1936 Bugatti Type 57 Stelvio

At its launch, the Bugatti Type 57 was available in four body styles. Three of these body styles were named after mountain peaks in the Alps - the four-seater, two-door Ventoux, the four-door Galibier, and the two-door Stelvio convertible - and the fourth was the Atalante. Because the Type 57 had a slightly larger chassis compared to earlier models of similar engine size, there was a lot of flexibility to accommodate custom coachwork. To cater to their customers' individual needs, Bugatti also supplied bare chassis to coachbuilders. The two-door Stelvio convertible was often built by French coachbuilder Gangloff, but Swiss specialist Hermann Graber provided the coachwork for this Type 57.

This Bugatti was originally owned by a Dr. Walser, but by 1937 it had been purchased by Arnold Christian Kropf, Jr., who owned the Metzgern Hotel in Thun, Switzerland. Kropf loved racing through the winding mountain roads from his hotel in Thun to Bern. He would use the Cabriolet as an everyday automobile and, on the weekends, to drive his family through the Alps to Bern for lunch. Mr. Kropf owned the Bugatti until his hotel was purchased by the town of Thun and, consequently, his car was evicted from its longtime home. He felt it would be safe with his son and daughter-in-law in Beverly Hills and sent it to them. This Cabriolet with Graber coachwork has continued to be maintained by his daughter-in-law since 1969.

The car is powered by a water-cooled overhead-cam straight-8 3,257 cc engine developing 180 horsepower coupled to a 4-speed manual transmission. The supercharged version is said to be capable of 125 mph.