1927 BUGATTI TYPE 35C (R)

Lot 32
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Estimation :
300000 - 400000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 507 400EUR
1927 BUGATTI TYPE 35C (R)
Rebuilt by a French expert of the brand in the 1990’s Original engine, rear and front axles Reliable car with a very nice patina Numerous participations in Le Mans Classic, Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or, Circuit des Remparts d’Angoulême, Bugatti à Monthléry... French historic registration title Chassis n° 38343 (see text) Engine n° 219 Please note that the original engine was fitted with a 3-bearing crankshaft and was rebuilt with a 5-bearing crankshaft. Type 35 C's were originally produced with a 5-bearing roller crankshaft. The future buyer should also consider fitting this Bugatti with a dynamo or alternator, as well as a fan, for use in today's traffic. In 1978, an early enthusiast bought a few pieces of the wreckage of Bugatti Type 38 cabriolet #38343 from a scrap dealer in Joué-les-Tours, Indre-et-Loire, including the engine (number #219), which was in apparently very good condition. With the help of one of his friends, an acknowledged expert on the marque, he finally decided to start rebuilding a Bugatti Grand Prix using this engine, identical to the Type 35, except for the lower crankcase. But if some people have already grafted a Type 38 engine into a Grand Prix chassis by modifying or changing this famous crank - case, our two amateurs have the intelligence to keep the engine as it is, by making specific spacers. The engine is rebuilt in England, by the specialist Ivan Dutton, who fits a new crankshaft, while the blocks are re-bored and the camshaft is restored. He also supplied an original front axle (solid model, unnumbered), while the rest of the parts are of English and French manufacture, like the chassis, and some parts are original, like the axle cases (number #344). The car comes back to life as a Type 35 C, with a large radiator made by Audoly in Nice and a compressor (the only new part bought in Argentina). The sublime black Bugatti, which took its first turns on the wheel in the early 2000s, caused a sensation at each of its appearances. It was entered several times (2002 and 2003) at the not-to-be-missed Bugatti event in Montlhéry, organised by the expert Jean-Michel Cérède, who was asked to examine the car in 2004. His conclusion is eloquent: «We are in the presence of a chronologically composite Bugatti, but as a whole it conforms to the configuration of the 1927 35 C model. (...) The car is now operational and I have had the opportunity to appreciate its operation at high speed on the Montlhéry circuit» (copy of the report attached to the file). The car is indeed particularly fast, and will be entered in a number of rallies and historic races (including the Journées d’Automne at Mas du Clos, the Grand Prix de l’Âge d’Or in Dijon, the historic Grand Prix de Pau, the Circuit des Remparts in Angoulême and Le Mans Classic). This car, registered under the identity of the Type 38 Cabriolet from which it borrows the engine (identical to that of a Type 35), presents a rare opportunity to acquire a Bugatti built around three major original elements (engine, front axle and bridge). A real asset in the scale of authenticity of a Bugatti as defined by the Bugatti Owners Club. Its performance, its perfect working order and its inimitable patina will seduce the amateurs of the genre...
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