Bugatti Royale

The Bugatti Type 41, better known as the Royale, was a large luxury car built by Bugatti from 1927 to 1933. With a 4.3 metre wheelbase and 6.4 metre overall length it weighs about 3,175 kilograms and uses a 12.763 litre straight-eight engine, making it one of the largest cars in the world. Ettore Bugatti planned to build twenty-five and sell them to royalty as the most luxurious car ever, but the Great Depression undermined the plan: seven were built in total, only three were sold, and none went to royalty. The overhead camshaft engine was based on an aero design done for the French Air Ministry but never produced, and gave 205 to 224 kilowatts, or 275 to 300 horsepower, at 1,800 rpm. Each car was individually bodied, and the radiator cap was a posed elephant sculpted by Ettore's brother Rembrandt Bugatti. Six survive, and unused engines were installed in new high-speed railcars for the French National Railway.