The History Of Black And Yellow Bugattis Stretches Back To Ettore Himself

When the very first Bugatti Chiron was delivered to North America, it was finished in bare black carbon fiber with a yellow frontal area and yellow wheels. Then in 2020, Bugatti chose to spec out a Chiron Pur Sport using the same combination of colors.

The colors make for a striking duo, and it’s a combination that repeats countless times throughout the history of Bugatti. To find out why, you have to look back to the very beginnings of the brand’s story.

The Chiron Pur Sport that Bugatti made in 2020 combined black with a specially mixed color called “Jaune Molsheim,” which is a hint as to the genesis of this combo. As you may know, Molsheim is the automaker’s home and the name was a reference to the first shade of yellow to grace one of Ettore Bugatti’s personal cars.

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Although his brand is often associated with French racing blue, the founder preferred to paint his own cars black. When the company began evolving to produce cars focused on luxury, Ettore decided to add another color to complement the Art Deco design that defined his company’s vehicles.

For inspiration, he looked to the old beams above the oak gate at the home of Bugatti in Moslheim. Painted black and yellow, the founder decided to add the second hue to his cars, the most famous example, perhaps, being his Type 41 Royale.

From there, the legend took off. The most sought after example of the Bugatti Type 55, a racing-inspired car with a Jean Bugatti-designed roadster body that was powered by a 2.3-liter straight-eight, is finished in black and yellow. In 1934, the very first Bugatti Type 57 Grand Raid Roadster Usine was completed in the same color combination.

Today, a significant number of black and yellow Bugattis are kept as part of the Schlumpf collection, the world’s largest collection of the brand‘s cars. Located in the National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse, France, the 25,000 square meter (269,098 square foot) exhibition space contains 400 cars, 135 of which are Bugatti models.

Fast-forward to the company’s modern era, and the black and yellow combination has returned. But before the Chirons got the paint scheme, a 2014 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse “1-of-1” was introduced to pay homage to those early cars. Finished in black, it got yellow detailing along the hood and the door pillars, as well as around the famous horseshoe grille.

“In almost everything we do, we take inspiration from the founding Bugatti family,” said Achim Anscheidt, Bugatti’s design director. “That is why black and yellow remains such an important combination for us, both as a design team and as a brand. Of course, we always look to reinvent it – Ettore would never be satisfied with tradition for tradition’s sake – but you will forever find the favored colors of our founder closely associated with the Bugatti brand.”