Celebrating the Bugatti clan at the Mullin Museum

Legend holds that Ettore Bugatti was at dinner with some of his wealthiest clients when an aristocratic lady -- who already owned numerous Bugattis -- lamented, "I want to buy another Bugatti…but I want the most luxurious car in the world. Too bad I have to buy a Rolls-Royce or a Hispano-Suiza." Ettore nodded politely, in that insouciant way that temperamental geniuses do in order to distance their own reactions, excused himself after dinner, ran to his hotel room, and drew what would become the Type 41 Royale -- the most astonishing, dramatic, expensive luxury car in the world.

True to the name of the recent crop of limited-edition Veyron SuperSports (and what Veyron isn't a limited edition?), Bugatti traffics in legend. Here's another one. Briggs Cunningham went to Le Mans in 1950, but he decided to make a detour first. The company survived Ettore's death and the ravages of war, but just barely. Its staff had gone into hiding. Its cars were scattered in barns, tucked away from the prying eyes of the Germans; Ettore's ravishing airplane was bricked up at the Bugatti home, the Ch

By Blake Z. Rong