Among Barrett-Jackson?s Salon Collection in Scottsdale is an unusual 1927 Bugatti Type 38 four-seat open car (Lot #5013), a rare and elegant tourer with a torpedo-style body by one of Bugatti?s favorite coachbuilders, Lavocat et Marsaud of Boulogne, France, who translated the automaker?s racing design into a long-wheelbase sporting craft for four.
The sporty Bugatti has a custom torpedo-style body that seats four people. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson) The Type 38 is known as one of the best and most-forgiving of road-going Bugattis, and performance is provided by the same straight-8 engine, gearbox and brakes as the famed Bugatti Type 35A Grand Prix car. The shapely open-cockpit body features rich wood trim around the seats and the split windows.
The Italian-born Ettore Bugatti founded his company in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace, France ? part of the German empire until 1919 ? and his cars quickly became known for advanced engineering, appealing style and impeccable craftsmanship. Bugatti came from a family of artists, and his cars were admired then and today for their beauty of design.
After World War I, Bugatti resumed production of his sophisticated road cars that brought to those lucky drivers the same performance and refinement of Bugatti?s racing machines. Many of them were little more than Grand Prix cars with lights and fenders, though Bugatti also scaled the heights of auto production with such things as the monumental Type 41 Royale ultra-luxury car and the much-acclaimed Type 57 Atlantic coupe designed by Ettore?s son, Jean Bugatti, in the 1930s.
The powerful straight-8 engine came from Bugatti?s race-winning Type 35A competition car. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson) The Type 38 at Barrett-Jackson was sold new to a buyer in South Africa and rediscovered years later by R. Lee of Brazil with very low miles and still in good condition. It was then owned by Manny Dragone, who had the car cosmetically restored.
The sophisticated straight-8 engine, known for its strong highway performance and durability, received a major, no-cost-spared rebuild in 2008. Overall, the Bugatti remains in excellent condition with all mechanical elements in perfect shape.
Ettore Bugatti continued building cars through the 1930s up until the advent of World War II, with the untimely death of his son, Jean, in 1939 signaling the eventual end of the company. Bugatti died in 1947 with no one to take over the automaking business, which struggled on into the early 1950s.
The Bugatti brand was purchased by an Italian entrepreneur in the 1990s, and the name is appropriately represented today by one of the world?s greatest supercars, the Bugatti Veyron.
Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. SPEED.com fans can email Bob Golfen at
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