Gregor Wenner
Specialist Consultant
Lot 149
Offered as a prize to the winner of the Grand Prix Bugatti 1929 in Le Mans
1928 Bugatti Type 43
1928 Bugatti Type 43
1928 Bugatti Type 43
Chassis no. 43264
Chassis no. 43264
• Original mechanical parts except the engine
• Matching chassis frame 122; correct gearbox and rear axle 43 type
• Fully restored
• Numerous archives retracing its history
• Current owner since 2008
• Swiss registration document
Grand Prix Bugatti, Le Mans, 1929
Assembled in the factory during the summer of 1928, chassis 43264, fitted with engine 124 and crankshaft 159, would not be mentioned for the first time until 13th May of 1929, in the factory archives, along with two other chassis and inscribed "Prix Bugatti".
These three cars were destined to be the prizes awarded to the first three in the upcoming second Grand Prix Bugatti, which took place on 1 June 1929 on the Le Mans circuit.
Sixteen competitors lined up on the starting line, in five classes: a Type 35B, two Type 35Cs, six Type 35s, four Type 37As and three Type 37s.
"The great carmaker has, once more, done things right and made a rich endowment to this second automobile Grand Prix. Three prizes, of the following values, were allocated: the first was 165,000 Fr, the second 60,000 Fr, the third was 38,000.
The Grand Prix Bugatti 1929 was won by the Italian-Chilean, Juan Zanelli, in a Type 35, who won the Torpédo Grand Sport 43264/124. The latter decided, in compliance with regulations, to exchange it for a new Type 35B from the factory. As such, in a letter dated 12 July 1929, Bugatti stated, at the Le Mans Automobile Club, Zanelli's decision to refuse the type 43 and their request to have the chassis returned to the Parisian showroom at 46 avenue Montaigne.
On 10 September 1929, the Torpédo Grand Sport was listed among the new cars at the rue du Débarcadère warehouse as "2L 300 Grand Sport n° 43264" along with two other Type 43s, four Type 44s and a 35A.
Leon Duray (George Stewart 1894-1956)
Leon Duray, real name George Stewart (1894-1956), was an American driver who already held records in the US with Miller disembarked with his team in Le Havre in early July 1929, for the purpose of promoting the Cord L 29 model with their exhibitions and record attempts.
A participant in records in Montlhéry then in Arpajon in summer 1929, Duray set a new series of international records in a 1500cc Miller, including reaching 139 mph over 5 miles with a rolling start! On 15 September in Monza, with two front-wheel drive vehicles, being by far the most daring driver in motorsport, he recorded the fastest time in his class. Duray dropped out due to crankshaft problems, but Ettore Bugatti, who was already aware of the records set in France, attended the Monza Grand Prix and became convinced of the interest of this type of dual shaft engine, which was very fast for such a small engine size.
The Molsheim industrialist then offered Duray an exchange on his two Miller Type 91 front-wheel drives for four 2300cc Type 43s .
On 30 October 1929 an article in the press said: "The Yankee driver Leon Duray left France for America [...] He took with him several Bugatti 2 litre 300 cars with compressors" Le Populaire.
"The American driver Léon Duray's stay in France comes to an end. After spending the whole summer season on this side of the Atlantic, setting several records at Linas and taking part in the Monza Grand Prix, the famous track racer headed back to his home country. In his luggage were several cars that Mr Bugatti gave him, in exchange for his front-wheel drive vehicles, with which he was seen this summer. Furthermore, Léon Duray has just obtained representative status for the marque in New York." L'Auto.
Type 43 in the US
It seems that Duray took the four Bugatti to New York, where he opened a car dealership, and probably sold the Torpédo Grand Sport 43264 to an East Coast enthusiast.
The earliest known owner is John Fritsche Jr of Sports Cars Inc in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He ordered the production of an aluminium coupé on chassis 43264 from the coachbuilder Derham in Rosemont in 1939, as shown in a picture of the car taken by Derham's official photographer, Charles Mills, and bearing the legend on its reverse "Built for John Fritsche Jr. 1939".
The Bugatti collector and dealer Gene Cesari remembered conversations with J. Fritsche, who sold a few Bugattis and who confided that he had sold a Type 43 to a client in New England... Was it this one?
