Bugatti has fully restored the first Veyron Grand Sport

Bugatti has fully restored the very first Veyron Grand Sport prototype; the ‘convertible’ version of the car formerly known as the fastest in the world.

The prototype itself dates back to 2008 and its reveal at Pebble Beach; a ‘white silver’ metallic Veyron with a ‘Cognac’ leather interior. Bugatti internally named this Veyron ‘Grand Sport 2.1’, and the unregistered demo car was paraded all over the world. (Remember, Bugatti only built 150 of the things).

Having ‘reacquired’ it from wherever it lay, Bugatti then brought it back in-house to Molsheim, where ‘2.1’ was the first car to enjoy the fruits of the company’s new ‘La Maison Pur Sang’ programme; a sort of official Bugatti certification process to verify authenticity. Just in case it was a VW Polo in a body kit.

As such, the GS was subject to a complete strip down in order to verify its originality via the VIN number, but also ID numbers stamped upon “key components”. The team at Molsheim removed all the car’s body panels, then prepped and repainted them all back to its original launch colour.

The interior was also completely refurbished with new leather, and a ‘refresh’ of all the leather and aluminium parts. Bugatti even went to the trouble of installing a new centre console to better match the car’s 2008 specification.

“Following this official confirmation of the car’s status as an important historic model and the prototype that helped launch the Veyron Grand Sport in 2008, the car rapidly attracted attention from a number of captivated collectors, and was acquired almost immediately,” explains the boss of the La Maison Pur Sang programme, Luigi Galli.

Not only does it go really very fast – 987bhp, 0-62mph in less than 2.7s, 253mph with the roof up, 224mph with the roof down – turns out it sells quickly too. Still looks fantastic after all these years, no?

TopGear.com took a Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse across Route 66 back in 2015 - read the full adventure here