They Never Come Out at Night:
Bauer’s 1:18 Bugatti Type 41 Royale “Esders”

If you’re ever seeking a good kick in the pants, stroll into the Schlumpf Museum in Mulhouse, France, locate the Bugatti Type 41 Royale “Esders” roadster, and pronounce to the throngs of adoring Bugattiste that the car isn’t a “real” Royale. You may or may not actually get punted, but you can count on being shown l’épaule froide. That’s “the cold shoulder” - and the reason for the treatment goes back to the pride and passion of the Schlumpf brothers.

First, the prelude: The original design for the Esders roadster was penned by Jean Bugatti and built for one obviously wealthy Dr. Armand Esders, on the second of six Type 41 “Royale” chassis to emerge from Ettore Bugatti’s factory. 

Across The Sea

We typed the words “Moscow Models” into our favorite search engine to garner some background color for this piece, and we were fairly, um, intrigued by what we found.

As entertaining as they were, none of the results had much to do with the model pictured here, other than the fact that the mastermind behind this outrageously beautiful 1:24 Bugatti Type 57 SC “Atlantic” is Mikhail Bashmashnikov. Mikhail commissioned the car for his B&G Models USA through old friend Igor Bortzov; Igor and Mikhail used to work shoulder to shoulder back in the day, as partners in a firm they called Moscow Models. No, don’t Google it.

You’d have to edit a few old sayings when applying them to the work of master class model builder Alain Bouissou; “Good things come in small packages”, for instance, would need a touch up. You might start by replacing “good” with “amazing”.

Tank!

The 1923 Bugatti Type 32, nicknamed the “Tank”, featured a number of mechanical innovations in addition to its radical, aerodynamic shape, and rode on a very short 79.5” wheelbase. Due to Bugatti’s inexperience with aerodynamics the car had a tendency to lift off the ground at speed.

Four of these racers were built, to compete in the 1923 French GP, each powered by a 2.0 litre straight-8 engine. The best they could manage was a 3rd place finish with car number 6, and Bugatti quickly abandoned further development, to concentrate on other models. The Type 32 car has been produced before by other companies in 1:43rd, but I can’t say the last time I saw any.