{"id":44191,"date":"2026-03-23T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/?p=44191"},"modified":"2026-03-22T23:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T22:13:33","slug":"paul-bouvots-16-cylinder-bugatti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/?p=44191","title":{"rendered":"Paul Bouvot\u2019s 16-cylinder Bugatti"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Paul Bouvot, born in 1922, joined Peugeot in 1956, the brand-new 403 \u2013 launched at the same time as the \u2018sensational\u2019 Citro\u00ebn DS at the 1955 Paris Motor Show \u2013 was the first saloon car from the Sochaux-based manufacturer to bear the Pininfarina badge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Self-portrait \u2013 1975.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The contract between the Italian design studio and Peugeot was signed in 1951. At the time, Henri Thomas was in charge of the design and styling department at Peugeot. He is notably credited with the \u2018fus\u00e9e\u2019 design. Paul Bouvot succeeded Thomas in 1960 and realised that his battle against Pininfarina would be a difficult one, particularly as Georges Boschetti, the head of design who had brought him into Peugeot, was a lover of Italian designs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paul Bouvot in one of the Le Mans 24 Hours prototypes designed by G\u00e9rard Welter and Michel Meunier. Photo taken on the terrace of the Peugeot design studio at La Garenne.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bouvot then expanded his small team and, in 1960, hired a young bodywork technician named G\u00e9rard Welter. Welter was just 18 at the time\u2026 Together with their colleagues, the two gradually took control of the projects carried out in collaboration with Pininfarina. First came the oval headlights of the 204, insisted upon by Paul Bouvot, followed by the triangular ones of the 504, adapted to the Pininfarina style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Without the oval headlights designed by Paul Bouvot, the 1965 204, designed by Pininfarina, would not have been the same\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The real turning point came in 1983 with the launch of the 205. Nevertheless, Pininfarina continued to work on Peugeot projects until the arrival of Jean-Pierre Plou\u00e9, who severed ties between the PSA Group and the Italian design houses (Bertone, Pininfarina and Giugiaro).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paul Bouvot handed over the reins of the design department to G\u00e9rard Welter and left the manufacturer in the early 1980s. He then devoted himself to his passion for painting and drawing. His early sketchbooks feature, in particular, the Traction shown above (his father was a Citro\u00ebn sales representative), whilst his passion for Ferrari was greatly heightened by his numerous professional encounters with Sergio Pininfarina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Archives : lignesauto.fr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And then there is also his passion for Bugattis, and with that in mind, we have chosen to highlight one of his most flamboyant sketches today, shown below. It depicts a Bugatti fitted with two inline-eight engines placed end-to-end beneath an enormous bonnet, with a body featuring dynamic, low-slung, sweeping lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Archives : lignesauto.fr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Technically, we can imagine the complexity of the mechanical architecture behind this unlikely combination, but when Paul Bouvot sketches this 16-cylinder coup\u00e9 in a single stroke, he pays no heed to such constraints. Better still, he creates a whole family with this twin-row eight-cylinder engine, featuring a highly futuristic transporter and a single-seater. He also fits the eight-cylinder engine, on its own, into\u2026 a motorbike below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Archives : lignesauto.fr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to bring this extreme Bugatti to life, to capture its extraordinary blend of elegance and power. To achieve this, we used AI, not as a creative tool, but simply as a means of enhancing what already exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We began by cleaning the original artwork so that we could transform it into a fully-fledged rolling sculpture. These steps enhance the artist\u2019s vision without distorting it. You can put your six-shooter away\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The result is a flamboyant and highly dynamic Bugatti, even by the brand\u2019s own standards. Its power lies in its faithful adherence to a design that would have done credit to the French creations of Jean, the son (1909\u20131939), and Ettore, the father (1881\u20131947).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The thrill of seeing these archive drawings and using them to step back into a bygone era is immense. The thrill of breathing new life into them, without betraying the artistic spirit of their creator, is just as powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n

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When Paul Bouvot, born in 1922, joined Peugeot in 1956, the brand-new 403 \u2013 launched at the same time as the \u2018sensational\u2019 Citro\u00ebn DS at the 1955 Paris Motor Show \u2013 was the first saloon car from the Sochaux-based manufacturer to bear the Pininfarina badge. The contract between the Italian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44191"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44219,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44191\/revisions\/44219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}