One-of-five Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang for sale
There were lots of special edition Veyrons, but none quite like the first
The Veyron will never not be special. Sure, it was replaced with something even more mind-blowing - and now Bugatti-Rimac seems intent on going one better later this year with its V16-engined successor - but at the start of the 21st century, the Veyron captured the wider public’s imagination in a way that very few cars ever manage. It was the perfect storm of lavish technical achievement, absurd cost and unconventional design. And it could do 250mph.
It is a mark of the impression it left that it is still used as a performance benchmark even to this day. Mike D did exactly that in his review of the new Taycan GT; in terms of getting up the road in a straight line, it remains one of the key barometers by which other extraordinarily fast cars can be measured. And that’s pretty impressive for a model that was being developed more than 20 years ago. Even with the advent of electric cars, Its ability to get to 62mph in 2.5 seconds is still in otherworldly territory.
Then there is the question of its rarity. Bugatti is said to have only made 450 in its ten-year production run. Many if not most languish unused in collections, a consequence of their wild cost and lasting attraction as a static investment. That goes double for the numerous special edition models that Bugatti launched over the years, even when they were as spurious as a mildly interesting paint job.
The Pur Sang, of course, was famous for not featuring any paint. It was also (we think) the first limited edition variant Bugatti produced, coming two years after launch in 2007. Unlike so many of its successors, it was reportedly the product of a genuinely bright idea, after Achim Anscheidt, head of design at the time, observed that visitors to the Bugatti factory took the most pleasure from watching the car ‘being meticulously assembled into an automotive work of art’.
Accordingly, the Pur Sang went the whole hog and made its bare aluminium and carbon fibre the main event. Obviously it devoted special care and attention to the presentation of both: the former being polished to a mirror shine and the latter being finished with transparent lacquer - which sounds easy enough, but actually takes a significant amount of time and effort to perfect. Revealed to the world at the Frankfurt show that year, it’s probably safe to say that the Pur Sang helped to kick off the modern fascination with exposed composite.
Not that any individual example of the Pur Sang saw the light of day for very long. There were only ever five and they cost a million quid apiece when new (rumours at the time suggested some had sold for significantly more than that). So it’s unusual (to say the least) to see one for sale, especially one that appears to be on the ground in the UK. The selling dealer says it is ‘effectively a new car’ insofar as it has only accrued delivery miles. It was in storage till last year, but has now been recommissioned by the factory for its new owner, which included a new set of tyres. Let’s hope someone among the one per cent is keen enough to put them to good use.
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