1994 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport

Tony’s Take: When Romano Artioli resurrected the Bugatti brand, no one expected him to make the sine qua non of supercars.

For a start, he hired legendary designer Marcello Gandini, who once again planted a flag for “extreme” machines. Artioli’s engineering team delivered otherworldly performance. For the EB110 Super Sport, they lowered the zero-to-60 mph time to 3.26 seconds and elevated the top speed of 220 mph.

Lamborghini engineer Paolo Stanzani designed the EB110’s 3.5-liter sixty valve V-12. No less than four turbochargers feed 12 individual throttle bodies.

In the Super Sport version, the mighty mill generated 603 hp @ 8250 rpm and 479 ft lbs. of torque @ 4200 rpm. With a radical-at-the-time carbon fiber tub, the car’s combination of light weight (3,126 lbs.) and high horsepower made the EB110 Super Sport a Countach killer.

With a six-speed manual and all-wheel drive, the Bugatti EB110’s tractable power and superb handling put all other supercar makers on notice: it’s time to raise your game. (In case they missed the wakeup call, the McLaren F1 arrived soon thereafter.)

RM Sotheby’s estimates this EB110 Super Sport will bring $2.8m to $3.4m – a 33 percent increase over a similar sale last year. In a world where a McLaren F1 sold for $20.5m, the lightest, fastest and rarest EB110 is a relative bargain- especially when you compare production numbers.

McLaren made 106 F1’s. Bugatti made 128 EB110’s (eight more finished off-site). The Super Sport accounts for just 30 of the total. I say this Bianco Monaco (white) example will reach RM’s top estimate, if not slightly more. Downside: not Bugatti blue or the lowest mileage.