Fashion · design · Documented owner · dated 2019

Ralph Lauren

1938 Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupé

Ralph Lauren’s black 1938 Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic, chassis 57 591, displayed on a white museum platform.
Ralph Lauren’s actual 1938 Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic Coupé, chassis 57 591, displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2005.Photo: Sfoskett~commonswiki · CC BY-SA 3.0. Joyride serves the original Commons JPEG byte-for-byte; no crop, recompression, retouching or generation. A responsive frame may crop displayed edges.
Ralph Lauren smiling in a black-and-white identification portrait.
Ralph Lauren2014 · Identification portraitArnaldo Anaya-Lucca · CC BY-SA 3.0. Commons extracted and losslessly cropped this portrait from the photographer’s source image. Joyride serves the resulting Commons file byte-for-byte with no new image edit or generation. A responsive frame may crop displayed edges.

One Atlantic, identified to its chassis

Connection
Documented owner · dated 2019
When
Ownership stated by Bugatti · February 22, 2019
Identity
Chassis 57 591 · ‘Pope Atlantic’

Bugatti’s February 22, 2019 history names Ralph Lauren as the owner of the last Atlantic produced. It identifies the individual car as chassis 57 591, says it was completed in May 1938 and records the British enthusiast R. B. Pope as its first owner. Joyride treats that as a dated ownership statement, not proof of who owns the car today.

The car was one of sixteen automobiles from Lauren’s collection displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2005. Its low black body, separate headlamps and raised riveted seam make the Atlantic instantly recognizable, but the important clue here is the record: the museum, manufacturer and photographer all point to this individual car rather than a look-alike Type 57.

Follow the evidence

Sources for this story

Bugatti supplies the chassis and dated ownership statement; the MFA exhibition record and Commons file/category establish the photographed individual car. The chassis stamp is not visible in the photograph.

Reviewed

Why this is the actual car
  • Photo identity evidence

    Bugatti identifies Lauren’s last-produced Atlantic as chassis 57 591, the Pope Atlantic, completed in May 1938.

  • Photo identity evidence

    The museum identifies a 1938 Type 57SC Atlantic as a featured automobile from Lauren’s collection in its 2005 exhibition.

  • Photo identity evidence

    The photographer identifies this 2005 MFA display as the 1938 Atlantic from the Ralph Lauren collection; Commons files it within the chassis 57 591 category.

The matching photographer, venue, date and vehicle history establish the identification; the chassis stamp is not visible in these photographs.