It's hard to think of a better era for supercars than the 1990s. Free from 21st century technology yet faster than pretty much everything that came before, it's of no surprise that almost all of them are so covetable a quarter of a century later. There really were many, too: the Jaguar XJ220, Lamborghini Diablo, Ferrari F50, McLaren F1, the GT1 homologation cars, the Lister Storm... The style at the time was, broadly speaking, for raw, pared back supercars. Which is why we love them.
Then there was the Bugatti EB110, launched in 1991. Against much of what had come before and followed since, it was rather plush, with wood and leather and fitted luggage part of the package. The engine was pretty advanced, too, with five valves per cylinder and four turbochargers, and there was even four-wheel drive to give the average driver a fighting chance of exploiting it. The Bugatti was awfully civilised by the standards of the era which, in fact, is how it should have been - just consider the Veyron.
It didn't take long for Romano Artioli to begin thinking up a racier EB110, though. Six months after launch came the Super Sport, of which this car is one. Bugatti's travails meant that just 32 ended up being built, but what a 32 they were: 150kg of weight was taken out through the use of carbon Kevlar panels, power from the V12 was taken over 600hp and a reworked aero package (including fixed rear wing) aimed to make the most of it all. If the EB110 was a cool supercar beforehand, the SS sent it off the scale. Michael Schumacher bought a yellow one.
Today, finding any EB110 is pretty remarkable, leave alone an SS. Bear in mind that there were 64 roadgoing McLaren F1s made - it's literally twice as common as a Super Sport. This particular one is chassis 39037, one of the last five built and specified new in Blue Bugatti over Grigio Chiaro leather (with suitcases matching the upholstery, of course). Interesting to note, too, are the personal touches requested by the first owner: this still has the GT rather than SS interior (but with carbon panels), a driver's seat set 2cm higher than standard and a power upgrade to 632hp, 20 more than standard.
Having been delivered new to Germany, it then went to Spain, Monaco and Austria before Monaco once more, accruing 9,000 miles along the way. Having been restored in 2019 by a marque specialist, this SS is described as "on the button... and ready for its next custodian." There isn't a price listed, though given RM sold a comparable (if much lower mileage) EB110 for €2m back in 2019, it must comfortably be seven figures. Which, well, is par for the course against similar exotics like the F50 and F1. Still, there's not a collection in the world that wouldn't be improved by having an EB110 in it, so don't be surprised if it find a new home soon enough. Maybe they'll take it on a few trips, too - those suitcases are far too good just to be left at home...
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