1937 Bugatti Type 57

Matching Numbers Engine

Documented history

Verified by Bugatti Automobiles SAS

John Ridings Lee, Jerry J. Moore and Michael Graf Wolf Metternich

The Type 57 is probably the most successful model of the brand. Between 1934 and 1940, around 700 units of this series were produced in three production runs.

Officially responsible for the project was Jean Bugatti, the son of company founder Ettore Bugatti. He also contributed key design elements, which were implemented together with the draftsman Joseph Walter.

The engine was based on the 3. 3-liter inline eight-cylinder engine of the Type 49. It was manufactured in typical Bugatti fashion with a light alloy crankcase and a one-piece cylinder block with a non-removable cylinder head.

Ettore Bugatti always placed great importance on aesthetics. For example, Bugatti engine casings were decorated with a hand-applied pearl-cut pattern.

Our car belongs to the second series. The chassis was manufactured in the summer of 1937, then went to Colmar to the "house coachbuilder" Gangloff, where it was fitted into his "Stelvio" body.

Stelvio is the Italian name for the Stelvio Pass, the highest paved mountain pass in the Alps.

This variant was a two- to four-seater convertible. Its unique feature was a storage compartment into which the roof was lowered when opened. This meant the open top didn't disrupt the car's lines and improved rear visibility.

The bodywork was finished at the end of September 1937; the headlights integrated into the fenders were a special request and are noted in the factory records. They give our Bugatti a more compact profile and thus a sportier look.

Pierre Veyron then drove the car to Paris, where it was displayed in the Bugatti showroom at Avenue Montaigne 46.

After about three weeks, a buyer was found: Paul Pernod from the famous distillery of the same name.

Pernod was a regular customer and only drove the Stelvio for a few months. As early as March 1938, he traded it in for a Type 57 Ventoux.

Our vehicle then went to the Bugatti agent Gaillard in Tours, where it was resold in April 1938 to a famous surgeon from the Medical University of Tours.

During the war, he hid the Bugatti in a friend's garage and removed the engine to make the car uninteresting to the Germans. Unfortunately, this was unsuccessful: the Germans confiscated the engine itself.

Fortunately, after the withdrawal of the German troops in 1944, the engine was recovered undamaged and reunited with the chassis.

In 1946 the car went back to Paris where it had several owners in the following years.

From 1969 to 1984, the Type 57 belonged to the well-known German automotive historian Michael Graf Wolff Metternich.

Between 1989 and 2015, it was part of the important collections of John Ridings Lee and Jerry J. Moore in the USA.

In 2012/ 13, the engine and related technology underwent a comprehensive overhaul costing approximately USD 100, 000.

He has been back in Germany since 2015 and is also registered there.

The history is excellently documented by Bugatti historians Pierre Yves Laugier and Kees Jansen with corresponding reports.

Furthermore, the car is verified by Bugatti Automobiles SAS.