Ralph Lauren’s black Bugatti Atlantic is chassis 57591, the last of the four Type 57SC Atlantic coupes Bugatti built. It has also taken the top prize at both Pebble Beach and Villa d’Este. Lauren won Best of Show at Pebble Beach in 1990 and then did it again at Lake Como in 2013.

Those two wins came 23 years apart, on two continents. That alone makes this 1938 coupe worth a closer look.

Here’s where the Atlantic came from, who owned this one before Lauren, and what the judges saw.

From the Aérolithe to the Bugatti Atlantic

The shape began with a show car. According to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Jean Bugatti, son of company founder Ettore Bugatti, designed a concept called the Aérolithe on a shortened Type 57 chassis. It debuted in 1935. After that, the concours says, “four Atlantic Coupés followed.”

Even today, the most famous detail is the seam. A raised, riveted ridge runs along the top of the body. Pebble Beach describes it as “a dramatic riveted seam” scaling the car’s top.

Each of the four Atlantics carries its own chassis number. Lauren’s car is 57591, and Pebble Beach calls it “the last built.” In other words, it closed out the run of coupes that began with the Aérolithe.

What powers it

Under the long hood sits Bugatti’s twin-cam straight-eight. Jalopnik describes the Atlantics as using supercharged 3,257 cc inline-eight engines making more than 170 horsepower. Similarly, South Africa’s Business Report describes Lauren’s car as having a supercharged 3.3-litre double-overhead-cam straight-eight.

That engine also mattered to Lauren during the restoration. In fact, he has said he wanted the engine’s details to stay accurate, along with the body and interior. Pebble Beach quotes him on that point, as the next section shows.

Before Ralph Lauren

The car’s first owner came from Britain. Pebble Beach says Bugatti first delivered 57591 to Richard B. Pope, a British tennis player. Later, the car passed to Barrie Price, then Anthony Bamford, then Tom Perkins, according to the concours.

Perkins brought it to Pebble Beach in 1985. That year, it placed third in class and won the Briggs Cunningham Trophy. Notably, the same show gathered all six Bugatti Royales, along with two dozen other Bugattis, the concours says.

After that, Lauren bought the car. He asked restorer Paul Russell to bring it back, and he changed its color from French racing blue to black. In an essay for Art & Antiques, Lauren wrote: “I sought to maintain the accuracy of the details of the body, the interior, and the engine.”

Two Best of Show wins for Lauren’s Bugatti Atlantic

The restoration paid off quickly. In 1990, the black Bugatti Atlantic won Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The concours lists it on its roll of past winners as a 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic shown by Ralph Lauren.

The second win came in Italy. At the 2013 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, the car took the Trofeo BMW Group, the judges’ Best of Show award. It also won the Coppa d’Oro Villa d’Este, chosen by public vote, according to Sports Car Digest. Business Report confirms both awards for Lauren’s 1938 Atlantic.

The 2013 double covered both kinds of award. One reflects a jury of experts, while the other reflects the crowd on the lawn. In 2013, both picked the same car. Sports Car Digest adds that it also won its class and the Trofeo Auto & Design for the most exciting design.

On display in Boston and Paris

Lauren has also lent the car to art museums. In 2005, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston showed sixteen cars from his collection in “Speed, Style, and Beauty,” which ran from March 6 to July 3. The MFA called the 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe “particularly noteworthy.”

The car has also traveled to Paris. According to Auto Motor und Sport, Les Arts Décoratifs included it in “The art of the automobile: masterpieces of the Ralph Lauren collection.” The magazine, too, described it as one of four Atlantic coupes built.

A show car that still runs

Yet Lauren’s Atlantic is no static sculpture, and the owner himself has said so. Pebble Beach quotes him: “when it’s out on a racetrack it can still hit 110 mph.” In short, the restoration kept it a working car.

For most people, the closest look will come at a show or in photos. Even so, the record speaks clearly. Chassis 57591 was the last Bugatti Atlantic built, and it won Best of Show at Pebble Beach in 1990 and at Villa d’Este in 2013.

More from Fast Lane Only

• Unboxing the WWII Jeep in a Crate
• 15 rare Chevys collectors are quietly buying
• 10 underrated V8s still worth hunting down
• Police notice this before you even roll window down

This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.