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Car of the Week: This 1925 Bugatti, One of the Winningest Race Cars in History, Is Now up for Grabs
The shape is unmistakable; low-slung, pencil-thin, and defined by that bolt-upright, horseshoe-framed radiator and iconic French Racing Blue paintwork. This is the 1925 Bugatti Type 35, the Chiron supercar of its day and a legend in both motoring and motorsport. Now, one of the most historically significant examples of the Type 35 is coming to auction.
The car, officially designated a Type 35A/35T 2.3-Liter Grand Prix Two-Seater, was campaigned in the 1930s by pioneering Canadian-born racer Kathleen “Kay” Petre and later owned for more than 46 years by world-renowned British Bugatti historian Hugh G. Conway and his family. It is scheduled to cross the auction block at the Bonhams Bond Street Sale in London on December 12, and is expected to fetch between $610,000 and $860,000.
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According to Guy Newton, senior specialist with Bonhams, what adds to the vehicle’s already considerable appeal is the mountain of documentation, photographs, letters, and records cataloging its complete history. “This is what sets the car apart,” says Newton. “Every journey, every oil change, every competition or event has been recorded, mostly in a handwritten book, while in its current ownership.”
Bugatti’s Type 35 debuted in August of 1924 at the Grand Prix de Europe in Lyon, France. It would go on to become, arguably, the most successful model of racing car to date. During its eight years of production, it won over 1,000 races, took the Grand Prix World Championship in 1926 and dominated Sicily’s Targa Floria road race, winning every year from 1925 through 1929.
With its charming patina, the right-hand-drive example—chassis No. 4564—began life in 1925 as the easier-to-drive, easier-to-maintain Type 35A, as opposed to the more highly strung, all-out Grand Prix version for racing.
While both variants of the Type 35 featured a three-valve, overhead-camshaft straight-eight engine, the 35A’s power plant used a simpler, ball-bearing crankshaft (with three rather than five bearings) and smaller valves in a mill that delivered 70 hp as opposed to the racer’s 90 hp. Even so, it was still capable of a top speed of close to 100 mph. Between 1925 and 1929, Bugatti built a total of 139 examples of this detuned version, compared to 96 of the racers.
Records show that this car’s first owner was Mrs. Florence Gould, the socialite wife of Frank Jay Gould. The latter was founder of the Virginia Power & Railway Company, and later a hotel magnate. During the mid-1920s, the power couple lived in Paris where Mrs. Gould piloted the Bugatti.
She drove it for a year, eventually selling it to Bugatti’s London agent, Colonel W.L. Sorel, and it became the first Bugatti to be registered in the UK. The car was quickly snapped-up by aspiring Brooklands racer Thomas Fothringham, who kept it until 1932 before passing it on to the 29-year-old motorsport phenomenon Kay Petre.
At four-feet, 10 inches in height, Petre drove the car in-between competing in three Le Mans 24-Hour races, setting three Brooklands speed records, and campaigning in various road rallies and hill climbs. In 1936, she passed the car on to her friend and fellow racer, Irish-born Sheila Darbishire, who entered the car in speed trials and circuit races.
For the next two decades, the Bugatti went from one amateur racer to the next before ending up with acclaimed technical illustrator and artist James A. Allington. During his tenure, the engine was converted to 2.3-liter Type 35T Grand Prix specification, with the original wire wheels replaced with a set of Bugatti’s flat-faced, magnesium-alloy rims.
Next in the ownership train was British Bugatti Owners’ Club luminary Hugh Bergel, who acquired the car in 1959. For the next 19 years, Bergel and his son added some 10,570 miles to the car’s odometer, and even allowed the great Sir Stirling Moss to track test it for a magazine article.
In September of 1978, Bergel sold the Bugatti to renowned engineer and leading Bugatti historian and author Hugh Conway. The car wasn’t exactly in tip-top condition when Conway got the keys. Seems Bergel had lost control during qualifying for a race at the Silverstone track and hit something solid. Conway’s initials tasks were to unbend the chassis, straighten the body, and rebuild the engine.
During the Conway family’s lengthy stewardship, the Bugatti led a frenetic life of competition throughout the UK and continental Europe, each event meticulously cataloged in handwritten records by Hugh Conway, his son Hugh R G Conway, and grandson Giles Conway, who currently owns the car.
One prized photograph from July of 1995 shows founder Ettore Bugatti’s son Michel in the car with Hugh Conway on Mont Ventoux in southern France. The subsequent entry reports the Type 35 ran well on the famous mountain road, despite temperatures touching almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Since 2021, the car has been in the care of leading UK-based Bugatti specialist Gentry Restorations, according to Newton. It’s currently mothballed and will require some recommissioning, which will include fixing a broken water pump, before being put back on the road in time to celebrate the model’s 100th anniversary in 2025.
Click here for more photos of this 1925 Bugatti Type 35A/35T 2.3-Liter Grand Prix Two-Seater.
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