The car's trace can be picked up again on the West Coast in Los Angeles in 1947. A photograph shows the Derham coupé still fitted with a New York plate in 1945: "9C 61 94 NY 45", in front of a poster for Raoul Walsh's film "The Man I Love", with Ida Lupino, released in the US in mid-January 1947, advertising showings at the Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles.
Not long before, a mechanics teacher at Ventura High School named George Banquet appears to have been responsible, along with a Ford mechanic, likely Ed Iskenderian, for the replacement of Bugatti parts by Ford ones, the engine and running gear. There is a photo of the car taken in front of a workshop, bearing a personalised number plate, EB 2300 for the occasion, it did not at this point have the radiator mascot that adorned it in the streets of LA in 1947.
According to historian Tom Konop, the comedian Donald O'Connor himself had the Bugatti engine replaced with a Ford 6 with dome pistons and special cylinder heads by the brilliant Ed Iskenderian, specialised in V8 Hot Rod engines.
It seems a given that the mechanical overhaul dates from around 1947, rather by George Blanquet who then appears to have sold it to Donald O'Connor (1925-2003), one of Hollywood's greatest stars of the 1950s, who won a Golden Globe in 1952 for his performance in "Singing in the Rain" with Gene Kelly! With his 43 Derham coupé, he took part in several hill climbing races in around 1948 and 1949, including the event at Little Tujunga Canyon in northern Los Angeles.
In the June 1950 issue of "Mechanix Illustrated", the renowned automotive journalist "Uncle" Tom McCahill presented the Bugatti in front of a sign for a second-hand car dealership that appears to be Movieland Motors in Hollywood. It still had the Ford engine, as shown by the dual exhaust protruding from the rear profile. At this time, one John Nelson of Hollywood is thought to have been the owner. The Californian license plate, 74L 521 can be read clearly.
Several photos taken in Los Angeles in around 1952 show the car with a new, unknown, owner posing in front of his vehicle, now equipped with chrome-plated wheel flanges and licensed 3RB 733.
After this period, the car went off the radar, although it was spotted in Inglewood by Bob Hammel and Bunny Phillips, in a state of neglect and in poor condition, at the start of the 1960s.
An article in the American Bugatti Club's Pur Sang magazine in spring 1981 highlighted a car whose owner at the time, Robert Lane of Long Beach, described in a magazine in 1979 as follows: "The chassis is Bugatti, as are the steering unit and radiator. The suspension and front running gear are from a 1932-1935 Ford. The engine is a Ford six cylinder, with "Iskenderian" inscribed on the cylinder heads. The engine has three Rochester carburetors fitted to a chrome-plated intake manifold. The coachwork is aluminium with sheet steel rear wings. The car is right-hand drive with two suicide doors and two small front seats, without any proper rear seats. The front brakes are generously sized and the rear brakes are perforated for better cooling. The weight of all components of the running gear has been reduced by drilling holes."
It would not be until 1997 that the American Bugatti registrar, Sandy Leith, announced that the car had survived and was in the hands of the family of the late Dr William O'Brien in Reno, Nevada. He confirmed that the Bugatti parts still on the car were the chassis frame, front springs, the steering unit, the radiator and the apron. Bill O'Brien had made it his quest to find the lost Bugatti of D. O'Connor. Only knowing of the latter as a former owner of the vehicle, he sought to contact him every time that he made an appearance in Las Vegas or in Reno. After 20 years on the case, O'Connor finally gave O'Brien the name of the enthusiast to whom he had sold the vehicle!
But the story is perhaps a little different, as in 2015 the brother of a certain Jerald Winchel told the story of how O'Connor's penchant for alcohol led him to abandon the car one evening in a Los Angeles street without ever being able to find it again! The car was impounded and would then be sold by the city police force to J. Winchel for $100 in the mid-1960s. He kept the car a dozen years, first at his home in Gardena, then in Carson, before having to part with it to pay garage costs. It is possible that the Bugatti then came into the hands of William Smith... The story of J. Winchel's brother does not match what is known of the history of 43264, which cannot have been owned by O'Connor after 1950, but we offer the story as told.
