Bugatti Oval Sign, Red

Ettore Bugatti fixed an oval plate of enamelled metal to the radiator of the Type 13, the first official Bugatti, at the end of 1909, and the badge has changed very little since. The idea of white letters on a red oval was his own; he had drawn a similar logo while working for Deutz in Cologne. His instructions had the shape cut from a cylinder 45 mm across at an angle of 30 degrees. Above the name sit his initials, EB, in black, and a white border holds a ring of red dots, sixty on the car badge, said to stand for pearls and read in period as the pins that hold mechanical parts together. Ettore avoided the radiator mascots of the day; the dancing elephant on the Type 41 Royale was the one exception.

Here the badge is made at sign size: an original advertising sign printed in France about 1920, lithographed and embossed in sheet metal. The white BUGATTI letters stand proud with a deep black shadow, the black EB sits above them, and raised red dots run round the cream border. Two holes at the top are threaded with old string for hanging. The paint is worn, with scratches and small chips across the red field and marks around the edge. A small printer's line low on the red reads Imp. L. Chambon Nantes.