1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante

Ettorre Bugatti began manufacturing cars in Germany in 1909. He was from an Italian family of artists and considered himself a builder as well as an artist. Ettorre's father was a noted Art Nouveau artist, designing beautiful furniture and jewelry. The company had much success in motor racing and a Bugatti won the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. In addition to automobiles, Bugatti also experimented with airplanes and rail cars.

The Bugatti Type 57, designed by Ettore Bugatti's talented son, Jean, was built between 1934 and 1940. Most were bodied as Galibier and Ventoux sedans, Stelvio drophead coupes, and later Atalante coupes with coachwork by Bugatti or by Gangloff in nearby Colmar.

This Type 57S coupe by Gangloff was ordered by a young French doctor who fought for the French resistance. The doctor was a child prodigy who entered medical school at 16, became a surgeon and helped organize the French Resistance during World War II. The Type 57S was the most sporting of all the Type 57 models, with its surbaisse (low) race-proven chassis and powerful 3.3-liter engine. This two-seat model was especially fast and caused a sensation on the roads of rural France. The Type 57S was a very rare car ordered by very discriminating customers.

In the 1930s, Bugatti manufactured high-end cars and the 57S was the top of their line. They believed in transferring racing technologies to street cars to be enjoyed by their elite customers. The 57S sported a lowered center of gravity using dry sump lubrication. The 3.3-liter straight eight-cylinder engine is supercharged and produces over 200 horsepower.

17 Atalante Coupes were produced. This car carries a custom body by Gangloff and is presented exactly as it was in 1937. Every detail was researched and preserved utilizing all the parts from the car. The Type 57 represents the best of French pre-war automotive design in performance, styling and leading-edge engineering. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful designs of all time.

This example was recently restored by its current owner, who described it as 'an athlete dressed in a tuxedo.'

The production run of the Bugatti Type 57S was brief, as manufacturing costs were excessively high. It shared many of the features of the Type 57, and its differences set it in a league apart. It had a modified crankcase with dual oil pumps and dry sump lubrication. High-compression pistons gave the new engine a significant performance edge and the clutch was reinforced to cope with the extra output. Ignition was by a Scintilla Vertex magneto driven from the left-hand camshaft. The Type 57S had a new low-slung frame on a short wheelbase, the rear axle passing through the frame, while de Ram shock absorbers provided damping cleverly engineered to increase with speed. In the front was a vee-shaped radiator with no less than 46 vertical slats.

This car, chassis number 57532, was tested at the factory in April 1937 and registered on April 28th of that year. It was sent to Gangloff for the coachwork to be fitted. It was given a black livery with tan pigskin upholstery. The car was built for Dr. André ('Charles') Chauvenet who had it for several years. When he suffered an illness in 1938, the car was laid-up, emerging from storage in April 1939 with just 15,000 or so kilometers recorded. The next owner was Dr. Dinoire who intended on transforming it into a race car. The plan was to shorten the chassis, fit a supercharger and update the braking system to Lockheed hydraulics. The coachwork was removed and carefully stored during the war years, however, the racing car project was never proceeded with, and the coachwork was subsequently refitted to the chassis in the garage of M. Arnaud at Niort.

In February 1943, ownership changed to E. Mouche of Paris. In January of 1948, it was in the ownership of celebrity Danish/French singer, songwriter, and composer Georges Ulmer. During one of his trips to the United States, his pregnant wife sold the car, as her doctor advised that it was not a good car for her back.

Raymond Dupont became the owner of the car in December 1951. It was acquired by St. Quentin Brewer, Henri Berlaimont, in March 1952. While in Berlaimont's possession, the car was overhauled by Bugatti specialist Hermanns in Asnieres at the Garage du Pur Sang.

The car was sold in the summer of 1953 to Robert Ford who toured Europe extensively in the car and kept it until his death in 1982. Ownership later passed to Michel Seydoux, who commissioned a restoration for the car. It later joined the collection of Swede Hans Tulin before its acquisition by the present long-term owner in the early 1990s.

In 2009, this car was offered for sale by Bonhams at the Exceptional Motorcars and Automobilia at the Quail Lodge Resort in Carmel, Ca.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2009