A Bugatti at the beach: the perfect sightseeing holiday

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Many people go on holiday to see important historic or cultural sights, visiting places such as Rome, Athens, Cairo and many more of the world's great cities. Others prefer just to relax by the sea, underneath a hot sun, and let their cares float away. That's probably the reason why hundreds of people here have descended upon Arcachon in Gironde, France, a resort town on the Atlantic coast.

Little did those holidaymakers know, when they set off to top up their tans and dip their toes in the sea, that they would also be treated to a sight to rival the wonder of the Sphinx and the beauty of the Sistine Chapel. Is not the Bugatti Type 57 Atalante one of the most beautiful exercises in design ever to take shape, and who would have expected to find one inconspicuously parked on a busy coastal thoroughfare in the late 1950s, nestled between a Renault 4CV and Peugeot 203, with a dumpy Ford Vedette behind it for good measure? Mind you, if we were to go to Arcachon today, just the sight of a cheerful little 4CV among all the sad-dreary modern cars would make our day.

We'd like to know exactly which Atalante this is, because there's a very good chance that it's still in existence. With no number plate visible, though, that's beyond our abilities, but maybe one of our readers knows something?

Of course, anyone who wants to do some Bugatti sightseeing, and also enjoy the history and beauty which other parts of France have to offer, would be well advised to pay a visit to the Cité de l'Automobile in Mulhouse, better known as the Schlumpf Collection after the brothers who initiated it. Bugatti was the marque dearest to their hearts and they acquired their first, a Type 35B, shortly before the German invasion of France in 1940. The collection remained a secret until 1976, and by the 1980s was on the way to becoming publicly owned. Today, the collection has 400 cars on display at any one time, including the world's largest collection of Bugattis, among them two of the original six Type 41 Royales. Just the history of the museum alone, irrespective of the cars in it, is extraordinary enough, being set against a backdrop of industrial turbulence and union action.

Of course, that's only a fraction of what there is to see in Mulhouse. The city also house a 16th-century town hall and numerous other museums including the Cité du Train and the Musée des Beaux-Arts. What's more it's conveniently located just 16 miles from the Basel-Mulhouse-Freiberg airport, so access is easy at any time. Have you booked your flight yet?

Words: Zack Stiling
 

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