During the summer of 1983, W. O'Brien found the Bugatti chained to a tree in Southern California. It then belonged to a certain William Smith who acquired it in 1980 from a sheriff in the Los Angeles district, Nicholas Nickolenko, who had saved it in extremis from the scrapyard. The remains of the Bugatti 43264 were stored in W. O'Brien's garage, but he passed away before having started the restoration of the chassis.
Around 2008, chassis 43264 and the other matching Bugatti parts, namely the front springs, the remainder of the aluminium apron, the radiator and the steering unit, were sold by the O'Brien family to the English restoration specialist Robin Townsend, associated with the purchase for collector Michael Steele.
In December 2008, the project was sold to its current owner, a collector, who revived it.
Robin Townsend's atelier, Jarrot Engines Ltd, in Chalford, Gloucestershire, started the restoration of the chassis, which had no fewer than 314 holes to be filled. The owner has another Type 43 on a new chassis by Paulin in 1986, fitted with a replica Figoni 2-seater cabriolet frame, and decided to fit the Figoni copy on the original chassis. It was Simon Klopper, Dutch Bugatti specialist, who took care of preparing chassis 43264 in 2010. Paul Huet was in charge of reassembling the Figoni copy of the frame on chassis 43264, which he fitted with a new engine built by Laurent Rondoni in 2005.
In March 2016, the engine ran for the first time. In June of the same year, the cabriolet took part in its first official event, the Rallye International Bugatti in Italy.
Analysis by Pierre-Yves Laugier, May 2024. The full report of which is available on request.
The analysis of the vehicle finds an original chassis, whose frame, stamped 122, is that which matches with chassis 43264, engine 124.
On 16 January 2009, the expert and Bugatti registrar for the BOC, Mark Morris, inspected the vehicle with Hugh Conway Jr and in agreement with American historian Sandy Leith, they approved the BOC's allocation of a replacement chassis plate with number 43264.
The original radiator core was rebuilt by Star Engineering in the UK. The front axle appears to come from a Type 44. The engine, which is completely new, was fitted in 2005 by the workshop of Laurent Rondoni of Ventoux Moteurs Engineering in Carpentras. The gearbox is from the correct type and has the number 38 engraved on the body and the cover. The rear axle is from the Type 43, number 131 and axle ratio 13x54. The strut is also engraved 131. Given the logical continuation of numbers, this axle could come from the Figoni roadster chassis 43284 engine 129.
The coachwork, by a highly talented young Dutch craftsman by the name of Bert Nijhof in Lunteren, is new. The wooden frame was built by Anton Siebelink's workshop in Doetinchen in the Netherlands, but the latter passed away before the frame could be covered. It was completed using the photograph of the right-hand profile of the Figoni cabriolet chassis 43270 and engine 136 delivered new to Robert Bird following the Paris Motor Show in October 1928 as a model. The original car would be involved in an accident with its second owner in the summer of 1931, and in all likelihood destroyed, as a letter sent to its insurer seems to indicate.
Non-exhaustive list of successive owners of 43264
Bugatti factory, April 1929
Juan Zanelli, June and July 1929
Leon Duray, October 1929
John Fritsche Jr, EB 2300 plaque, Pennsylvania, 1939
XX, 9C 61 94, New York, 1945
George Banquet, Ventura, around 1947
Donald O'Connor around 1948-1949
John Nelson, 74L 521, Hollywood
XX, 3RB 733, Los Angeles, 1952
YY, spotted by B. Hamel and B. Phillips Inglewood, around 1960
Jerald Winchel, around 1965-1977
Robert Lane, Long Beach, 1979 according to a newspaper article
Nicholas Nickolenko, Los Angeles District police officer
William Smith, 1980
William O'Brien, Reno, 1983
Michael Steele & Robin Townsend around 2008
Current owner, since December 2008
• Matching chassis frame 122; correct gearbox and rear axle 43 type
• Fully restored
• Numerous archives retracing its history
• Current owner since 2008
• Swiss registration document
Grand Prix Bugatti, Le Mans, 1929
Assembled in the factory during the summer of 1928, chassis 43264, fitted with engine 124 and crankshaft 159, would not be mentioned for the first time until 13th May of 1929, in the factory archives, along with two other chassis and inscribed "Prix Bugatti".
