
There are not many cars in the class of Bugatti Royale!
Close to 35-40 years ago I used to build model cars. I accumulated a decent collection and one day when I visited the Newport Auto Museum I mentioned that to the owner. He wanted to see them which pleased me quite a lot. The following week or so, I took about 5-6 models and visited the museum again. The owner looked at them all and offered to buy them from me!
He offered something like $125 for all and I accepted the offer. He put all in the display case but one. He took the Bugatti Royale and put it in a case behind him and said that was his collection. I was very pleased that he liked my models and that I made a huge amount of money!
I Missed the Bugatti
After the initial excitement wore off, I wished I kept the Bugatti but thought I would build another one. To my surprise, Entex stopped making the Bugatti kits and I never got around to building the next one. That is until I found the model kit on eBay about 5-6 years ago and purchased it.
Last September I started building it. It was a well-made kit and parts fitted nicely with plenty of detail. I wanted a good paint job and did not have a ventilated area for me to give it a shot. So, I took it to my auto body shop and asked David, the owner, if he could have this painted for me. He kindly agreed and I left the fenders, the cabin, the hood, and the doors with him and left. That was in October.
A Little at a Time
I continued building the chassis, the engine, and the parts that could stand alone and wait to be attached to the appropriate place later on. But, I could not go any further because the chassis needed to be attached to the fenders before other parts could be glued. David, being a busy owner of a busy body shop could not get to it for a few months. But, when I picked them up, they were glass-like black and decent detailing on the hood and the doors’ white parts.
Working on it off and on, I managed to finish it today! Along with some photographs, I would like to provide some information about the Royale. First, I would like to start with a few photographs Jan took of me and the model.
Click on the images to see them larger, uncropped, and read their titles.




Bugatti Type 41
Ettore Bugatti was famous for building truly exotic cars for the royalty and the wealthy. His cars also won many races, more than the names of the era, the Ferraris and the like. He decided to build a car that would be bigger, more powerful, and more luxurious than any other, and Type 41 was born.
It was immense, measuring close to 21′ (close to 6.5 m) and weighing about 7,000lbs (3,175 kg) it sported a 12,763 cc (12.7 L) (779 cu in.) straight 8-cylinder engine with 275–300 hp. With these specs, it was the biggest, heaviest, most powerful car built in its day and quite likely still one of those in that class if not alone there.
Between 1927 and 1933, there were 7 Type 41s built and the chassis number 41111 was known as the Royale Esders Roadster. Later, the coach was rebuilt and named Coupé de Ville Binder after the builder of the second coach. All Type 41s were sold as chassis only with the presumption that the owner would like to have the coach built to taste. The price of the chassis only was $30,000 in 1927!
Today, out of the original 7 Type 41’s only 6 exist, and I saw one in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI in 1969 and was quite amazed. Its tires were about up to my hips and the car was immense! Later on, I would see another Bugatti, the Type 57S Atlantic which is quite likely the most gorgeous car ever built. At the same time, I saw the Atlantic, there was also a Type 39.
Bugatti Today
Today, owned by the Volkswagen Group, Bugatti still makes very exotic cars that are extremely fast and gorgeous to look at. Here are two more Bugatti’s that I photographed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts when they exhibited Ralph Lauren’s extensive car collection. You will see the Type 39 Grand Prix and Type 57 Atlantic. You can view more on the Bugatti website.
Bugattis I Saw






Well, enough of the statistics, here are the photographs showing my Type 41 Royale in various stages of completion. Only those that show the hood ornament, the elephant designed by Ettore’s brother Rembrandt Bugatti are the completed model.
(Another model I built you may want to see is the Packard Formal Sedan.)
Haluk Atamal
Unbelievable detail and craftsmanship. Not my cup of tea but very well done Cemal!
I especially like the photographs; they are almost of professional calibre.
Good to hear from you after a long while. Do not leave us alone for extended periods Cemal.
Regards to Jan and you.
Haluk
A. Cemal Ekin
Thank you, Haluk. This is not many people’s cup of tea like hiking is not being my cup of tea! The photographs are quick studies rather than elaborate setups, there are people who specialize in scale model photography and do an excellent job.
I will try to write more often, thank you for your kind words.
Take care, all of you,
Cemal
James Turner
The images as well as the story are nice however seeing the Bugatti with ones’ own eyes is the way to go. Do not sell this one…
A. Cemal Ekin
No, this one is a keeper, Jim! I’ll put it in a plastic case of some sort.
Cemal
Don Coxe
It looks great! A fun project.
Make sure you keep it in a heated garage in winter, or it won’t start.
;-)
A. Cemal Ekin
Ah-ha! You know the Ettore Bugatti legends. It was fun, and I have already started a new one, stay tuned!
Cemal
Rob M.
Years ago, while online, I was just looking at very old cars. Then I saw the Royale. So impressed I was at the beauty and the mammoth size of this vehicle. It’s almost 22 feet long. It has a 778 cubic inch ‘Straight-8’ engine. It weighs over 7,000 lbs, has a 60 gallon gas tank, 11 gallon engine oil sump and can develop 300 hp for a top speed of 125 mph. The one I fell in love with is the 1932 Bugatti Royale Kellner Coupe (aka: “The Ambassador”… I think..) At the time I saw this online, I was shocked that it was in the Guinness Book of World Records for “The most expensive car ever built”.
So, one day I was telling my wife, “You know what? I’m thinking of making one of those cars. You know… the kind you can pedal around”. Well, let me tell ya, she shook her head, looked at me and said one word, “NUTS!” I rather loudly uttered back “Really!? Nuts huh… I’ll show you!” That was all the incentive that I needed (she’s such a critic).
I set out to build it with one thing in mind. Build it with little to no money. So, it took me 3 1/2 years to gather all the parts. Junk actually. And I built it in three months. You’ll never guess how much money it took me to build it. The main piece of wood that is the length of the car was the most expensive. A grand total of $77.00 is what it cost me to completely build this car. That piece of wood was $45.00
It’s now almost 20 years old… and “yes”, I still drive it. I’m starting to get it ready for the summer… a ‘tune-up’ if you will. LOL. It needs new tubes and tires.
Sir, the reason for this email is to tell you that I, too, have just bought an Entex model kit of this beautiful car. Seems like I just can’t get enough of it. I do have a couple of questions though. How long (big) is the model? How many parts? (I did put together a working V-8 engine. That had like 900 parts! Plus, it took me six months to build it) Does anything come pre-painted? And last… how long did it take you to build the model? Time from beginning to end… vs… man-hours?
Thanks for your time, I’ll be seein’ ya
ROB M.
A. Cemal Ekin
Rob, thank you for writing to share your experience and some pictures of your Bugatti. Yours rocks when it moves!! Congratulations on a job well done.
I honestly don’t remember how long it took me to finish the Entex kit. Part of the time was for the body shop to paint the exterior with actual auto paint. But, it was worth it. If you take that route, beware that the new car paints are extremely hard, I had to struggle to remove off some parts so that the glue worked. I will have a wild guess and say it took me 5-6 months. My shaking hands did not help!! I probably worked on it at least several hours a day on average.
Some parts are colored plastic but not painted. For instance, I painted the chassis red although it was red plastic. Painted surfaces look nicer. As to the finished length, I think it is 17 inches long.
Best of luck putting it together and I would like to see a few pictures of it when you finish it.
By the way, did you see the Packard I built? That stayed half-finished since I did not have time to work on it until I retired.
https://www.keptlight.com/1937-packard-formal-sedan/
Take care, and keep in touch.
Cemal