1926 Bugatti Type 30 open tourer
- Engine
- Inline eight-cylinder
- Colour
- Brown (current refinish color scheme, details unspecified)
This 1926 Bugatti Type 30 — chassis 4725, one of approximately 600 built between 1922 and early 1926 — is the first eight-cylinder production Bugatti and the direct forerunner of the legendary Type 35. Ordered through agent Dubuisson of St. Quentin for a Monsieur Chavel and bodied as an elegant four-passenger open tourer with a distinctive vee'd windshield, the car was driven by racing driver Louis Charavel (known as 'Sabipa'). It remained with the Chavel family for 35 years before passing through several French collectors, appearing in the landmark reference work Bugatti Magnum, and retaining its original frame, transmission, and rear axle.
Ownership
- —Auction saleEstimate US$500,000 – US$650,000
- —Auction saleSold US$263,200
- 1926 → 1960Private saleMonsieur Chavelpartial documentation
Original recipient of the car, ordered through Bugatti agent Dubuisson. The vehicle stayed within the Chavel family for approximately 35 years.
- 1960 →Private saleJ.P. Légerpartial documentation
During this ownership the car was photographed at Henri Novo's renowned Bugatti workshop with the engine removed, at which point a replacement correct Type 30 engine was fitted and the bodywork was repainted in yellow with black cycle fenders.
- 1972 →Private saleHenri Chambonpartial documentation
Registered the car under plate 7892 QG 63 in Clermont Ferrand and used it at an international Bugatti gathering in Denmark in 1977.
- Date unknownPrivate saleBernard Viallonpartial documentation
Notable collector with several Bugattis; this car was featured in color illustrations in the 1989 reference work on the marque by Hugh Conway.
- Date unknownAcquisition unknownCurrent long-term collector ownerpartial documentation
Has held the car for roughly two decades with infrequent public exhibition during that period.
Competition
- 1977International Bugatti Meeting, DenmarkDriver: Henri Chambon
The car was entered at this gathering approximately five years after Chambon acquired it in 1972.
Maintenance & restoration
- —Engine rebuildHenri Novo's Bugatti garage
Original engine removed and replaced with another correct Type 30 unit, engine number 418, during a period when the car was at Henri Novo's well-known Bugatti garage.
Work took place during J.P. Léger's ownership, sometime after 1960; documented by a photograph published in Yan Verdier's Y Une Vie pour Bugatti.
- —Bodywork
Exterior refinished in yellow with black cycle fenders and wire wheels, the colour scheme the car still carries.
Carried out during the same period as the engine substitution, while in J.P. Léger's ownership after 1960.
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