1919 Bugatti Avio 8C

14,718cc SOHC 8-Cylinder Engine
Dual Carburetor
200bhp
4-Speed Manual Transmission
4-Wheel Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension and Live Rear Axle
Rear-Wheel Drum Brakes

*Exceptional and unique piece of Ettore Bugatti engine design
*Mammoth 14,718 cubic capacity
*Engine ex-Biscaretti,Raffaelli, Maeght and Hucke
*Exhilarating manifestation of a legendary era in automobile history
*Double chain drive, 4-speed gearbox, dual carburetors and 2 00bhp


THE CAR OFFERED

The First World War, known by generations as the Great War, brought many developments and innovations, forever changing technology in society and how wars are fought. None of them more epic than the use of aviation in warfare. Major manufacturers turned their attention to aviation, and particularly to the development of giant engines to power aircraft, aiming for victory.

Innovative engineers and designers worked hard under intense pressure, and generous funding enabled them to make progress. None of them were more creative than Ettore Bugatti who turned his mind and fertile imagination to aero engines in parallel with the design and construction of his legendary automobiles.

The origin of the Bugatti AVIO 8C, its survival for decades through the stewardship of a succession of caring and perceptive owners, and its eventual re-creation in its present thrilling, impressive form is recognition of its importance and realization of its inquisitive, creative, imaginative creator, Ettore Bugatti.

That the AVIO 8C survives today is a tribute to generations of care and preservation and to the skills, creativity and ingenuity of those who recognized its importance and served to realize its potential. It is a remarkable, nearly miraculous survivor after years in obscurity.

In the early days of the Great War, Bugatti, then operating in Paris while his Molsheim works in Alsace were under German control, laid out a giant straight eight aero engine. He had previously thought about inline eights, but fours were adequate for the lightweight cars Bugatti had been building since 1909's Type 10, the first Bugatti-branded automobile. This included a few one-off racing cars, the Type 16 and Type 18 "Garros" in 1910 and 1912, based on Bugatti's first 5-litre aero-engine design. Only one very special eight cylinder was constructed, the Type 14, an eight-cylinder car built with a pair of Bugatti 8-valve fours in line.

The First World War, known by generations as the Great War, brought many developments and innovations, forever changing technology in society and how wars are fought. None of them more epic than the use of aviation in warfare. Major manufacturers turned their attention to aviation, and particularly to the development of giant engines to power aircraft, aiming for victory.

Innovative engineers and designers worked hard under intense pressure, and generous funding enabled them to make progress. None of them were more creative than Ettore Bugatti who turned his mind and fertile imagination to aero engines in parallel with the design and construction of his legendary automobiles.

The origin of the Bugatti AVIO 8C, its survival for decades through the stewardship of a succession of caring and perceptive owners, and its eventual re-creation in its present thrilling, impressive form is recognition of its importance and realization of its inquisitive, creative, imaginative creator, Ettore Bugatti.


That the AVIO 8C survives today is a tribute to generations of care and preservation and to the skills, creativity and ingenuity of those who recognized its importance and served to realize its potential. It is a remarkable, nearly miraculous survivor after years in obscurity.

In the early days of the Great War, Bugatti, then operating in Paris while his Molsheim works in Alsace were under German control, laid out a giant straight eight aero engine. He had previously thought about inline eights, but fours were adequate for the lightweight cars Bugatti had been building since 1909's Type 10, the first Bugatti-branded automobile. This included a few one-off racing cars, the Type 16 and Type 18 "Garros" in 1910 and 1912, based on Bugatti's first 5-litre aero-engine design. Only one very special eight cylinder was constructed, the Type 14, an eight-cylinder car built with a pair of Bugatti 8-valve fours in line.

The new aero-engine project, which came to be known as the Bugatti AVIO 8C, was nearly three times bigger at fourteen and a half liters. Two prototypes were built. Construction involved individual cylinders within a water jacket fabricated from steel plates. Bugatti, by this time well aware of the importance of good intake and exhaust gas flow, designed the engine with the intake ports on the right (in the automobile orientation with drive taken off the rear of the engine) and individual exhaust ports on the opposite side. The four valves per cylinder operate vertically on each side of the head and are actuated by a single overhead camshaft through rocker arms with roller followers for each cam profile. The camshaft is driven by a vertical shaft with bevel gear drive also powering auxiliaries.

The French aviation procurement agency required a 10-hour running test which Bugatti successfully completed at his workshop in Paris. This engine was then shipped to Bugatti's associate in Turin, Pietro Diatto's Automobiles Diatto, where it was further tested, passing the more stringent 50-hour running test while delivering 217hp on Diatto's dynamometer on July 23, 1916.

Despite attempts by Diatto to commercialize the AVIO 8C, recognizing in its advertising the "License Bugatti" and with license payments to Bugatti that helped stabilize his erratic fortunes after the war, it never entered production nor found any known aviation usage.
After the Great War, Bugatti used the much larger Diatto factory and its capacities as a test facility for his new ideas from 1919 to 1922.

The Bugatti AVIO 8C remained in Italy, largely intact. Here, it made its way to the automobile collection of Roberto Biscaretti Count di Ruffia, a founder of the Turin Automobile Club, predecessor to the Automobile Club of Italy, and one of the founders of FIAT. He was an ardent preservationist, prescient about the importance of the Italian automobile industry, and in 1932 he founded the Museo dell'Automobile in Turin (now the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile).

