The Art Of Survival

Pagani plans its future

- Angus MacKenzie

Morning: The last time I walked through these doors, this was a functioning car factory. Now I feel like a tomb raider. An early ’90s keyboard and computer sit on a deserted desk, the plastic yellowed with age. Off to the left is the dramatic circular space that once housed a showroom, engineering office, and design studio over three levels. To the right is the dusty emptiness of the shop floor where skilled technicians once painstakingly hand-assembled the Bugatti EB110.

I came to Campogalliano, near Modena, Italy, in 1992 to see Romano Artioli’s dream made real. Five years earlier the Italian businessman had secured the rights to the Bugatti name, and shortly after announced plans to build a modern mid-engine Bugatti supercar. But only 128 EB110s were ever produced, the venture collapsing into bankruptcy in 1995.