The Bugatti Ettore Drove Himself: A 1936 Type 57 Atalante Confirmed for Concours of Elegance 2026

The Concours of Elegance is delighted to confirm that a 1936 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante, a car used personally by Ettore Bugatti himself, will take its place on the lawns of Hampton Court Palace this September.

The Type 57 was the last great touring Bugatti of the pre-war era, developed under the direction of Jean Bugatti from 1933 and unveiled at the 1934 Paris Motor Show. Its 3.3-litre twin-cam straight-eight produced around 135 horsepower, and the factory offered four coachbuilt body styles, each named after a famous mountain pass. The exception was the Atalante – named instead for the Greek mythological figure who outran all men. Capable of nearly 200 km/h, draped in two-tone coachwork of elegant proportions, and the most expensive body in the range, only 33 Atalantes were ever built.

Chassis 57428 is rarer still. It is one of only ten originally delivered with a roll-top roof. Completed in June 1936, it made its public debut that same month at the Concours d’Elegance at the Bois de Boulogne, presented by French actress Dolly Davis, where it won the Grand Prix des Voitures Transformables. Ettore Bugatti was evidently impressed: for a period afterwards, he used the car himself in Paris.

The first recorded private owner, Jules Bloch of Paris, took possession on 9 September 1937. By the early 1950s the car had travelled to Spain, where its original roll-top roof was converted to a full cabriolet. It remained in that form until 2020, when its current custodian acquired it and commissioned a full restoration to the original factory specification.

Concours of Elegance 2026 takes place at Hampton Court Palace from 4-6 September. Further announcements will follow in the coming weeks.