Editing Bugatti (section)

==Under Ettore Bugatti==
[[File:Ettore Bugatti in 1932.jpg|thumb|upright|Ettore Bugatti, 1932|alt=|left]]
The founder Ettore Bugatti was born in [[Milan]], Italy, and the automobile company that bears his name was founded in 1909 in Molsheim located in the Alsace region which was part of the [[German Empire]] from 1871 to 1919. The company was known both for the level of detail of its engineering in its automobiles, and for the artistic manner in which the designs were executed, given the artistic nature of Ettore's family (his father, [[Carlo Bugatti]] (1856–1940), was an important [[Art Nouveau]] furniture and jewelry designer).

===World War I and its aftermath===
[[File:Bugatti Typ 13 Brescia Sport-Racing 1922.jpg|thumb|Bugatti Type 13 Brescia Sport-Racing, 1922|alt=]]
[[File:B.M.W. (Förenade bil) Skåne - Nordiska museet - NMAx.0030583.tif|thumb|A Bugatti Type 40 coupe in Sweden in 1967.|alt=A historical image from 1967 of a black Bugatti Type 40 coupe with bright yellow doors. The car is parked next to the road, surrounded by fields of barley and trees. There is no driver in the car.]]
During the [[First World War|war]] Ettore Bugatti was sent away, initially to Milan and later to Paris, but as soon as hostilities had been concluded he returned to his factory at Molsheim.<ref name=Automobilia1920>{{cite journal|title=Automobilia|journal=Toutes les voitures françaises 1920 (Salon [Oct] 1919)|volume=31|pages=63|year=2004|publisher=Histoire & collections|location=Paris}}</ref> Less than four months after the [[Treaty of Versailles (1919)|Versailles Treaty]] formalised the transfer of Alsace from Germany to France, Bugatti was able to obtain, at the last minute, a stand at the [[Paris Motor Show|15th Paris motor show]] in October 1919.<ref name=Automobilia1920/> He exhibited three light cars, all of them closely based on their pre-war equivalents, and each fitted with the same [[Overhead camshaft engine|overhead camshaft]] 4-cylinder 1,368cc engine with four valves per cylinder.<ref name=Automobilia1920/> Smallest of the three was a "[[Bugatti Type 13|Type 13]]" with a racing body (constructed by the Bugatti themselves) and using a chassis with a {{convert|2000|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} wheelbase.<ref name=Automobilia1920/> The others were a "[[Bugatti Type 13#Type 22|Type 22]]" and a "[[Bugatti Type 13#Type 23|Type 23]]" with wheelbases of {{convert|2250|and|2400|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} respectively.<ref name=Automobilia1920/>

===Racing successes===
[[File:Bugatti Type 35.jpg|thumb|Bugatti Type 35B|alt=]]
{{See also|Bugatti Grand Prix results}}
The company also enjoyed great success in early [[Grand Prix motor racing]]: in 1929, a privately entered [[Bugatti Type 35#Type 35B|Bugatti]] won the first ever [[Monaco Grand Prix]]. Bugatti's racing success culminated with driver [[Jean-Pierre Wimille]] winning the [[24 hours of Le Mans]] twice (in 1937 with [[Robert Benoist]] and in 1939 with [[Pierre Veyron]]).

Bugatti cars were extremely successful in racing. The little [[Bugatti Type 10]] swept the top four positions at its first race. The 1924 [[Bugatti Type 35]] is one of the most successful racing cars - developed by Bugatti with master engineer and racing driver [[Jean Chassagne]] who also drove it in the car's first ever Grand Prix in 1924 Lyon.<ref>L’Automobiliste, 1971 P. 7</ref> Bugattis swept to victory in the [[Targa Florio]] for five years straight from 1925 through 1929. [[Louis Chiron]] held the most podiums in Bugatti cars, and the modern marque revival Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. named the 1999 [[Bugatti 18/3 Chiron]] concept car in his honour. But it was the final racing success at Le Mans that is most remembered—Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron won the 1939 race with just one car and meagre resources.[[File:Hugh llewelyn ZZy 24408 (5729560683).jpg|thumb|Bugatti Railcar|alt=]]

===Aeroplane racing===
[[File:Bugatti 100 Racing Plane @ Oshkosh (2234509290) (2).jpg|thumb|Bugatti 100P Racing Plane|alt=|left]]
In the 1930s, Ettore Bugatti got involved in the creation of a racer [[airplane]], hoping to beat the Germans in the [[Deutsch de la Meurthe prize]]. This would be the [[Bugatti Model 100|Bugatti 100P]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/Bugatti%20Model%20100%20Racer.asp#TopOfPage|title=Bugatti Model 100 at the EAA Museum|access-date=2009-01-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bugattiaircraft.com/plane.htm |title=Bugatti Aircraft Association – 100P Airplane |publisher=Bugattiaircraft.com |access-date=2010-12-31}}</ref> which never flew. It was designed by Belgian engineer [[Louis de Monge]] who had already applied Bugatti Brescia engines in his "Type 7.5" lifting body.

===Railcar===
Ettore Bugatti also designed a successful motorised railcar, the ''[[:fr:Autorail Bugatti|Autorail Bugatti]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Hearst Magazines|title=Streamlined Auto-Rail Car Used in France|magazine=Popular Mechanics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yt8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA885|date=December 1934|publisher=Hearst Magazines|page=885}}</ref>

===Family tragedy===
The death of Ettore Bugatti's son, [[Jean Bugatti]], on 11 August 1939 marked a turning point in the company's fortunes as he died while testing a [[Bugatti Type 57#Type 57S Tank|Type 57 tank-bodied race car]] near the Molsheim factory.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-15 |title=The birth and too-soon death of Jean Bugatti remembered |url=https://journal.classiccars.com/2022/01/14/the-birth-and-too-soon-death-of-jean-bugatti-remembered/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=ClassicCars.com Journal |language=en-US}}</ref>[[File:Bugatti Coach Type 73A (1947) pic1.JPG|thumb|Bugatti Type 73A|alt=]]