Roberto's son Carlo had carried on his father's passion for Italian automobile history. When he died in 1959 some elements of the Biscaretti collection were opportunistically dispersed, including the Bugatti AVIO 8C which was acquired by the famed "Bugatti Hunter" Antoine Raffaëlli. It next appeared at the Musee de l'Automobiliste in Mougins, France (on the Cote d'Azur) owned by Raffaëlli's associate, art dealer Adrien Maeght. When that collection closed, the Bugatti AVIO 8C found its way to collector Uwe Hucke, still in as-found condition after years of neglect, not much more than an armature upon which to build a living, fire-breathing, demonstration of Ettore Bugatti's genius.

Uwe Hucke, a successful business man and passionate Bugattiste known for several Bugatti books and restoration projects, was drawn to the promise of the Bugatti AVIO 8C. Sadly, he passed away before he could see it realized.

The armature acquired by Hucke from the Musee de l'Automobiliste in Mougins came with elements of a car: a transaxle gearbox, axles, chain drive, wheels and frame, most likely of French origin, but with Diatto insignia. A two-seat, tapered tail body made it complete. Not included were important elements like a clutch between the engine's flywheel and the gearbox.

It was in storage at the Bicester Heritage historic vehicles site in the U.K. when it was acquired by its next owner, architect Claude Teisen-Simony who, like the succession of Biscaretti, Raffaëlli and Hucke before him, was determined to realize the dream of the Bugatti aero engined automobile.

The Bugatti AVIO 8C really was an important milestone on Bugatti's evolution from 4-cylinder engines to the series of inline eights that solidified Bugatti's racing reputation in the 20's and 30's, an evolution that culminated in the development of his own personal Bugatti Royale in 1924, which was of the same design and also fourteen and a half liter capacity.

Aero-engined specials were particularly popular among enthusiasts in the years following the Great War. Engines were available in quantity, and they were built to exacting standards for reliability – an engine failure while flying at 5,000 feet above enemy territory was too consequential to be ignored. Sometimes called "Speed Cars", these constructions enjoyed the massive horsepower and stump-pulling torque of their huge engine displacements. Especially suited to sprint events and hill climbs, they were a nearly terrifying delight to drive in the Twenties. At modern historic events they are crowd pleasing participants, belching exhaust flames and erupting in fearsome noises.

A powerful aero-engined Bugatti was entered in the iconic La Turbie hill climb near Nice in France on March 12th, 1922, driven by Jules de Moraes. There is a striking resemblance to the Bugatti AVIO 8C which was found in the Biscaretti Collection. Whether it is in fact the same engine will probably remain a mystery.

Resolution of the Bugatti AVIO 8C was entrusted to experts, Charles Knill-Jones at Tula Precision in the U.K. and Jakub Stauch in the Czech Republic. The mechanical work took place at Tula Precision and it was extensive. The first task was to join the engine's flywheel to the gearbox, which was resolved when it became possible to obtain a correct Bugatti Royale clutch from a Bugatti collector in Sweden. Fuel, coolant and oil lines were fabricated; in fact the entire dry sump lubrication system had to be designed and built from scratch using wherever possible period parts and assemblies. An electric starter system was engineered and installed. The historical dashboard instruments and controls all had to be found and fitted. There is no speedometer, but the sound and fury of the Bugatti AVIO 8C's progress when under power is mostly sufficient to deter over enthusiasm, as are the limited braking and cornering capabilities of the skinny tires.

The ignition system with two Bosch magnetos for the dual plug ignition was reconditioned and, considering the 120mm (4.7") cylinder bore and 475cc combustion chamber volume Ettore Bugatti's provision of dual spark plugs to get better ignition was insightful. Dual ignition is also a contributor to pilots' survival rate, letting the aviator get home on one set of plugs when a magneto system, the least reliable engine component in the early years, failed.

Remarkably, when reassembled the Bugatti AVIO 8C fired up instantly and was run for five minutes.

The Bugatti AVIO 8C got an entry for the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2021. Its first successful racing debut was at the Vintage Montlhéry event near Paris in May 2022.

As presented today it has a 14,718cc displacement resulting from a 121mm bore during restoration. Design displacement with the original 120mm bore was 14,476cc. There are two updraft Schebler carburetors, Bugatti Royale knuckle-style clutch, dry sump lubrication with pressure feed to the main bearings and spray lubrication of the conrod big ends. The crank and conrod bearings are white metal while the camshaft runs in ball bearings. There are oil and coolant pumps of Bugatti design.

The front axle is an I-beam of period origin using a huge Bugatti Brescia type steering box and semi-elliptical leaf springs. The live rear axle is suspended on typical Bugatti style quarter-elliptical leaf springs. Rear brakes are mechanically operated expanding shoes within iron drums.

The engine has eight rectangular stub pipes that flare up like an intimate view of a star's core. For use in more refined but less enthusiastic society the collector for a full length exhaust pipe slips easily over the stub pipes and secures with eight screws.

Today the Bugatti AVIO 8C is a working, exhilarating manifestation of a legendary era in automobile history. It will be a star attraction at vintage and historic events, not because of its history in the early 20th century but on account of its Ettore Bugatti designed engine's significance. It is a milestone in the evolution of one of the greatest marques in automobile history, a recognition of its designer's talent, ingenuity and creativity.

Opening the hood of the Bugatti AVIO 8C is opening a window into the dawn of high performance engines, aviation and automobiles. A roster of well-informed and appreciative individuals contributed to the Bugatti AVIO 8C's preservation. Biscaretti, Raffaëlli, Maeght, Hucke and Teisen-Simony, realized its meaning and content and not only preserved it but more importantly have made it available to run, drive and excite new generations in a form that can be appreciated as a living, breathing, moving thing.

The Bugatti AVIO 8C engine is fascinating in its own right. The Bugatti AVIO 8C-powered automobile lifts the experience to whole new heights. It moves. It is alive. It is living history personified.