This recreation has a body made of magnesium.
French cars in general can be quite odd, but Bugatti is a standout among them all. While we can all feel in awe at the modern Chiron, there’s a legacy of the French automaker producing some wild cars. Jay Leno was able to drive perhaps the rarest Bugatti ever, a hand-built recreation of the 1934 Bugatti Aérolithe, which was a one-off prototype.
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When you’re a car-obsessed and highly influential celebrity, you get to do things the rest of us only dream about. Of course, that dream doesn’t sound quite as fun when Leno exclaims over the rattle echoing through the interior, “not the easiest car to drive!”
Still, plenty of people would love to try wrangling this French auto on any stretch of road, just for the bragging rights it would buy. It took the Guild of Automotive Restorers in Canada a considerable amount of effort to construct this car. It looks amazing, with a magnesium body that adds lightness and yet is strong, but it is difficult to mold and cannot be welded. Even Bugatti struggled to make cars out of magnesium, so even the fact this car body has been built is amazing. The level of craftsmanship on this recreation is amazing, making it most definitely a Concours-level automobile for sure. This automobile is just as much a work of art as a mode of transportation.
On top of that, this Bugatti not only was made by hand at the cost of a staggering number of labor hours, it also rolls on handmade tires. It’s not like this car hasn’t been getting the attention it deserves, with a long list of awards, including International Historical Car of the Year in 2013.
If you want to see this magnesium-bodied 1934 Bugatti Aérolithe in person, it will be displayed at the Atlanta Concours d’Elegance on October 19 and 20, 2019.
Image credit: YouTube
