Bugatti Type 57 Coach Ventoux
French title with chassis number : 57557 Engine: 1C - The first Bugatti 57 C ever built - A piece of Bugatti history - Demonstration car driven by racing drivers of the period - Superb patina - Perhaps the most important Ventoux THE PARIS MOTOR SHOW, OCTOBER 1936. The Molsheim factory was buzzing with activity during the last weeks of September 1936. They had to be ready for the forthcoming Motor Show in Paris. The whole Type 57 range was to be there. For the first time, the definitive Sport 57S chassis would be presented to the public, in the form of an incredible roadster and an Atalante coupé. These two cars left the coachbuilder's workshop during the last few days of September and were transported by train to Paris on Monday 28th September. During this last mad week before the Motor Show opened on the first Thursday in October, the workshop worked every day to get a new Atlantic and three Ventoux finished, one of which had an engine to 57S spec with supercharger. The new Atlantic, the third to be built, which was a service car for the factory, also had a supercharger. The registre des ventes for the factory for September 1936 shows: On one line : in lead pencil " 57308 Salon 3.10 " and in pen " 57452 1C Coach " On the next line : in pencil " démonst 3.10 " and in pen " 57453 2SC Aéro " The registre des carrosseries shows that the prototype 57C and the first 57SC left the coachbuilder's workshop on Saturday 3 October 1936 : " Coach Ventoux 57/1SC 3/10 57452 rouge cuir havane. " (red with tobacco leather) " Coupé Aéro 57/2SC 3/10 57453 noir int drap. " (black, fabric interior) The next day, after some final adjustments, Jules Goux was given the honour of driving the first 57C - the red Ventoux, with engine 1C - to Paris. He was accompanied by Jean Bugatti who took the wheel of the formidable black Atlantic 57SC. The Ventoux was chassis number 57452, and the 57SC coupé was 57453. The two test drivers sped towards the capital on this autumnal Sunday, arriving at the showroom at 46 Avenue Montaigne in the afternoon. The cars were cleaned and prepared as demonstration cars for the week ahead. Clients would discover the power of the two new supercharged 57s, driven by Jean Bugatti and Robert Benoist, director of the Montaigne showroom. On the 7 and 8 October, a cabriolet, a Gangloff saloon and Jean Bugatti's personal Atalante were driven from Molsheim to Paris to demonstate the whole Type 57 range near the Grand Palais. On a stand, as a static display, a cream and black Gangloff cabriolet and a grey and black Ventoux were on show alongside the two 57S models. There was no 57C on display at the Grand Palais. The Atlantic 57453/ 2 SC and the Ventoux 57452 /1C were used to take privileged clients on test drives, driven by world champion Robert Benoist. Externally, the red Ventoux resembled a standard model but it had a better performance than a non-supercharged 57S model. The ultimate weapon was represented by the black Atlantic 57SC, which kept up with times recorded for the 57G on the Montlhery ring on Saturday 10 October 1936 in the presence of the Parisian press. The new supercharged machine reached speeds of 200km/h according to Ernest Friderich, who was there. The red Ventoux with engine 1C was undoubtedly taken to Montlhery too, although there were no official records for these two factory service cars. THE 57C DEMONSTRATION CAR After the motor show in October 1936, the red Ventoux stayed at the Montaigne showroom as a demonstration model. Test drives were given by Robert Benoist and Pierre Veyron. No Bugatti Type 57C was available to buy until February 1937. Engines 2C and 3C, two Gangloff cabriolets, were delivered at the beginning and end of February 1937, to very special clients : Dr Kocher from Valence and Jean Baylet from Toulouse. Production for the new model was slow. Cars with engines 4 and 5 were delivered in March, and those with engines 6,7 and 8, in June. Throughout 1937, the red 57C was driven round Paris by factory test drivers, a showcase for the new 57C series. From Spring 1937, it was registered " châssis 57308 ", and used the registration plates 4834 NV3, (as confirmed in a factory note in April 1937). It wasn't the only car to use this registration. A letter from the repair workshop in Levallois sent to Molsheim on 15 September 1937 notes 3 engine faults caused by seizure or breakage of the 8th piston. One of the cars concerned is the 57C demonstration model. " 57308/1C- with supercharger. 