Bugatti’s legendary career as one of the most important automobile designers was cut short soon after this car was built. When he was only 30 years old, he crashed his Type 57 test car into a tree while trying to avoid a drunken bicyclist, The Jean Bugatti design is based on a concept car introduced at the 1935 Paris Motor Show. Dubbed the Aérolithe, the car was fashioned from a magnesium alloy called Elektron. The substance couldn’t be welded, Bugatti said, so he incorporated raised seams into the design, riveting them to tie together the car’s body panels. Although Bugatti used weldable aluminum for the four Aérolithe-based Atlantic coupes he built, he retained the exposed seams and rivets as a styling element.
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