These three cars were destined to be the prizes awarded to the first three in the upcoming second Grand Prix Bugatti, which took place on 1 June 1929 on the Le Mans circuit.
Sixteen competitors lined up on the starting line, in five classes: a Type 35B, two Type 35Cs, six Type 35s, four Type 37As and three Type 37s.
"The great carmaker has, once more, done things right and made a rich endowment to this second automobile Grand Prix. Three prizes, of the following values, were allocated: the first was 165,000 Fr, the second 60,000 Fr, the third was 38,000.
The Grand Prix Bugatti 1929 was won by the Italian-Chilean, Juan Zanelli, in a Type 35, who won the Torpédo Grand Sport 43264/124. The latter decided, in compliance with regulations, to exchange it for a new Type 35B from the factory. As such, in a letter dated 12 July 1929, Bugatti stated, at the Le Mans Automobile Club, Zanelli's decision to refuse the type 43 and their request to have the chassis returned to the Parisian showroom at 46 avenue Montaigne.
On 10 September 1929, the Torpédo Grand Sport was listed among the new cars at the rue du Débarcadère warehouse as "2L 300 Grand Sport n° 43264" along with two other Type 43s, four Type 44s and a 35A.
Leon Duray (George Stewart 1894-1956)
Leon Duray, real name George Stewart (1894-1956), was an American driver who already held records in the US with Miller disembarked with his team in Le Havre in early July 1929, for the purpose of promoting the Cord L 29 model with their exhibitions and record attempts.
A participant in records in Montlhéry then in Arpajon in summer 1929, Duray set a new series of international records in a 1500cc Miller, including reaching 139 mph over 5 miles with a rolling start! On 15 September in Monza, with two front-wheel drive vehicles, being by far the most daring driver in motorsport, he recorded the fastest time in his class. Duray dropped out due to crankshaft problems, but Ettore Bugatti, who was already aware of the records set in France, attended the Monza Grand Prix and became convinced of the interest of this type of dual shaft engine, which was very fast for such a small engine size.
The Molsheim industrialist then offered Duray an exchange on his two Miller Type 91 front-wheel drives for four 2300cc Type 43s .
On 30 October 1929 an article in the press said: "The Yankee driver Leon Duray left France for America [...] He took with him several Bugatti 2 litre 300 cars with compressors" Le Populaire.
"The American driver Léon Duray's stay in France comes to an end. After spending the whole summer season on this side of the Atlantic, setting several records at Linas and taking part in the Monza Grand Prix, the famous track racer headed back to his home country. In his luggage were several cars that Mr Bugatti gave him, in exchange for his front-wheel drive vehicles, with which he was seen this summer. Furthermore, Léon Duray has just obtained representative status for the marque in New York." L'Auto.
Type 43 in the US
It seems that Duray took the four Bugatti to New York, where he opened a car dealership, and probably sold the Torpédo Grand Sport 43264 to an East Coast enthusiast.
The earliest known owner is John Fritsche Jr of Sports Cars Inc in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He ordered the production of an aluminium coupé on chassis 43264 from the coachbuilder Derham in Rosemont in 1939, as shown in a picture of the car taken by Derham's official photographer, Charles Mills, and bearing the legend on its reverse "Built for John Fritsche Jr. 1939".
The Bugatti collector and dealer Gene Cesari remembered conversations with J. Fritsche, who sold a few Bugattis and who confided that he had sold a Type 43 to a client in New England... Was it this one?
The car's trace can be picked up again on the West Coast in Los Angeles in 1947. A photograph shows the Derham coupé still fitted with a New York plate in 1945: "9C 61 94 NY 45", in front of a poster for Raoul Walsh's film "The Man I Love", with Ida Lupino, released in the US in mid-January 1947, advertising showings at the Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles.
Not long before, a mechanics teacher at Ventura High School named George Banquet appears to have been responsible, along with a Ford mechanic, likely Ed Iskenderian, for the replacement of Bugatti parts by Ford ones, the engine and running gear. There is a photo of the car taken in front of a workshop, bearing a personalised number plate, EB 2300 for the occasion, it did not at this point have the radiator mascot that adorned it in the streets of LA in 1947.