23.237 km.on the clock. This is the demonstration car from the Montaigne showroom that Keiffer drove to the factory yesterday. We have completely rebuilt the engine after the rod broke. We carried out the usual tests to make the car available again for Montaigne. During the first test drive carried out by the Sales Service, the sound of the engine starting to seize was noticed, and the car was driven back to us at 23,365km As the factory needed the car urgently, we limited ourselves to trying to stop the seizure by injecting oil into the 8th cylinder. The car is now at Molsheim, and therefore available for you to work out the reason for this problem." On 13 October 1937, 57308/1C was using the new registration 6196 NV3. The papers were assigned to the Toussaint factory conveyor. The vehicle went to Paris as a client had shown an interest in buying a Ventoux 57C model. Production remained slow. Just 5 vehicles were built during 1937. These were 57517/7C, 57506/8C, 57526/ 10C, 57496/11C and 57576/12C, delivered between June and August 1937. No other Ventoux 57C would be built before the end of January 1938. It didn't take long for the young Count Aymar le Larochefoucauld to make up his mind. He had already put his name down for this model in February 1937, but the production programme had been put back, and didn't resume until June. AYMAR ANTOINE ANNE MARIE DE LAROCHEFOUCAULD (1914-1991) He was born in Paris on 7 March 1914. A descendant of one of the oldest families in France, he lost both his parents in 1918. His father was killed on the front line and his mother died of tuberculosis, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents in the château de Douy en Sologne. It appears that he started driving from a very young age. He also took up hunting and became a formidable shot, travelling the world to satisfy this passion. In July 1935, at the age of 21 years, he became the owner of a second-hand 4-door Type 57 model by Vanvooren, chassis 57214. The car cost 30,000ff with the part-exchange of a Type 49 chassis 49399, that belonged to the family. The address given at the time was in Neuilly sur Seine. It is extraordinary to think that A. de Larochefoucauld was the owner and driver of this 1931 Bugatti, that left the factory when he was just 17 years old. He wasn't the first member of the family to tame thoroughbreds: his uncle Sosthène took part in the first Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1923 at the wheel of a Type 23. He was the director and shareholder of Carrosserie Profilée which was responsible for building the bodies of most of the Parisian Bugatti from 1922 onwards. On 25 June 1942 Aymar married Mlle Claude Normant, originally from Romorantin and heir to a fortune made in the textile industry. There was no time for the Bugatti. The dark clouds didn't clear until the spring of 1944. A son was born, followed by two other children, to the growing family installed in the ancestral château Douy near Chartres. In 1988, a nephew of Aymar's bought a 1935 57 Stelvio at auction, and proudly took it to show his uncle who had recounted tales of Bugatti motor cars to him as a child. No sooner had he arrived at the garages at the château de Douy, than the elderly uncle, now aged 74 years, took to the wheel, rediscovering the driving skills of his youth. Following a lengthy drive around the Sologne region, he wore a smile as he handed back the tamed beast to his nephew. The Larochefoucauld motto "It's my pleasure", engraved on the family coat of arms for nearly a thousand years has perfect meaning during these rare moments of shared pleasure. PARISIAN LIFE 1937-1961 The Bugatti 57308C remained in the Paris area, and on 27 April 1955, we find the car registered to Gaston THERET, who lived at 25 Place des Vosges, Paris on 27 April 1955. The registration document records the original number 4420 RL 3 which dates back to the autumn of 1937, when it had been bought by A de Larochefoucauld. The address, 25 Place des Vosges was the Parisian headquarters of the " Société Anonyme des Ets Gaston Theret ". This was a foundry and metal business dating from 1818, with factories in Nouzonville and Neufmanil in the Ardennes. After the war, the company took the name " Ets Veuve .G. Theret ", and G. Theret registered the Bugatti 57308C under the number 2496 DX 75 on 27 April 1955. He kept the car until 12 October 1960. It was then sold to Michel GILLET, of 3 rue des Bas Rogers à Suresnes. This was also the address of the Garage de Gaston Garino, Hispano-Suiza and Bugatti specialists. HOLIDAYS IN BELGIUM 1961-1975 The archives of Belgian importer Jean De Dobbeleer record the purchase of the car from G.Garino in 1961. We have found two snap shots, in the De Dobbeleer photo archives, of the Bugatti 57C when it was imported from France, now in a dark livery. The registration plate 2496 DX 75 is clearly visible. The same year, the car was sold to Georges MARQUET- DELINA in Brussels, owner of a chain of hotels both in Brussels (Les Grands Hôtels Belges SA) and in Madrid (Hôtel Ritz and Palace Hôtel). It appears that he bought 28 Bugatti motor cars from J de Dobbeleer at the start of the 1960s. The cars were kept in different