Italidesign's Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the EB118 concept in a matter of months and presented it to the public at the 1998 edition of the Paris Auto Show. It arrived as a front-engined coupe powered by the Austrian engineer's 18-cylinder engine. Several concepts followed: the EB218 shown at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show explored what a Bugatti sedan could look like, the EB18/3 Chiron introduced that same year moved the brand in a sportier direction, and the EB18/4 Veyron brought the idea of a modern-day hypercar much closer to production. It's this design study that received the green light for production.

Mullin Museum closing after 14 years showcasing amazing vehicles

More sad news to start the year is that the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, is closing in two weeks. Founder Peter Merlin opened the museum in 2010 with a mission "to educate guests about 20th-century French automotive styling and design." This was done beautifully — literally and figuratively — with a focus on vehicles spanning from the Brass Era (1896-1915) to the early postwar period, some taken from Peter Mullins' personal collection. The heavy focus was on French automakers during the interwar period, Art Deco to the Machine Age (1918-1941), namely, Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye, Talbot-Lago, and Voisin, supported with automobilia, sculpture, a theater, and archives.    A lot of enthusiasts might not be familiar with the museum, but the fingerprints of founder Peter Mullin and wife Merle can be found throughout the car world. Peter, who died last September, had amassed the world's largest private collection of Bugattis. Back when a $40 million vehicle sale was enough to be crowned a record sum, Mullin opened his museum with the display of the record-breaking 1936 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic, on loan from the purchaser. He won Best in Show at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance with his own 1934 Voisin C-25 Aerodyne. The museum put on the shows you'd expect of a private Bugatti collector, like Art of Bugatti in 2014; shows you'd expect of a Francophile institution, like "Citroen: The Man, The Marque, The Mystique" in 2017; and surprises like last year's "ArTexture" exhibit of fine art and tapestries by artist Keith Collins. And he was one of the founding board members of the Petersen Automotive Museum, helping the museum through the renovation that turned it into one of the coolest car spots in LA.     Speaking of which, four of Mullins' personal rides will go on permanent display at the Petersen: a 1937 Talbot-Lago T150 CS “Teardrop,” a 1938 Delahaye 145, a 1938 Hispano Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia, and a 1939 Delahaye 165. The museum is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, its last day open being Saturday, February 10 — leaving three more visits for anyone who can make it. Said Merle, who continued keep sharing the collection at shows from Amelia Island to Villa d'Este during Peter's illness, wrote in a statement on the closing, "Sharing these ‘rolling sculpturesÂ’ and beautiful art with others was PeterÂ’s truest passion, and the museum helped bring that vision to life.

Top Gear's latest trailer shows off a golden Bugatti Chiron

Top Gear is returning on March 5, and after a lackluster first series with the new hosts, the new group seems determined not to hit a sophomore slump. Chris Evans is gone, and the latest teaser trailer shows the new trio of Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, and Rory Reid strapped into some pretty fantastic cars, including the Bugatti Chiron and the Ford GT. All of the typical Top Gear segments appear to be present, though the quick cuts don't give us many details. The trailer shows a copious amount of powerslides from an assortment of cars, and even Chris Harris racing around Daytona. Aside from the Bugatti and Ford, cars from Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, Aston Martin, and Alfa Romeo are all present. Co-hosts Eddie Jordan and Sabine Schmitz don't appear at all, so it seems their roles may be downplayed to focus on three guys, as was the case pre-reboot. We have some hope for this re-relaunched show and will be keeping an eye out for more details in the lead-up to the series premiere. Related Video: News Source: YouTube Celebrities TV/Movies Alfa Romeo BMW Bugatti Ferrari Ford Lamborghini Porsche Top Gear chris harris Bugatti Chiron matt leblanc