---
title: "Block of Aluminum Transformed Into Bugatti Masterpiece"
description: "Only 57 of these exquisite Type 57SC Atlantic sculptures will be made."
date: "2016-01-29"
modified: "2016-01-29"
authors:
  - name: "Brendan McAleer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/brendan-mcaleer"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/design/1919/block-of-aluminum-transformed-into-bugatti-masterpiece"
categories:
  - "Bugatti News"
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "bugatti"
---

# Block of Aluminum Transformed Into Bugatti Masterpiece

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/012816-bugatti-sculpture-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

It is often thought that the age of pure automotive artistry is long over, replaced by engineering and electronics. Not at Bugatti. With this hand-polished skeletal sculpture milled from a solid block of aluminum, Bugatti interior design boss Etienne Salomé has proven that artistry isn’t dead.

![012816-bugatti-sculpture-art-1.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/012816-bugatti-sculpture-art-1.jpg>)
**Designs by Etienne Salomé**

The hand-polished sculpture is shaped like the Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, an art deco icon from the golden years of hand-formed body panels. Designer Ralph Lauren famously owns one of the two real machines, and he’d know a thing or two about fine tailoring. From the sleek flow of the 57SC’s front fenders to the metallic webbing of its frame, Salomé’s design is half Venus de Milo, half *Gray’s Anatomy*. It's wonderful, and we want one—but only 57 will be made.

![012816-bugatti-sculpture-art-2.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/012816-bugatti-sculpture-art-2.jpg>)
**Designs by Etienne Salomé**

This isn’t the first time one of Bugatti’s employees has shown off a minimalism that stands in stark contrast with the company’s insanely complex, incomprehensibly fast juggernauts. Achim Anscheidt, Bugatti’s head of design, has a humble [1981 Porsche 911SC](<https://www.thedrive.com/vintage/1817/why-i-bought-an-air-cooled-porsche-911-twice>) that was created by flaying the original car until nothing but bone and sinew remain; this masterpiece, fitted with a 3.2-liter flat-six, is an elemental take on what the 911 should be.

![012816-bugatti-sculpture-art-3.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/012816-bugatti-sculpture-art-3.jpg>)
**Designs by Etienne Salomé**

Just so, Salomé’s vision of Bugatti's heritage. You have to wonder though: With people like these walking the halls, how is it that Bugatti’s only current offering, the [Chiron](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/1050/official-bugatti-chiron-coming-to-reclaim-the-kingdom-of-crazy>), isn’t paired by some Singer-esque expression of unrivalled craftsmanship? Unrivaled speed is, of course, a noble aspiration for any company, but you have to wonder if Ettore Bugatti himself wouldn't look at the cars now bearing his signature and wish for a certain missing delicacy.

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