The 213MPH Bugatti From The 90's

When you think of Bugatti, you probably think, of course, of the magnificent and ludicrously fast Veyron. If you have an eye for history, you might think of epic wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in the 1920s. Some will remember that Ralph Lauren has several, including the absolutely stunning 1938 Type 57 SC. Chances are though that it's been a while since you last thought of the '91 EB 110 GT. It's the 213 mph Bugatti that time forgot, and one just popped up for sale over at RM's Monaco auction.

In the early 1990s, an Italian businessman tried to revive the dormant Bugatti name, so he bought the rights to the company, then hired the guys that designed the Lamborghini Miura and Countach to draw something up. When it was unveiled on what would have been Ettore Bugatti's 110th birthday (hence EB 110), it looked something like a cross between a Lamborghini and a Jaguar XJ220.

Simply tossing in a state of the art V12 engine wouldn't do, so the engineers huddled together and came up with a quadruple turbocharged V12 that put out 560 hp. To make sure the car could actually use that power, they developed an all wheel drive system, which ultimately allowed for a zero to 60 time of 4.1 seconds. The top speed? 213 mph. Not exactly slow by any standard.

Inside, though, it isn't a stripped down sports car. Burled walnut and leather are just about the only things skin comes in contact with. It's reportedly so comfortable just to sit in it and drive, that Michael Schumacher insisted on having his rebuilt after he famously crashed it into a truck.

Yep, that's a wood- and leather-clad headliner.

The suspension was state of the art. The chassis was made out of carbon fiber a full decade before that became par for the supercar course. All in all this thing was a decade ahead of its time. It's a shame it's not better remembered.


Aaron Miller is the Rides editor for Supercompressor. He remembers way too much about obscure cars from the 1990s. If you follow him on Twitter and ask nicely, he'll tell you how this car's demise led to the birth of the Lotus Elise.