Ettore Bugatti was born at Milan on September 1881 into a family of artists. At the age of 14 he became interested in motor tricycles and in 1900 he designed his first car and built it with his own hands. This car won an award at the first international motor show in Milan. After this Bugatti worked for de Dietrich, Mathis and Deutz before he started his own factory in late 1909 at Molsheim in Alsace. Only the best was good enough for Bugatti and he even designed the machine tools used at the factory.

A white (at that time Alsace was part of Germany) Type 13 Brescia came second in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in 1911. When the First World War started Bugatti buried three engines before the factory was abandoned. These engines was used to win the first post-war Grand Prix at Le Mans in 1920. Type 13 was followed by Type 29 and 32, but Type 35 was especially successful. It won more than 2000 races between 1924 and 1931. Then Type 51 took over but by 1934 the cost involved with Grand Prix racing became too high for the small company. Bugatti then focused entirely on making sports cars until the Second World War also put an end to that.