1932 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster

Production of the Super Sport Bugatti Type 55 lasted from 1932 through 1935, with a mere 38 examples leaving the Molsheim works. Of those, 14 received the Jean Bugatti Roadster coachwork and currently, 11 retain the original bodywork.

This particular example, chassis number 55220, wears factory roadster bodywork and is powered by a 2,262c dual overhead camshaft inline eight-cylinder engine with a single Zenith carburetor and roots-type supercharger. There is a four-speed manual transmission, four-wheel cable-operated drum brakes, and a semi-elliptic leaf spring suspension in the front with quarter-elliptic leaf springs in the back.

Its English ownership was followed by the single U.S. ownership of Dean S. Edmonds Jr. in 1985, in whose care it has resided ever since. It was originally ordered by Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild who was just 22 years of age at the time. Since it was a British delivery, the Type 55 was ordered through agent Colonel Sorel. It was built as a rolling chassis at the works in May of 1932 and received its factory coachwork to be completed in August of that year. The Bugatti was registered for the road with the distinctive road license plate of 'EPF 4'.

One of the vehicle's next owners was R. MacLeod-Carey, who acquired it on April 12th, 1939, from Arthur Baron. In 1940, ownership passed to T.M. Walters who would retain it through to the 1950s. While in his care, the car enjoyed light racing at the Bugatti Owner's Club Prescott Hillclimb certainly as late as 1950.

M.H. Scott purchased the car from Walters who sold it to A.A. Morse, who sold it to H. B. Murphie. The car resided in Mr. Murphie's care (and his daughter's) for over a decade. During that decade, the windshield was altered to a taller format, the only material change to its appearance during its lifespan. The back axle was changed to a 15x54 ratio at this point, however, it currently retains its original 13 x 54 casings.

The Honorable Artillery Company in London sold the car at auction in 1985 and was purchased by Dean Edmonds. Early auction estimates valued the car at around £70,000 or £100,000, but with interest from several collections and museum curators, the car sold for £440,000, which was a considerable increase over the £270,000 paid a year earlier for the Barnato Gurney Nutting Speed Six, then known as the Blue Train car, as the most valuable car ever to sell in the UK.

Mr. Edmonds entrusted Peter Seferian to perform a restoration. Sadly, Mr. Seferian passed away within a year or so and the work was transferred to Donald Koleman's Competition Motors Ltd. of Salem, Mass, for the majority of the work to be undertaken. An exhaustive but wholly sympathetic rebuild was carried out, during which the windshield was returned to its original height and the dashboard layout to the standard configuration.

After the work was finished, the car made its post-restoration debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1993, where it took First in Class. It then competed in the Mille Miglia and International Bugatti Rally in 1994, and it would later be shown at various events, including Meadowbrook Hall Concours d'Elegance and at Amelia Island in 2001.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2020