The Veyron was the car that pushed the performance envelope to new heights and made the historic French automaker a household name. However, there is an equally-impressive supercar from Bugatti that arrived almost 15 years earlier: the EB110.
The EB110 was introduced in 1991, at a similar time as the McLaren F1 and Jaguar XJ220. While those two battled for supremacy to become the world’s fastest production car, the Bugatti somewhat slipped under the radar. That’s not to say it wasn’t remarkable in its own right.
Powering the EB110 is a V12 featuring no fewer than four turbochargers. Like the Veyron, power is transmitted to all four wheels, but unlike its eventual successor, a six-speed manual transmission was the only option. In standard guise, the EB110 pumped out 552 hp at 8000 rpm. A later version, the Super Sport, had 592 hp at 8250 rpm and 470 lb-ft (637 Nm) of torque at 4000 rpm.
Despite the vehicle’s significance within the supercar world as well as Bugatti’s history, used examples rarely fetch more than $1 million and can occasionally be found for little more than $500,000. Which, given their provenance, is kind of a bargain in the classic supercar world.
To remind us of just how special the EB110 is, Jay Leno recently had the opportunity to take a look at a glorious blue example before jumping into the driver’s seat for a spin in Los Angeles.