Type 41 Royale 'Esders Roadster'

The Type 41 Royale was a large luxury car, and, as the name suggests, meant for royals. It sported a massive 13 litre, straight-8 cylinder engine. No royals ever bought a Type 41, and only seven were ever built. One of these was destroyed in an accident, so six Type 41s survive to this day.

The first Royale sold was to Dr. Armand Esders, a clothing manufacturer, who ordered a car without any headlights as this would impair the beautiful design. He had, as he said, no plans to drive after sunset anyhow. The body of the car, a beautiful roadster, was designed by Jean Bugatti.

This car is known as the 'Esders Roadster', and the picture is a contemporary one. However, the car hasn't survived with the roadster body: it was rebodied (something happening to several other Type 41s!) and currently has a body known as the Coupé de Ville Binder. A replica of the 'Esders Roadster' was later built using original Bugatti parts.

eBay has several listings of Franklin Mint models of the Esders Roadster Type 41, with asking prices of £140-165 .... clearly that goes way beyond my self-imposed £25 limit!

In the end I did get one, for only £23 (plus p&p); the catch was that the model was severely damaged: all wheels, plus small bits and pieces of the suspension, had come off, so it buying it was a bit of a gamble ...

Turned out that it wasn't a case of simply glueing the wheels back on; the 'breaks' weren't clean breaks, with little fragments missing, and in the end I had to use some mouldable modelling 'glue' to get the wheels back to where they ought to be. Not exactly a professional restoration, but for my collection that didn't matter, as you won't see it anyway. 

Setting aside the initial damage, as you might expect, Franklin Mint models are top notch: heavy and highly detailed.

The doors and engine covers open, of course.

I'm very glad to have been able to add a Type 41 'Esders Roadster' to the collection, even though it was a bit of a headache getting the wheels back on!