The lost Bugatti - Bugatti-Diatto Avio 8C 1919

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Press release

The car will be revealed at the Press Preview Tuesday February 5th at 21:00 pm. See you at the Vintage Revival Montlhéry stand in Hall 3

Revealed at Retromobile 2019: THE LOST BUGATTI

The completion of the BUGATTI DIATTO AVIO 8C 1919

A historical sensation

2019 marks the centenary for the final completion of the Bugatti Diatto AVIO which has lain dormant since 1919.

The Bugatti prototype 8-cylinder aero engine, forerunner of the Bugatti Royale

In 1914 Bugatti told select clients that he was ready to create a luxury vehicle to surpass any known automobile. This coincided with Bugatti’s design of the AVIO 8C aero engine - his first experiment with a straight 8 engine.

Historians see this WW1 aero-engine more as an automobile engine than solely for aviation. Indeed, they deduce that this massive 14.5 litre AVIO 8C engine may be regarded as the prototype for Ettore Bugatti’s Royale engine.

In 1915-1925 Ettore Bugatti was actively working together with Diatto’s capable technical team and using Diatto’s factory as test facility for his new ideas. In 1919, following the First World War, attention turned to car production and development of the AVIO aero-engine ceased – but obviously was not forgotten.

Later this 8-cylinder aero-engine, along with a big Diatto chassis, were discovered in a museum in Turin, Italy. The project had never been finished, and how it found its way to the museum was a mystery. It is this project that after a century has finally been completed – to be revealed at Retromobile 2019.

HISTORY – the amazing chronology of Bugatti’s first 8-cylinder prototype:

1900: Ettore Bugatti established direct affiliations with Pietro Diatto.

1907: Pietro Diatto became involved with Bugatti’s Type 8 prototype – later Deutz. It is important to understand that close links existed between talented automotive engineers of the pioneering years.

1913: Roland Garros told his friend, Ettore Bugatti, that he planned to attempt flying across the Atlantic. Bugatti replied: "Why not!" So, they began tackling the problem.

At the same time Bugatti wrote select clients, that he was ready to create a luxury vehicle that would surpass any known automobile. His design was essentially two enlarged Garros Bugatti 5-litre engines in line totalling 14.5 litres.

1914: Bugatti was commissioned by the French government to design an aero-engine, and based on his preliminary design for an 8-cylinder luxury vehicle engine he designed a 250HP aero-engine in his Paris workshop. This was Bugatti’s first 8-cylinder engine ever, and historians such as Hugh Conway states that the AVIO 8C can be regarded as the prototype for Bugatti’s remarkable Royale engine.

1915: Diatto was granted license for production of the Bugatti aero-engine in Italy, then known as the AVIO 8C.

1919: Diatto began license production of Bugatti Brescias.

Diatto took 1st prize in the first Italian post-war race, with “a Type 30 Bugatti in the name of Diatto”.

1920: The famous hollow front axle was developed in Italy by Bugatti in collaboration with Coda and Casarata, Coda was Guiseppe Coda, the Technical Director at Diatto. This hollow front axle was successfully tested on Diatto racing cars of the period.

1921: Diatto began experimenting with superchargers on Diatto racing engines, including the 16-valve Brescia engine. Clearly Bugatti and Coda were testing ideas and technology together.

Period references tell that Bugatti worked closely with Technical Director, Guiseppe Coda, and used the Diatto facilities to test his new ideas until 1925.

1924: Bugatti began development of the Royale car, launched in 1926.

It is therefore with great pride that finally after 100 years

we are able to present The Lost Bugatti:

BUGATTI DIATTO AVIO 8C 1919

The unique and historically important prototype 8-cylinder Bugatti - an early test bed of the Bugatti Royale

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