This one-off Bugatti Chiron Super Sport ‘Golden Era’ is a 273mph sketchpad

To be reductive, this is a gold Bugatti Chiron Super Sport bearing a few sketches on the side; a rare car made rarer still via a bespoke exterior treatment commissioned by its owner and realised via Bugatti. It is called the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport ‘Golden Era’.

Delve a little deeper however, and there’s a bit of history etched into its flanks. Quite literally, because this golden Bugatti carries some of the brand’s iconic cars drawn onto its body.

A ‘very special customer’ wanted to pay tribute not only to the Chiron SS, but also the outgoing W16 engine. Bugatti’s team – led by former design boss Achim Andscheidt – pored through the archives to pick out a few special cars.

They were picked from Bugatti’s two ‘golden eras’: the first being the time of Ettore, Jean and Roland Bugatti, the second from 1987 onwards and include things like the Type 57 SC Atlantic, EB110 and the Veyron.

The base colour is of course a one-off shade of gold named ‘Doré’, onto which Bugatti’s artisans sketched by hand directly onto the bodywork using pens they’d normally use for paper. The only way, apparently, to get the right finish. It’s literally a 273mph sketchpad.

All in, we’re told there are 26 cars hand-drawn onto the passenger’s side, and 19 on the driver’s side, and the whole car took more than 400 hours to complete. That includes painting three cars apiece on the inside of the door panels, and it’s safe to say the owner is quite happy.

“Our team proposed a concept featuring 45 sketches of the brand’s icons that would be hand-drawn directly onto the car itself, and the owner immediately fell in love with the idea,” said Andscheidt.

“The implementation may sound quite straightforward, but achieving a perfect finish, and one that would last the test of time, took more patience and craftsmanship than you could ever imagine.”