According to historian Tom Konop, the comedian Donald O'Connor himself had the Bugatti engine replaced with a Ford 6 with dome pistons and special cylinder heads by the brilliant Ed Iskenderian, specialised in V8 Hot Rod engines.
It seems a given that the mechanical overhaul dates from around 1947, rather by George Blanquet who then appears to have sold it to Donald O'Connor (1925-2003), one of Hollywood's greatest stars of the 1950s, who won a Golden Globe in 1952 for his performance in "Singing in the Rain" with Gene Kelly! With his 43 Derham coupé, he took part in several hill climbing races in around 1948 and 1949, including the event at Little Tujunga Canyon in northern Los Angeles.
In the June 1950 issue of "Mechanix Illustrated", the renowned automotive journalist "Uncle" Tom McCahill presented the Bugatti in front of a sign for a second-hand car dealership that appears to be Movieland Motors in Hollywood. It still had the Ford engine, as shown by the dual exhaust protruding from the rear profile. At this time, one John Nelson of Hollywood is thought to have been the owner. The Californian license plate, 74L 521 can be read clearly.
Several photos taken in Los Angeles in around 1952 show the car with a new, unknown, owner posing in front of his vehicle, now equipped with chrome-plated wheel flanges and licensed 3RB 733.
After this period, the car went off the radar, although it was spotted in Inglewood by Bob Hammel and Bunny Phillips, in a state of neglect and in poor condition, at the start of the 1960s.
An article in the American Bugatti Club's Pur Sang magazine in spring 1981 highlighted a car whose owner at the time, Robert Lane of Long Beach, described in a magazine in 1979 as follows: "The chassis is Bugatti, as are the steering unit and radiator. The suspension and front running gear are from a 1932-1935 Ford. The engine is a Ford six cylinder, with "Iskenderian" inscribed on the cylinder heads. The engine has three Rochester carburetors fitted to a chrome-plated intake manifold. The coachwork is aluminium with sheet steel rear wings. The car is right-hand drive with two suicide doors and two small front seats, without any proper rear seats. The front brakes are generously sized and the rear brakes are perforated for better cooling. The weight of all components of the running gear has been reduced by drilling holes."
It would not be until 1997 that the American Bugatti registrar, Sandy Leith, announced that the car had survived and was in the hands of the family of the late Dr William O'Brien in Reno, Nevada. He confirmed that the Bugatti parts still on the car were the chassis frame, front springs, the steering unit, the radiator and the apron. Bill O'Brien had made it his quest to find the lost Bugatti of D. O'Connor. Only knowing of the latter as a former owner of the vehicle, he sought to contact him every time that he made an appearance in Las Vegas or in Reno. After 20 years on the case, O'Connor finally gave O'Brien the name of the enthusiast to whom he had sold the vehicle!
But the story is perhaps a little different, as in 2015 the brother of a certain Jerald Winchel told the story of how O'Connor's penchant for alcohol led him to abandon the car one evening in a Los Angeles street without ever being able to find it again! The car was impounded and would then be sold by the city police force to J. Winchel for $100 in the mid-1960s. He kept the car a dozen years, first at his home in Gardena, then in Carson, before having to part with it to pay garage costs. It is possible that the Bugatti then came into the hands of William Smith... The story of J. Winchel's brother does not match what is known of the history of 43264, which cannot have been owned by O'Connor after 1950, but we offer the story as told.
During the summer of 1983, W. O'Brien found the Bugatti chained to a tree in Southern California. It then belonged to a certain William Smith who acquired it in 1980 from a sheriff in the Los Angeles district, Nicholas Nickolenko, who had saved it in extremis from the scrapyard. The remains of the Bugatti 43264 were stored in W. O'Brien's garage, but he passed away before having started the restoration of the chassis.
Around 2008, chassis 43264 and the other matching Bugatti parts, namely the front springs, the remainder of the aluminium apron, the radiator and the steering unit, were sold by the O'Brien family to the English restoration specialist Robin Townsend, associated with the purchase for collector Michael Steele.
In December 2008, the project was sold to its current owner, a collector, who revived it.
