Why the Bugatti Royale was the first car granted diplomatic immunity

Bugatti's cars have participated in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance since the inaugural event was held in 1950. The judges have given the prestigious Best of Show award to a Bugatti nine times, but the firm notes one of the most memorable moments at the concours was displaying the six examples of the Royale on the lawn in 1985.

Getting six vehicles together doesn't sound awfully difficult, yet organizing the Royale display was actually a massive undertaking that involved international law and charter flights. Bugatti only built six units of the Royale, a 252-inch-long ultra-luxurious car powered by a 12.8-liter straight-eight engine, between 1926 and 1933. While all of them survived, which is astonishing considering what many went through, they were scattered on both sides of the pond.

One of the biggest hurdles was that two of the Royales were located in the fascinating Cite de l'Automobile museum in Mulhouse, France, and they were part of the batch seized from the Schlumpf brothers by the French government. "The museum was worried that if the cars left French soil, the Schlumpf brothers might attempt a legal move to seize the cars back," explained Chris Bock, who played an instrumental role in organizing the display.

Bock and his colleagues convinced American government officials to grant the two cars diplomatic immunity. This was the first time a car had benefited from this status. However, at the time, cargo flights from France to the United States stopped in Canada to refuel, and the immunity wasn't valid on Canadian soil, so Air France operated a direct flight from Paris to Los Angeles to get the Royales to the Pacific coast. And then, one flight became two. Still worried about retaliation from the Schlumpf brothers, the museum insisted that each car be transported separately.

Sending the four others to Monterey was simple. Two were in the William F. Harrah collection in Reno, Nevada, and one was in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The sixth arrived in an even more laid-back manner.

"Then, a guy arrived with the sixth Royale, which belonged to (American race car driver) Briggs Cunningham. He'd towed it on an open trailer with a Ford F-250 pickup truck. He said: 'oh, it'll be fine, we'll just throw a tarp over it,' while everyone else was running around hyperventilating," remembered Bock.

Arranging the display wasn't easy, but it paid off.

"It is no exaggeration to say that the Bugatti gathering in 1985 was pivotal in making Pebble Beach the international success it is today," noted Sandra Button, chairwoman of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It was the first time the six Royales were displayed together, and they haven't appeared side-by-side since.

Best of Show was awarded to a Bugatti in 1985, but the Royale surprisingly didn't win; top honors went to a 1939 Type 57 Saoutchik Cabriolet brought to Pebble Beach by Jack Becronis. Ralph Lauren's 1938 Type 57SC Atlantic scored the brand's next win in 1990, followed by a 1938 Type 57SC Corsica Roadster in 1998 and a 1936 Type 57SC Atlantic in 2003. Bugatti has won more Best of Show awards than any other brand, though Mercedes-Benz isn't far behind with eight trophies in its name. We won't have to wait long to find out which car will outscore the rest in 2021: the next edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is scheduled to take place on August 15.

By Ronan Glon