Descrizione
Undoubtedly one of the finest surviving examples
One of the last eight Type 37s built
Ordered new by Charles Faroux
Single private ownership between 1929-1959
Featured on the front page of L'Amateur d'Automobile Anciennes in 1974
Very well documented (Pierre-Yves Laugier and Kees Jansen Report on file)
Highly original and well-known in international Bugatti circles
Mille Miglia eligible and welcome at the most prestigious international car events
(In) the 1, 500cc Grand Prix Bugatti... the manufacturers have introduced a new era for the sporting motorist by placing a real production racing car in the hands of the public... One of these machines... as delivered... will be fit to win races and competitions without any need of 'hotting up'.
Richard Twelvetrees, Motor Sport, September 1926.
At the end of the 1925 season the CSI introduced a new formula intended to slow down the then current generation of 2-litre Grand Prix cars (there's nothing new under the sun), imposing a 1-litre capacity limit for 1926. On this occasion Bugatti was able to field a competitive challenger straight away
the Type 37
which made its race-winning debut in the first Grand Prix of '26 held at Miramas, France.
The Type 37's chassis and body were very similar to those of the 2-litre Type 35, the two models looking almost identical apart from the wheels (wire in the former's case, alloy in the latter's) though beneath the bonnet the Type 37 carried a four-cylinder engine rather than its larger sibling's straight-eight. Bore and stroke of the Type 37 engine were 69x100mm for a capacity of 1, 496cc, and in most respects this unit was typically Bugatti, the iron block and head being one casting topped by a single bevel-driven camshaft operating three valves per cylinder: two inlet and one exhaust. However, for the Type 37's crankshaft Ettore Bugatti opted for plain big-end and main bearings rather than the Type 35's ball/ roller combination. A maximum power output of 60bhp was claimed, which was good enough for a top speed of around 150km/ h.
As it turned out, the Type 37's time as a frontline Grand Prix car would be limited. The mid-1920s was a period of instability in Grand Prix racing and in 1928 the 1-litre cars were rendered obsolete by the adoption of 'Formula Libre', which permitted race organisers to run their own events with few if any limitations. Although outclassed by larger-engined rivals in Grands Prix, the Type 37 continued to win races in the hands of amateur drivers at national level throughout the world. In total, 290 were made, including 67 of the supercharged Type 37A.
One of the last of its kind built, this Bugatti Type 37, chassis number '37383', was completed in June 1929 with engine '286' as an un-supercharged Grand Prix model equipped with the larger Type 44 brakes, road gear, and cycle wings. '37383' is one of eight chassis assembled at this time, while engine '286' is one of the last five produced for the Type 37.
The Type 37 had been ordered by Charles Faroux, friend of Ettore Bugatti and editor-in-chief of the motoring magazine La Vie Automobile. An automobile engineer as well as a journalist, Faroux is best known for establishing the Le Mans 24 Hours Race, first run in 1923, together with his colleagues Georges Durand and Emile Coquille.
Faroux's favourable reports on Bugatti cars and his close relationship with the factory enabled him to purchase cars at a discount before selling them on. He bought '37383' on 1st August 1929 and immediately sold it to Ren Durey (1890-1959), the established Post-Impressionist artist, who only three years previously had exhibited six paintings at the Retrospective Salon des Indpendents in Paris. The Bugatti was registered in the Seine Dpartement of Paris as '7280-RD1'. Durey would keep the car for his entire life but he never raced it. In 1955 he had to re-register the car to comply with the French authorities' latest requirements and it duly received a new registration plate, '6588 DU 75', on 2nd April 1955.
After Ren's death in 1959, the family kept the Bugatti until it was sold sometime in the late 1960s to Count Jean de Rochechouart de Mortemart (1934-2012), the House of Rochechouart being the oldest noble family in France. A seven-time Le Mans 24 Hours competitor in the 1960s and '70s, de Mortemart had the Bugatti engine rebuilt by Garage Guignard in Vatan and registered the car in the Dpartement Indre as '908 HE 36' towards the end of 1970. Andr Guignard took part in some local races with the Bugatti.
In 1972 the Type 37 was offered for sale during an Ader Picard Tajan's auction in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris where it was purchased by Louis Blriot, grandson of the eponymous French aviator. The Bugatti was registered to Blriot at 7 rue Laurent Pichot, Paris as '3082 YL 75' in July 1972.
Blriot took part in various rallies with the Type 37, including the first Monte Carlo Rally for historic cars. In 1974 the Type 37 was pictured on the front page of the magazine L'Amateur d'Automobile Anciennes with Blriot, who was competing at the International Grand Prix Bugatti 1924-1974 meeting at Limonest. International Bugatti rallies were attended in Denmark (1977) the UK (1979) and at Molsheim in 1981 for the Centenaire Ettore Bugatti.
In 1985 Blriot offered '37383' for sale at the Poulain auction at the Palais des Congrs where it was purchased by Mr Yves Anselin. The Type 37 was registered as '601 QK 69' on 3rd December 1985. An active member of the Bugatti Club, the late Mr Anselin entered his Type 37 in numerous rallies well into the 2000s, including the International Bugatti Rally in Corsica in 2007. In 2001 the Bugatti was displayed, without its body, at Rtromobile.
This phenomenal Type 37 was sold in 2015 to the late owner, Mr. Yves Vande Velde, who registered it in Belgium. Still retaining its original engine '286' and remaining incredibly original, the Type 37 was called 'La Principessa' by its new family. Its enthusiastic late owner felt passionately about his beloved Bugatti, even going so far as to build a small workshop specially for it. He took part in numerous events with the Bugatti, which was always meticulously maintained and his only classic car. Carefully stored on stands for the last few years, the Type 37 was started up (by a mechanic) before being driven by a Bonhams representative.
A copy of Bugatti authority Pierre-Yves Laugier's detailed report dating from 2015 is on file together with a copy of this Type 37's entry in Kees Jansen's The Bugatti Register.
Mr Laugier describes the car as undoubtedly one of the finest that still exists throughout the world, as it had only one owner from 1929 to 1959, who apparently never used it for racing. The car shows no traces of earlier accidents. All mechanical parts are numbered with Workshop stamping, in a perfectly coherent sequence for this serial number. It is exceptional to be able to observe a 1929 sports or racing Bugatti in a condition so close to original without any damage to be seen in its mechanical parts or coachwork.
Well known within the Bugatti community, this quite exceptional Type 37 comes with the following:
Copies of factory extracts The aforementioned two reports Belgian registration documents and valid Contrle Technique Complete binder by Paul Devitt on the technicalities of the Grand Prix Bugattis Copies of old registration documents A copy of the aforementioned L'Amateur d'Automobiles Anciennes magazine Copies of archive images Hand-written notes on the car's history A copy of the old purchase invoice dated December 1985 Ren Durey leaflet with a collection of his artwork.
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