Robin Townsend's atelier, Jarrot Engines Ltd, in Chalford, Gloucestershire, started the restoration of the chassis, which had no fewer than 314 holes to be filled. The owner has another Type 43 on a new chassis by Paulin in 1986, fitted with a replica Figoni 2-seater cabriolet frame, and decided to fit the Figoni copy on the original chassis. It was Simon Klopper, Dutch Bugatti specialist, who took care of preparing chassis 43264 in 2010. Paul Huet was in charge of reassembling the Figoni copy of the frame on chassis 43264, which he fitted with a new engine built by Laurent Rondoni in 2005.
In March 2016, the engine ran for the first time. In June of the same year, the cabriolet took part in its first official event, the Rallye International Bugatti in Italy.
Analysis by Pierre-Yves Laugier, May 2024. The full report of which is available on request.
The analysis of the vehicle finds an original chassis, whose frame, stamped 122, is that which matches with chassis 43264, engine 124.
On 16 January 2009, the expert and Bugatti registrar for the BOC, Mark Morris, inspected the vehicle with Hugh Conway Jr and in agreement with American historian Sandy Leith, they approved the BOC's allocation of a replacement chassis plate with number 43264.
The original radiator core was rebuilt by Star Engineering in the UK. The front axle appears to come from a Type 44. The engine, which is completely new, was fitted in 2005 by the workshop of Laurent Rondoni of Ventoux Moteurs Engineering in Carpentras. The gearbox is from the correct type and has the number 38 engraved on the body and the cover. The rear axle is from the Type 43, number 131 and axle ratio 13x54. The strut is also engraved 131. Given the logical continuation of numbers, this axle could come from the Figoni roadster chassis 43284 engine 129.
The coachwork, by a highly talented young Dutch craftsman by the name of Bert Nijhof in Lunteren, is new. The wooden frame was built by Anton Siebelink's workshop in Doetinchen in the Netherlands, but the latter passed away before the frame could be covered. It was completed using the photograph of the right-hand profile of the Figoni cabriolet chassis 43270 and engine 136 delivered new to Robert Bird following the Paris Motor Show in October 1928 as a model. The original car would be involved in an accident with its second owner in the summer of 1931, and in all likelihood destroyed, as a letter sent to its insurer seems to indicate.
Non-exhaustive list of successive owners of 43264
Bugatti factory, April 1929
Juan Zanelli, June and July 1929
Leon Duray, October 1929
John Fritsche Jr, EB 2300 plaque, Pennsylvania, 1939
XX, 9C 61 94, New York, 1945
George Banquet, Ventura, around 1947
Donald O'Connor around 1948-1949
John Nelson, 74L 521, Hollywood
XX, 3RB 733, Los Angeles, 1952
YY, spotted by B. Hamel and B. Phillips Inglewood, around 1960
Jerald Winchel, around 1965-1977
Robert Lane, Long Beach, 1979 according to a newspaper article
Nicholas Nickolenko, Los Angeles District police officer
William Smith, 1980
William O'Brien, Reno, 1983
Michael Steele & Robin Townsend around 2008
Current owner, since December 2008
Footnotes
Offerte en récompense au vainqueur du Grand Prix Bugatti 1929, au Mans
1928 Bugatti Type 43
Châssis n° 43264
• Eléments mécaniques d'origines excepté le moteur
• Cadre n°122 concordant; boite de vitesses et pont arrière du type 43
• Entièrement restauré
• Nombreuses archives retraçant son histoire
• Propriétaire actuel depuis 2008
Grand Prix Bugatti, Le Mans, 1929
Assemblé à l'usine durant l'été 1928, le châssis #43264, équipé du moteur n°124 et du vilebrequin n°159, ne sera mentionné pour la première fois que le 13 mai suivant, en 1929, dans les archives Usine, aux côtés de deux autres châssis et de l'inscription « Prix Bugatti ».
Ces trois voitures sont destinées à être les récompenses attribuées aux trois premiers du deuxième et prochain « Grand Prix Bugatti » qui se court le 1er juin 1929, sur le circuit du Mans.
Seize concurrents s'alignent au départ, en cinq catégories : un type 35B, deux type 35C, six type 35, quatre type 37A et trois type 37.
