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Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe Gets Discovered in Dark Rendering

Tears of joy in the eyes of countless aficionados and perhaps some $100 million to the one bringing it out of the shadows. These are just some of the things Bugatti's lost Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe could bring if discovered. However, out of the places the departed piece of French history could've spent the past eight decades, we never thought it would be uncovered in a rendering.
Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe Discovered - rendering 8 photos
Photo: abimelecdesign/instagram
Rendering of Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe DiscoveredRendering of Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe DiscoveredRendering of Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe DiscoveredRendering of Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe DiscoveredRendering of Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe DiscoveredRendering of Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe DiscoveredRendering of Bugatti's Lost $100M Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupe Discovered
No, this isn't a piece of NFT art that would allow Abimelec Arellano, the digital master behind the pixels, to sell the work to one of the many enthusiasts who hope the iconic Bugatti is still in some shed out there, in one piece. Nevertheless, given all the mystery surrounding the machine, those of us who are optimists can certainly use such a pixel dream, so the only dark aspect of the stunt involves the colors.

The story of the automobile started back in 1935, when Jean Bugatti, son of company founder Ettore, designed the Aerolithe concept, which inspired four coachbuilt Type 57 SCs that received the Atlantic Coupe monikers.

While three of those vehicles currently sit with famous collectors, the fourth one, which was named La Voiture Noire (The Black Car) simply vanished.

Now, if the name sounds familiar, it's probably thanks to the carmaker using this for the Chiron-based one-off that set a record for the most expensive new car back in 2019 ($18.7 million).

Animated by a supercharged 3.3-liter straight-eight engine, the vehicle left the Molsheim factory in 1937 and is said to have been Jean Bugatti's personal car. Three years later, though, when the Germans invaded France in World War II, Ettore wanted to avoid his creations being destroyed by the Nazis. As such, he is said to have put the vehicle, along with other cars and tools, aboard a train to Bordeaux, but the LVN never reached its destination.

Theories on the vehicle's fate range from a Nazi capture to a French concealment effort and even Ettore faking the dissappearance so he could properly hide it—alas, Ettore lost his mental faculties and passed away in 1947, only two years after the end of the war.

Now, Arellano decided to inject some positivity into this visual tale, as he explains in the Instagram post below: "This is my first time playing with textures so extensively to give a car a certain finish, in this case the weathered, but complete and illogically barely rusty [approach]."

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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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