The Bugatti Type 35 has racked up over a thousand victories to its name, making it the most successful race car in the world. One of these models, this 1930 Type 35B, with rich provenance in the world of motorsport, is heading to auction and could fetch up to $1.8 million.
This particular car is the last model fitted with a supercharger, which made this 2.3-litre, straight-eight-powered race car one of the fastest of its time. Imagine a 0-60mph time of around 6 seconds and a top speed of 125mph in the 1920s!
This Type 35B, chassis number 4947, is part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum’s collection, where it has been for the last 65 years. It’s being offered up at auction with RM Sotheby’s, with a guide price between $1-1.8 million. Considering the Type 35 is the most successful racing car ever (and even a Baby Bugatti is hardly a bargain), it’s a small price for a piece of history.
A history made richer by the fact that the car only had six owners in its life, of which the previous five were all race car drivers who turned its wheel in anger. Its owners included the likes of Romanian racing driver Georges Bouriano, Belgian racing driver Arthur Legat, Dutch Bugatti dealer Jean de Dobbeleer, and American Colonel George S. “Fearless” Felton.
The car has racked up some impressive history in circuit racing as well as hill-climb events in its decades of racing and still presents as largely original and numbers matching.
Called an “unusually mechanically pure supercharged Grand Prix Bugatti” in its listing, we hope the next owner treats the world to the spectacle of it racing once again — a Type 35 driven in anger is a sight to behold!
