The 1995 Chrysler Atlantic Concept Car and the Bugatti Type 57 Atlantique

Legend has it that, in 1994, one-time Chrysler design chief Tom Gale and then Chrysler president Bob Lutz served together as judges for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The classic cars to be judged were located on the 18th fairway, but arranged on the lawn around the club house were a number of concept cars, old and new, not included in the judging. They decided that next year, Chrysler was going to have a concept car that would put all the other concepts “back on their trailers.”
The legend says that Lutz sketched his ideas on a napkin which he gave to Gale. Gale gave his design staff the assignment but without the sketches, explaining that he didn’t want to give his designers any preconceptions which would stifle their creativity. They were told to use ideas and features of the curvaceous French coupes of the thirties (Bugatti, Talbot-Lago, Delahaye and Delage) to come up with a knock-out retro design that would mix the best of the old with the newest of the new. The result, designed by Bob Hubbach, is the 1995 Chrysler Atlantic.

The car is 199.5” long, 75.8” wide, and stands 51.6” tall. Its wheelbase is 126”, and it rides on 21” wheels in front and 22” in the back. Power is provided by a 4.0 liter straight eight which consists of two 2.0 liter Neon 4 cylinder blocks arranged nose-to-tail. While its styling is an obvious blend of old and new, its list of features is cutting edge. Brakes are four-wheel discs with ABS. The transmission is automatic with Auto-Stick. Neon lighting is used for brake lights, CHMSL, and interior dome lighting.
The Atlantic is a part of the Walter P. Chrysler Museum collection; indeed, the Museum opened in October 1999 with an honored spot reserved for it, just to the right of the rotating pedestal. The graphics were in place for the Atlantic, but in its place stood the bright red 1941 Newport dual cowl phaeton. The car itself was in great demand on the show and museum circuit; it came home in the summer of 2004, but just for a visit. It was a part of the Museum’s “Chrysler Design Excellence” show,  which highlighted the Chrysler brand and some of its most beautiful examples.

Ettore Bugatti and the Type 57

Ettore Bugatti was a builder of things mechanical. In his factory in Molsheim, France, he built boats and aircraft engines and at least one airplane and but his first love was automobiles. He is generally considered an artist, more so than an engineer. This might serve to explain why some of his designs were characterized as “a bit wacky” while others were inspired. He produced two outstanding Grand Prix cars, his Types 35 and 59. His engines were works of art, as were a number of his cars. One of his last designs is considered by many to be his best, the Type 57 sports and sports racing car.
It was in the realm of body design where he produced his most bizarre creations. The Type 57 sported a 3.3 liter straight eight engine with double overhead camshafts and hemispherical combustion chambers. The angle between intake and exhaust valves was 90 degrees. The cylinder block and head were cast integrally and bolted to a cast aluminum crankcase/transmission housing. The Type 57S was equipped with a Rootes-type positive displacement supercharger. The Type 57S was a potent performer and in a streamlined body christened “the Tank” by the motoring press, it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1937 and again in 1939.
The Type 57 was produced in greater quantity than any other Bugatti, with an estimated 750 in all. Bugatti offered a variety of body styles, and the chassis was made available to independent coach builders. One of the weirdest was an open sports body with fully skirted, steering front fenders. But the one most commonly associated with the Type 57 is the Atlantique coupe. It is hard to describe this one but its most noticeable feature is the very large spot welding seam which runs from the windshield header to the tailend of the body.