- Bugatti has revealed this ornate one-off Chiron Super Sport ahead of Monterey Car Week called the “Golden Era.”
- The Golden Era is a celebration of Bugatti’s greatest hits as the company winds down production of the W-16 engine and transitions to an electrified future under new parent company Rimac.
- Hand-drawn sketches of legendary Bugattis cover the car’s sides; they took more than 400 hours to produce.
It’s become a cliché to call a sleek supercar a “work of art,” but in the case of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport “Golden Era,” that title is particularly apt. This exquisite machine has been revealed ahead of its official in-person debut at the upcoming Monterey Car Week, sporting beautiful murals on the car’s flanks that celebrate Bugatti’s heritage.
The one-off creation emerged from Bugatti’s Sur Mesure division, which handles the most outlandish and creative customization projects ordered by Bugatti’s ultra-wealthy clientele. This project began when a passionate Bugatti collector approached the company with the idea to honor Bugatti and its W-16 engine, which will end production after the final 2024 Mistral roadster leaves the factory. The process of designing the Golden Era took two years, with the company describing it as “the most challenging bespoke project that Bugatti has ever undertaken.”
The Golden Era uses a Bugatti Chiron Super Sport as its base, which packs an 1578-horsepower version of the quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W-16 and the special long-tailed carbon-fiber bodywork from the 300-mph Super Sport 300+. In our hands, the Super Sport shot to 60 mph in a blistering 2.2 seconds and only needed 14.8 seconds to crest the 200-mph mark.
While the W-16 that has been Bugatti’s hallmark only arrived in 2005 with the record-breaking Veyron, the customer wanted his masterpiece to feature important vehicles from throughout the brand’s 100-plus-year history. The images emerge on the front fenders and doors as the paint fades from the metallic Nocturne Black color to a light golden hue called “Doré” that is unique to this vehicle. On the passenger side, the 26 hand-drawn sketches include iconic cars like the Type 41 Royale and Type 57 SC Atlantic. There are also depictions of planes, a train, the company’s chateau headquarters in Molsheim, and signatures from Jean and Ettore Bugatti.
The driver’s side displays 19 sketches detailing Bugatti’s history since its revival by Romano Artioli in 1987 and subsequent purchase by the Volkswagen Group in 1998. Here we see stunning hypercars from the EB110 to the Veyron and Chiron, as well as the side profile of the one-off La Voiture Noire and the W-16 engine. The limited-production Divo, Centodieci, and Mistral, as well as the track-only Bolide, also make appearances.
Bugatti says the drawings were made using the same pens used for sketching designs on paper and were applied directly onto the body by hand. The painstaking process took more than 400 hours, and Bugatti described the procedure of hand-drawing on a one-off bespoke Chiron as “intimidating.”
Museum-Quality Interior
The interior mirrors the look of the body panels, with three legendary Bugattis emblazoned on each leather door panel. The driver’s side focuses on the modern Bugatti hypercars—the EB110, Veyron, and Chiron—while the passengers side features iconic pre-war cars, the Type 35, Type 57SC Atlantic, and Type 41 Royale. The hand-painted images are accompanied by stitching reading “Golden Era” on the headrests (with the same phrase appearing on the underside of the rear wing) and a “One-of-One” badge on the center console. The driver’s-side doorsill marks the modern era of Bugattis with the dates “1987–2023” while the passenger’s side sill reads “1909–1956” for the life span of the original Bugatti company.
The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport already costs nearly $4 million, and while Bugatti didn’t detail the price for the Golden Era, we imagine its dedicated owner paid a significant amount more for this special Super Sport. The owner will pick up his unique Chiron at Monterey Car Week, and while we hope the Golden Era gets driven, this is one hypercar that would be just as much at home in a museum as it would on track.
Associate News Editor
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.