Beschreibung:

Colour: Blue As well as exhibiting the thoroughbred driving qualities of excellent roadholding, responsive handling and smooth and flexible power common to all models of the marque, the Type 30 was also a historically important car for Bugatti. As his first production 8-cylinder car, it was an important link between his earlier 4-cylinder Types 22 and 23, and the immediately following Type 35 and its derivatives, which were among the most successful and legendary racing cars in history. The Type 30 was produced from 1922 to 1926, approximately 600 being made, of which fewer than 50 remain today. The first few were produced on frames similar to the Type 22 or 23 and had hydraulic brakes; later models, such as the present example, had lengthened and strengthened frames and the more successful traditional Bugatti cable brakes. The single overhead cam engine was a long-stroke design of 60x88mm bore/stroke for a capacity of 1,991cc, and had three valves per cylinder. It was the first example of the classic, square-cut Bugatti engine as we know it today, and its blocks, valves assembly and basic architecture were carried over to the later Type 35. At the prudent maximum engine speed of about 4000 RPM, a top speed of 130-145 kph is attainable, depending on gear ratios. The gearbox, with its right-hand gear change and top-forward arrangement, was again carried forward to the later Grand Prix cars. Bugatti built several Type 30s for racing, most notably for the 1922 Strasbourg Grand Prix, the Grand Prix at Monza the same year, and the 1923 Indianapolis 500. According to factory records, the car offered here - chassis number ‘4637’ fitted with engine number ‘532’ - was produced in September 1925 and delivered to Bugatti’s Paris showrooms on the 28th of that month. It was first registered for road use by London County Council with the number ‘YP 5680’ in either July or August 1926. Although the coachbuilder is not known, Barrie Price, former President of both the Bugatti Owners’ Club and the Bugatti Trust, has stated that he believes the body to be by Jarvis & Sons Ltd, of Wimbledon, a firm renowned at the time for its sports and racing car bodies. The next known reference to the car is to be found in The Autocar magazine in the Correspondence column (December 26th, 1941 edition) and it reappeared in that journal soon after (February 27th, 1942 edition) wherein the then-current owner – Flying Officer J P Sadd, RAF – recalled that he had bought it in 1937 from another RAF officer who had acquired the car when it was some six months old and had owned it for around ten years. Sadd states that when he acquired the car “it was in generally good condition, especially the chassis and body itself, the car still feeling satisfactorily ‘tight’ and sound under all conditions”. ‘YP 5680’ was pictured with its owner at the wheel in pre-war days (page 161). The car next appears in an advertisement offering it for sale in the September 1949 issue of Bugantics, accompanied by a photograph and repeated in subsequent issues. The vendor was named as Sadd of the Officers’ Mess, CDEE, Porton, Salisbury and the advertisement stated: “Twelve years present owner and stored since 1940. Original layout. Good running order. Engine down in 1939.” It was mentioned in the 1954 Bugatti Book by Eaglesfield and Hampton, which included the first published register of Bugatti motor cars; one of only eight Type 30s listed, YP 5680 was described with Sadd as the owner. The car was then acquired by the A W F Smith Motoring Museum and Collection, from which it was sold at the Sotheby’s sale of the collection in Sussex on 27th June 1968, with the comment in the sales catalogue that it had been “off the road since 1940, and is complete and without obvious modification, but will need a complete rebuild.” Presumably exported post-sale, the car is listed in Hugh Conway’s 1973 update of his Bugatti Register as being in the ownership of J Frost of Detroit, USA. Subsequently owned in