spots around the Belgian capital. A downturn in fortune later that decade forced him to part with his collection and some of the cars were sold by Christie's in March 1973. Around 1975, the Ventoux 57C 57308, was acquired by an enthusiast from the East of France, Jean Serre de Montbéliard. He owned several cars that had come from the Marquet collection, and so 57308C was garaged alongside a Type 57 Atalante and a Type 35T. It appeared that the 57C hadn't been driven during its stay in Belgium. In 1975, Serre gave the Ventoux to the workshop in Molsheim run by Lucien Wurmser to be restored. LUCIEN WURMSER (1907-1987) This former mechanic for the factory's competition cars, had become an apprentice at the age of 14, in 1921. Returning from his military service, he was transferred to the repair workshop in Levallois during 1929, and subsequently became involved with race car preparation. He was involved in all the major international racing events that Bugatti took part in, and worked on all the different models from the supercharged Type 35 to the 57G. In the autumn of 1975, he undertook his final Bugatti engine re-build, for Mr J. Serre. Wurmser's son, Roland, who had taken over and modernised the workshop in 1973, helped restore the bodywork. He handbuilt an entire new front wing that needed to be replaced. The mechanics also required a great deal of work. RESTORATION IN MOLSHEIM : AUTUMN 1975 - SUMMER 1977 According to the recollections of Alfred Wurmser " The Ventoux 57C left Molsheim in the summer of 1977, with its original supercharger, original fabric and leather upholstery and front bumpers, consisting of half bumpers. It also had the original dashboard, with levers for advance and hand throttle (on the first supercharged 57 models), two giant Jaeger dials and four smaller instruments situated around the starter key. According to the photos, when the car arrived at the body workshop, it was already in two-tone green livery. " At this time, the car had already had the chassis number 57557 re-stamped, visible on a photo. Some time between 1977 and 1984 (the date it was sold to the current owner), the car lost its original dashboard, firewall and supercharger. The vehicle was sold at auction on 20 June 1984, at A.C.F. place de la Concorde, by the famous auctioneer Francis Briest, making 318,000FF. It was bought by the current owner, Jean Brignole, who immediately took the car to specialist Novo, for restoration. When the car arrived in his workshop, Jean Novo noticed that the original pinion from the supercharger was still there, which was the last visible sign of the supercharger mounting on the first 57C. He also noted the special dual-disc clutch, reserved for the 57S model. J. Novo, replaced this with the standard version. In a note from the factory about this vehicle, the term 'Moteur 1SC' is used once. We know that this is incorrect, although the car had certain mechanical features used on the Type 57S. This was, after all, a prototype of a new model, and a contemporary of the first 57SC, for the factory's use. Following work by the Novo workshop, J. Brignole took his car to Corsica, where it has taken part in several rallies over the last 20 years. J.Novo has been to Corsica every year to maintain the car. When we inspected the car in Paris in November 2011, we knew that the chassis number (57557) was not the right one for this Ventoux, as the Atalante produced with this number is in the US, with incontestable identity. We needed to find evidence on the car that would allow us to trace its history. The bonnet is stamped 26, indicating that the body was built around September 1936. The rear axle is stamped with the number 334. The gearbox carries the same number, but it also has " C1 " stamped on the cover. On the left rear side of the engine, the number " 1 " appears in the correct style for the factory. The chassis number reads " 57557 ", but the last three numbers appear to have been added later, and signs of the numbers " 308 " are visible. It is a note from the factory recorded in the engine book that gives us the answer to the mystery: " Moteur 334 devenu 1C " and " 1 - 57452- 57308 - ex moteur 334 ". The first line explains the modification from the 334 engine to a 57C, with engine number 1. The second line confirms information that records the car carrying the chassis plate 57452, then 57308. We are indeed in the presence of the first Bugatti 57C ever built, the demonstration car for the Montaigne showroom during 1936 - 1937. Jules Goux, Robert Benoist , Pierre Veyron and perhaps Jean Bugatti himself, when he stayed in Paris, would undoubtedly have been the first people to drive this fast, supercharged, red Bugatti. It won't take much to restore this car with its supercharged engine to its former glory, while retaining its wonderful patina. Pierre-Yves LAUGIER December 2012.
