Complete Description
- Genuine Type 37 with Continuous history
- Original engine
- Restored to ‘Grand Prix’ specification
- Sold with a report by the specialist Kees Jansen
This Bugatti Type 37, chassis no. 37201 and engine no. 92, left the factory in August 1926 as a ‘Touriste’ model (a cabriolet which was better equipped than the racing version, with lights, wings and a passenger door), before being delivered on 10 September that year to the Bugatti dealer René Ring, in Strasbourg. Ring had ordered the same model three days earlier, for 43,000 francs, and therefore took advantage of the availability of this example, which had just been built. Its first owner, Pierre Larrige, lived nearby in Sélestat and wasted no time before collecting the car, which he used with the temporary registration number 1641 WW5, valid from 10–15 September 1926.
According to the history established by the specialist Kees Jansen, from which the information regarding the car has been taken, it was probably damaged in an accident in 1930. It was later to be found in Austria, where it was registered A 15-745 on 25 November 1932 in the name of Heinrich Opitz, a coachbuilder in Vienna. By then, it had been fitted with a new body, no doubt by Opitz, a cabriolet with a scuttle with twin curves, substantial cycle wings, and doors, and all the control levers inside the car. In 1946, it was given the registration number A 13-363, still in the name of Heinrich Opitz.
It is likely that he died in 1952, as the car was transferred into the name of Magdalena Opitz, no doubt his wife or daughter. She evidently did not wish to keep it, as she consigned it to a scrap merchant, from where it was salvaged in 1954 by Herbert Lackner, a young engineer from Krems, in Austria. He stored it in a shed belonging to a neighbour, but, needing to reclaim the building, the neighbour later dismantled the car, put the mechanical components into storage and disposed of the body in the Danube.
Nothing happened until Walter Ledl, the owner of a Bugatti Grand Sport (chassis no. 40721), who lived in Vienna, needed a water pump for his car and acquired all the parts from the Bugatti 37 in 1958. This purchase was mentioned to Hugh Conway in 1962, who recorded it in his Bugatti Register, and again in 1973. After retrieving the water pump for his Grand Sport, Ledl kept all the mechanical components from the Type 37 for more than 40 years, until selling them in 2003 to René and Hans Winkler.
The two brothers were Austrian, but Hans, a classic car restorer, had married a British woman and gone to live in England. He gathered several missing parts (both old and remanufactured), but did not complete the restoration. The project was inspected on several occasions by the specialist David Sewell: on 26 October 2009, 4 July 2017 and 4 May 2018. Sewell mentioned that several jobs had been carried out, including: realignment of the chassis by the Bugatti specialist Malcolm Gentry; restoration of the radiator by Star Engineering; fitment of the correct ‘Molsheim-Alsace’ chassis plate, riveted to the base of the scuttle; fabrication of a 50-litre fuel tank by Frank Underwood; production of a new body by Ivan Dutton Ltd; fitment of two gearbox casings, both numbered 214, with and without the drive for the starter; installation of a higher-quality Hardy Spicer drive shaft; restoration of the Bosch headlamps to the original specification; fitment of a combination of new and old instruments ...
René Winkler ended up selling the car during its restoration to Jaap Braam Ruben, who turned to the Dutch specialist Simon Klopper to complete the work. He had previously asked the Dutch authorities, who were very wary of the proliferation of Bugatti replicas, to inspect the car and confirm its authenticity.
Today, the car is presented as a lighter Type 37 ‘Grand Prix’ model, which enthusiasts prefer to the ‘Touring’ version it started out as. Attractively finished in dark blue with Bugatti aluminium wheels, it looks very similar to the bigger-engined Type 35. Its interior is typical of the racing Bugattis, with which it shares all the characteristics: a machine-turned aluminium dashboard, the engine exposed to view, external controls for the gearbox and brakes, and a huge wooden steering wheel with four aluminium spokes. This Bugatti Type 37, which has been restored to its original technical specification, comes with numerous documents and photographs, including a ‘Provenance Report’ by the specialist Kees Jansen. It has the advantage of a continuous history since leaving the factory, with the exception of five years between 1926 and 1932. With several original elements, including its chassis and engine, it is among the few genuine Type 37 models still on the road, making it especially desirable.
Photos © Peter Singhof
