Best of Show for the Bugatti 57 S
The Bugatti 57 S was presented in Class A “The golden Age of Elegance: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design” and it is the first of just four Bugatti Type 57 S automobiles to originate from an Italian and French co-production. Bugatti and the traditional coachbuilder Vanvooren located in Courbevoie near Paris created a unique symbiosis in the form of an engineering masterpiece defined by impressive and timeless clarity and elegance. The elegant convertible body with perfectly balanced proportions accentuates calm, knife-edge lines and entirely eschews opulence and flamboyant ornamentation. There’s absolutely no question, the Bugatti 57 S has always been a much-coveted automobile – and during its first four decades, it had no fewer than ten different owners. One of the previous owners, a Vice President of General Motors, swapped the Bugatti inline eight-cylinder powerhouse for a Buick V8 for test purposes. The fact that after four decades of separation the long-sought original engine turned up in an Internet search and found its way back to the car appears to be a contemporary fairy tale and surely almost a modern-day miracle.