French title with chassis number : 57557 Engine: 1C - The first Bugatti 57 C ever built - A piece of Bugatti history - Demonstration car driven by racing drivers of the period - Superb patina - Perhaps the most important Ventoux THE PARIS MOTOR SHOW, OCTOBER 1936. The Molsheim factory was buzzing with activity during the last weeks of September 1936. They had to be ready for the forthcoming Motor Show in Paris. The whole Type 57 range was to be there. For the first time, the definitive Sport 57S chassis would be presented to the public, in the form of an incredible roadster and an Atalante coupé. These two cars left the coachbuilder's workshop during the last few days of September and were transported by train to Paris on Monday 28th September. During this last mad week before the Motor Show opened on the first Thursday in October, the workshop worked every day to get a new Atlantic and three Ventoux finished, one of which had an engine to 57S spec with supercharger. The new Atlantic, the third to be built, which was a service car for the factory, also had a supercharger. The registre des ventes for the factory for September 1936 shows: On one line : in lead pencil " 57308 Salon 3.10 " and in pen " 57452 1C Coach " On the next line : in pencil " démonst 3.10 " and in pen " 57453 2SC Aéro " The registre des carrosseries shows that the prototype 57C and the first 57SC left the coachbuilder's workshop on Saturday 3 October 1936 : " Coach Ventoux 57/1SC 3/10 57452 rouge cuir havane. " (red with tobacco leather) " Coupé Aéro 57/2SC 3/10 57453 noir int drap. " (black, fabric interior) The next day, after some final adjustments, Jules Goux was given the honour of driving the first 57C - the red Ventoux, with engine 1C - to Paris. He was accompanied by Jean Bugatti who took the wheel of the formidable black Atlantic 57SC. The Ventoux was chassis number 57452, and the 57SC coupé was 57453. The two test drivers sped towards the capital on this autumnal Sunday, arriving at the showroom at 46 Avenue Montaigne in the afternoon. The cars were cleaned and prepared as demonstration cars for the week ahead. Clients would discover the power of the two new supercharged 57s, driven by Jean Bugatti and Robert Benoist, director of the Montaigne showroom. On the 7 and 8 October, a cabriolet, a Gangloff saloon and Jean Bugatti's personal Atalante were driven from Molsheim to Paris to demonstate the whole Type 57 range near the Grand Palais. On a stand, as a static display, a cream and black Gangloff cabriolet and a grey and black Ventoux were on show alongside the two 57S models. There was no 57C on display at the Grand Palais. The Atlantic 57453/ 2 SC and the Ventoux 57452 /1C were used to take privileged clients on test drives, driven by world champion Robert Benoist. Externally, the red Ventoux resembled a standard model but it had a better performance than a non-supercharged 57S model. The ultimate weapon was represented by the black Atlantic 57SC, which kept up with times recorded for the 57G on the Montlhery ring on Saturday 10 October 1936 in the presence of the Parisian press. The new supercharged machine reached speeds of 200km/h according to Ernest Friderich, who was there. The red Ventoux with engine 1C was undoubtedly taken to Montlhery too, although there were no official records for these two factory service cars. THE 57C DEMONSTRATION CAR After the motor show in October 1936, the red Ventoux stayed at the Montaigne showroom as a demonstration model. Test drives were given by Robert Benoist and Pierre Veyron. No Bugatti Type 57C was available to buy until February 1937. Engines 2C and 3C, two Gangloff cabriolets, were delivered at the beginning and end of February 1937, to very special clients : Dr Kocher from Valence and Jean Baylet from Toulouse. Production for the new model was slow. Cars with engines 4 and 5 were delivered in March, and those with engines 6,7 and 8, in June. Throughout 1937, the red 57C was driven round Paris by factory test drivers, a showcase for the new 57C series. From Spring 1937, it was registered " châssis 57308 ", and used the registration plates 4834 NV3, (as confirmed in a factory note in April 1937). It wasn't the only car to use this registration. A letter from the repair workshop in Levallois sent to Molsheim on 15 September 1937 notes 3 engine faults caused by seizure or breakage of the 8th piston. One of the cars concerned is the 57C demonstration model. " 57308/1C- with supercharger. 