| “The Type 59 is an anachronistic car. It’s the swansong of the Bugatti Grand Prix car, but it wasn’t particularly successful. It was romantic because it still retained the heritage of the iconic Type 35, which Ettore Bugatti had designed in 1924, only it was updated with a more powerful blown double-overhead-cam engine and a lower bodyline. In extending the wheelbase of the new chassis frame, Bugatti created an utterly, utterly beautiful Grand Prix car. All four of the original Type 59s that raced for the Works in the 1933 and ’34 seasons were sold to gentlemen drivers in England and they’ve all survived to this day. For the sake of the book I’m co-writing on the Type 59 together with Mark Morris and Mick Walsh, we had the idea of bringing all the cars together just once, which we did at Pebble Beach earlier this year. Two owners were rather easy to convince, while the other two were not – I travelled to one owner five times in order to get the car to Monterey. While I’d like to gather at least two of the cars when we launch the book, I doubt we’ll see all four together again in our lifetime.”
Julius Kruta
Bugatti historian | |
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