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Carsales Staff12 Apr 2014
NEWS

BEIJING MOTOR SHOW: Bugatti 'Black Bess'

Fifth Bugatti Veyron Legends supercar inspired by classic 100-year-old Type 18

Bugatti has revealed the latest member of its ultra-limited-edition Veyron Legends series, which ensures extreme exclusivity by being restricted to just three cars.

As does an asking price of more than $3 million!

The penultimate Legends car from Bugatti is based on the Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse hypercar and shows off black and gold livery commemorating the Bugatti Type 18 model dubbed Black Bess by famous French owner Roland Garros.

The story goes that Garros, renowned for his daring feats of aviation and who crossed the Mediterranean by air in 1912, wanted a car as fast as his plane, and at the time the Bugatti Type 18 was one of the world's fastest.

So in 1913 Garros was one of just seven buyers who snapped up the 99hp 5.0-litre Bugatti, which had a top speed of 160km/h. He named the car Black Bess after a British race horse.

Today the Black Bess is likewise one of the world's fastest cars, but is a little different, powered by an 8.0-litre 16-cylinder quad-turbo petrol engine that smashes out an ungodly 882kW and 1500Nm of torque, giving it a world-record setting top speed of 408km/h.

As the world's fastest open-top car, thanks to removable roof panels, the Veyron blasts to 100km/h in a claimed 2.6 seconds.

Special attention has been paid to the interior of the Bugatti Veyron Type 18 Black Bess, particularly the inner door panels.

While most of the cabin is covered in beige leather, the door inserts have been hand-painted with the historic Type 18 Black Bess and Roland Garros’ airplane, a Morane Saulnier Type H.

All three vehicles feature slightly different murals and Bugatti used special ink and a new impregnation process to ensure the paintings don’t fade or scratch.

"Never in the field of automobile manufacturing have traditional details been implemented so perfectly whilst also upholding the demands placed on quality by modern production standards," intoned the luxury car-maker via a press statement.

Bugatti will reveal the Veyron Type 18 Black Bess on April 20 at the Beijing motor show alongside one of the last three classic Type 18 cars, donated by Evert Louwman from his private collection in The Hague.

The sixth and final Bugatti Legends car is expected to be unveiled at the 2014 Paris motor show in October.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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