23.237 km.on the clock. This is the demonstration car from the Montaigne showroom that Keiffer drove to the factory yesterday. We have completely rebuilt the engine after the rod broke. We carried out the usual tests to make the car available again for Montaigne. During the first test drive carried out by the Sales Service, the sound of the engine starting to seize was noticed, and the car was driven back to us at 23,365km As the factory needed the car urgently, we limited ourselves to trying to stop the seizure by injecting oil into the 8th cylinder. The car is now at Molsheim, and therefore available for you to work out the reason for this problem." On 13 October 1937, 57308/1C was using the new registration 6196 NV3. The papers were assigned to the Toussaint factory conveyor. The vehicle went to Paris as a client had shown an interest in buying a Ventoux 57C model. Production remained slow. Just 5 vehicles were built during 1937. These were 57517/7C, 57506/8C, 57526/ 10C, 57496/11C and 57576/12C, delivered between June and August 1937. No other Ventoux 57C would be built before the end of January 1938. It didn't take long for the young Count Aymar le Larochefoucauld to make up his mind. He had already put his name down for this model in February 1937, but the production programme had been put back, and didn't resume until June. AYMAR ANTOINE ANNE MARIE DE LAROCHEFOUCAULD (1914-1991) He was born in Paris on 7 March 1914. A descendant of one of the oldest families in France, he lost both his parents in 1918. His father was killed on the front line and his mother died of tuberculosis, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents in the château de Douy en Sologne. It appears that he started driving from a very young age. He also took up hunting and became a formidable shot, travelling the world to satisfy this passion. In July 1935, at the age of 21 years, he became the owner of a second-hand 4-door Type 57 model by Vanvooren, chassis 57214. The car cost 30,000ff with the part-exchange of a Type 49 chassis 49399, that belonged to the family. The address given at the time was in Neuilly sur Seine. It is extraordinary to think that A. de Larochefoucauld was the owner and driver of this 1931 Bugatti, that left the factory when he was just 17 years old. He wasn't the first member of the family to tame thoroughbreds: his uncle Sosthène took part in the first Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1923 at the wheel of a Type 23. He was the director and shareholder of Carrosserie Profilée which was responsible for building the bodies of most of the Parisian Bugatti from 1922 onwards. On 25 June 1942 Aymar married Mlle Claude Normant, originally from Romorantin and heir to a fortune made in the textile industry. There was no time for the Bugatti. The dark clouds didn't clear until the spring of 1944. A son was born, followed by two other children, to the growing family installed in the ancestral château Douy near Chartres. In 1988, a nephew of Aymar's bought a 1935 57 Stelvio at auction, and proudly took it to show his uncle who had recounted tales of Bugatti motor cars to him as a child. No sooner had he arrived at the garages at the château de Douy, than the elderly uncle, now aged 74 years, took to the wheel, rediscovering the driving skills of his youth. Following a lengthy drive around the Sologne region, he wore a smile as he handed back the tamed beast to his nephew. The Larochefoucauld motto "It's my pleasure", engraved on the family coat of arms for nearly a thousand years has perfect meaning during these rare moments of shared pleasure. PARISIAN LIFE 1937-1961 The Bugatti 57308C remained in the Paris area, and on 27 April 1955, we find the car registered to Gaston THERET, who lived at 25 Place des Vosges, Paris on 27 April 1955. The registration document records the original number 4420 RL 3 which dates back to the autumn of 1937, when it had been bought by A de Larochefoucauld. The address, 25 Place des Vosges was the Parisian headquarters of the " Société Anonyme des Ets Gaston Theret ". This was a foundry and metal business dating from 1818, with factories in Nouzonville and Neufmanil in the Ardennes. After the war, the company took the name " Ets Veuve .G. Theret ", and G. Theret registered the Bugatti 57308C under the number 2496 DX 75 on 27 April 1955. He kept the car until 12 October 1960. It was then sold to Michel GILLET, of 3 rue des Bas Rogers à Suresnes. This was also the address of the Garage de Gaston Garino, Hispano-Suiza and Bugatti specialists. HOLIDAYS IN BELGIUM 1961-1975 The archives of Belgian importer Jean De Dobbeleer record the purchase of the car from G.Garino in 1961. We have found two snap shots, in the De Dobbeleer photo archives, of the Bugatti 57C when it was imported from France, now in a dark livery. The registration plate 2496 DX 75 is clearly visible. The same year, the car was sold to Georges MARQUET- DELINA in Brussels, owner of a chain of hotels both in Brussels (Les Grands Hôtels Belges SA) and in Madrid (Hôtel Ritz and Palace Hôtel). It appears that he bought 28 Bugatti motor cars from J de Dobbeleer at the start of the 1960s. The cars were kept in different spots around