JUST 8000 CARS. More or less the total output of Bugatti between 1909 and 1947. A small number, but enough to propel the name to legendary status forever. Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti was born in Milan, Italy, in 1881 and established himself as an innovator when he was just 20 by showing his own version of a Prinetti & Stucchi at the Milan Mostra dello Sport show. It got him a job at De Dietrich & Cie, based in Alsace, then part of the German empire. There, Bugatti gained experience and discovered that tax discounts were available to promote investment in new enterprises. And so it was that in 1909 he began manufacturing cars under his name, even though he was by then chief engineer at Deutz Gasmotoren Fabrik in Cologne. He chose the Alsace town of Molsheim for his headquarters.
Apart from his one-off prototype Type 12, the first model manufactured in Molsheim was the Type 13, officially presented to the market on 21 August 1910. A party was held there to celebrate the completion of both the workshop and the first Bugatti chassis. The Type 13 became successful, with around 2500 manufactured up to 1926, including the various Type 15, 17, 22 and 23 derivatives,
