More Bugatti birthday presents

Bugatti chose the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, a prestigious annual historic car show in Italy, to unveil four versions of a new special edition of the seminal Veyron supercar: the Type 35.

Built to celebrate the maker's 100th birthday, the foursome pay tribute to the original Type 35, which is perhaps the most famous of all Bugattis and is responsible for cementing the marque's place in racing legend - as well as introducing the famous grille now worn by the Veyron.

The newcomers are startling, to say the least. Each one has a different paint hue for the main body, but they all share the same dazzling chrome wings. The colours - blue, red, green and white - represent the racing colours of France, Italy, England and Germany respectively.

The fresh paintjobs follow the last 100th birthday present Bugatti gave itself in the form of the Blue Centenaire unveiled at the Geneva Show. According to the maker, 'these four historic race cars represent the generation of legendary Bugatti Grand Prix racers which were piloted by world-famous race-car drivers and which scored countless racing victories in the 1920s and '30s.'

Whether they're actually for sale or not is unclear, but if so it's most likely on a 'name your price' sort of basis.

Mark Nichol