the Belgian capital. A downturn in fortune later that decade forced him to part with his collection and some of the cars were sold by Christie's in March 1973. Around 1975, the Ventoux 57C 57308, was acquired by an enthusiast from the East of France, Jean Serre de Montbéliard. He owned several cars that had come from the Marquet collection, and so 57308C was garaged alongside a Type 57 Atalante and a Type 35T. It appeared that the 57C hadn't been driven during its stay in Belgium. In 1975, Serre gave the Ventoux to the workshop in Molsheim run by Lucien Wurmser to be restored. LUCIEN WURMSER (1907-1987) This former mechanic for the factory's competition cars, had become an apprentice at the age of 14, in 1921. Returning from his military service, he was transferred to the repair workshop in Levallois during 1929, and subsequently became involved with race car preparation. He was involved in all the major international racing events that Bugatti took part in, and worked on all the different models from the supercharged Type 35 to the 57G. In the autumn of 1975, he undertook his final Bugatti engine re-build, for Mr J. Serre. Wurmser's son, Roland, who had taken over and modernised the workshop in 1973, helped restore the bodywork. He handbuilt an entire new front wing that needed to be replaced. The mechanics also required a great deal of work. RESTORATION IN MOLSHEIM : AUTUMN 1975 - SUMMER 1977 According to the recollections of Alfred Wurmser " The Ventoux 57C left Molsheim in the summer of 1977, with its original supercharger, original fabric and leather upholstery and front bumpers, consisting of half bumpers. It also had the original dashboard, with levers for advance and hand throttle (on the first supercharged 57 models), two giant Jaeger dials and four smaller instruments situated around the starter key. According to the photos, when the car arrived at the body workshop, it was already in two-tone green livery. " At this time, the car had already had the chassis number 57557 re-stamped, visible on a photo. Some time between 1977 and 1984 (the date it was sold to the current owner), the car lost its original dashboard, firewall and supercharger. The vehicle was sold at auction on 20 June 1984, at A.C.F. place de la Concorde, by the famous auctioneer Francis Briest, making 318,000FF. It was bought by the current owner, Jean Brignole, who immediately took the car to specialist Novo, for restoration. When the car arrived in his workshop, Jean Novo noticed that the original pinion from the supercharger was still there, which was the last visible sign of the supercharger mounting on the first 57C. He also noted the special dual-disc clutch, reserved for the 57S model. J. Novo, replaced this with the standard version. In a note from the factory about this vehicle, the term 'Moteur 1SC' is used once. We know that this is incorrect, although the car had certain mechanical features used on the Type 57S. This was, after all, a prototype of a new model, and a contemporary of the first 57SC, for the factory's use. Following work by the Novo workshop, J. Brignole took his car to Corsica, where it has taken part in several rallies over the last 20 years. J.Novo has been to Corsica every year to maintain the car. When we inspected the car in Paris in November 2011, we knew that the chassis number (57557) was not the right one for this Ventoux, as the Atalante produced with this number is in the US, with incontestable identity. We needed to find evidence on the car that would allow us to trace its history. The bonnet is stamped 26, indicating that the body was built around September 1936. The rear axle is stamped with the number 334. The gearbox carries the same number, but it also has " C1 " stamped on the cover. On the left rear side of the engine, the number " 1 " appears in the correct style for the factory. The chassis number reads " 57557 ", but the last three numbers appear to have been added later, and signs of the numbers " 308 " are visible. It is a note from the factory recorded in the engine book that gives us the answer to the mystery: " Moteur 334 devenu 1C " and " 1 - 57452- 57308 - ex moteur 334 ". The first line explains the modification from the 334 engine to a 57C, with engine number 1. The second line confirms information that records the car carrying the chassis plate 57452, then 57308. We are indeed in the presence of the first Bugatti 57C ever built, the demonstration car for the Montaigne showroom during 1936 - 1937. Jules Goux, Robert Benoist , Pierre Veyron and perhaps Jean Bugatti himself, when he stayed in Paris, would undoubtedly have been the first people to drive this fast, supercharged, red Bugatti. It won't take much to restore this car with its supercharged engine to its former glory, while retaining its wonderful patina. Pierre-Yves LAUGIER December 2012.