Bugatti

Type 57 Sports Coach by Graber

The Series 57 vehicles were produced between 1934 and 1940 under the direction of the highly talented Jean Bugatti, who was killed in a test drive in 1939. The “Ventoux” model is a four-seat, two-door coupé, one of the four basic body styles available from the factory. In addition to the “Ventoux,” there were the “Stelvio” (cabriolet, 4 seats, 2 doors), “Atalante” (coupé, 2 seats, 2 doors), and “Galibier” (sedan, 4 seats, 4 doors). The bodies for the Type 57 were primarily manufactured at Bugatti in Molsheim, but were also frequently produced by the Gangloff coachbuilder in Colmar.

Type of offer

Sales

Brand

Bugatti

Model

Type 57 Sports Coach by Graber

Year of manufacture

1936

Price in CHF

Auf Anfrage

Mileage

16500

Cylinder

Displacement

3257

Power

135

Transmission type

Manual transmission

In addition—as was customary at the time—there were more than 20 other coachbuilders that fitted the T 57 chassis with custom bodies. In October 1936, a Ventoux could be ordered from the Bugatti factory for 82,000 francs. A year later, the price had already risen to 103,500 francs. Depending on the counting method (and the author), between 630 and 830 units were built across three series. There was the Type 57, the Type 57 S, the Type 57 C, and the Type 57 SC, where the “S” stood for “surbaisse” (short wheelbase) and the “C” for the supercharged version. The 3.3-liter inline-eight engine produced 135 PS in the Type 57, 175 PS in the S, and finally 200 PS in the C.

The Type 57 offered here, with chassis #57443 is an early example from the second series and was delivered on September 19, 1936, as a “rolling chassis” to the Swiss importer Bucar in Horgen and subsequently taken to the renowned coachbuilder Hermann Graber in Wichtrach. There, at the request of the first owner—an architect from Zurich who is said to have drawn the designs for his dream Bugatti himself—the Bugatti was fitted with a two-door Sports Coach body bearing the number 350. As far as is known, only three Bugatti Type 57s with this body style were produced, and only two of them are still known to exist. In 1950, the elegant Bugatti was acquired by an engineer in Zurich, who sold it in 1960—with engine damage—through a dealer to the Dutch Bugatti importer van Ramshorst. Van Ramshorst replaced the engine with one of the same type and assigned it the original number.

The Coach was subsequently sold to a Swedish collector, who sold it back to the Netherlands in November 1962 to the well-known Bugatti collector Hans Sauerbier. In the 1980s, Sauerbier had the engine overhauled and, presumably around the same time, had the braking system converted to a hydraulic system used in later models. 57443 remained with Sauerbier until 2008, then went to England, and was finally acquired by a Swiss enthusiast in 2018. After being imported, the Bugatti was extensively repainted in its current color combination of blue and black. The interior was restored while preserving as many of the original leather components as possible. The mechanical components were inspected, and the brakes were overhauled. In 2020, the Type 57 was transferred to the current owner and is in very good condition. This one-of-a-kind vehicle will be handed over to a new enthusiast in September 2020, following its most recent vehicle inspection as a classic car.