« Le grand constructeur a une fois de plus, bien fait les choses et a richement doté ce deuxième Grand Prix automobile. Trois prix de la valeur ci-dessous y sont en effet attribués : Au premier 165.000 fr. Au second 60.000 fr. Au troisième 38.000 fr. »
Le Grand Prix Bugatti 1929 est remporté par l'Italo-Chilien Juan Zanelli sur Type 35, à qui revient notre Torpédo Grand Sport 43264/124. Ce dernier décide, conformément au règlement, de l'échanger contre un Type 35B neuf à l'usine. Ainsi par lettre en date du 12 juillet 1929, Bugatti indique, à l'Automobile Club du Mans, la décision de Zanelli de refuser le type 43 et leur demande de faire rapatrier le châssis au magasin parisien 46, avenue Montaigne.
Le 10 septembre 1929, le Torpédo Grand Sport est listé dans les voitures neuves en dépôt rue du Débarcadère « 2L 300 Grand Sport n° 43264 », parmi deux autres Type 43, quatre Type 44 et une 35A.
Leon Duray (1894-1956)
Leon Duray, de son vrai nom George Stewart (1894-1956), pilote américain déjà détenteur de records aux USA sur Miller débarque avec son équipe au Havre début juillet 1929, avec comme objectif la promotion du modèle Cord L 29 par leurs exhibitions et tentatives de records.
Participant à des records à Montlhéry puis à Arpajon durant l'été 1929, Duray établit une nouvelle série de records internationaux en 1500cc Miller dont un 224 km/h sur 5 miles départ lancé ! Le 15 septembre, à Monza, avec les deux tractions avant, étant de loin le plus téméraire des pilotes en compétition, il réalise le parcours le plus rapide de sa catégorie. Duray abandonne sur problèmes de vilebrequin, mais Ettore Bugatti qui avait déjà connaissance des records réalisés en France, assiste au Grand Prix de Monza et se convainc de l'intérêt de ce type de moteur double arbres, très rapide pour une si petite cylindrée.
L'industriel de Molsheim propose alors à Duray de lui échanger ses deux tractions avant Miller type 91 contre 4 Type 43 de 2300 cc.
La presse du 30 octobre 1929 indique : « Le coureur yankee Leon Duray quitte la France à destination de l'Amérique [...] Il a emporté plusieurs voitures Bugatti 2 litres 300 à compresseur. » Le Populaire.
« Le séjour en France du coureur américain Léon Duray prend fin. Après avoir passé toute la saison estivale de ce côté-ci de l'Atlantique, établi quelques records à Linas et participé au Grand Prix de Monza, le célèbre pistard reprend le chemin de son pays. Il emporte dans ses bagages, quelques voitures que lui a cédées M. Bugatti, en échange des véhicules à traction avant, avec lesquelles il s'exhiba cet été. D'ailleurs, Léon Duray vient d'obtenir la représentation de sa marque à New-York. » L'Auto.
Type 43 aux Etats-Unis
Il semble que Duray aurait amené les 4 Bugatti à New-York où il aurait ouvert un commerce automobile et probablement vendu le torpédo Grand Sport 43264 à un amateur de la côte Est.
Le propriétaire le plus ancien connu est John Fristche Jr de « Sports Cars Inc » à Bryn Mawr, en Pennsylvanie. Celui-ci commande au carrossier Derham de Rosemont, la réalisation d'un coupé aluminium sur le châssis 43264 en 1939, comme en atteste un cliché de la voiture pris par le photographe attitré de Derham, Charles Mills, et au dos duquel figurait la mention : « Construit pour John Fritsche Jr. 1939 ».
Le collectionneur et marchand Bugatti Gene Cesari se souvenait de conversations avec J. Fritsche qui vendit quelques Bugatti, et lui confia avoir cédé un type 43 à un client de la région de la Nouvelle Angleterre... Était-ce celui-ci ?
La trace de la voiture se retrouve sur la côte Ouest à Los Angeles en 1947. Une photographie présente le Coupé Derham encore équipé d'une plaque d'immatriculation à New York en 1945 : « 9C 61 94 NY 45 », devant l'affiche du film de Raoul Walsh « The man I love », avec Ida Lupino, sorti aux USA à la mi-janvier 1947, il est annoncé sur l'affiche au « Wiltern Theater » de Los Angeles.
Peu de temps avant, un professeur de mécanique au lycée de Ventura, dénommé George Banquet aurait été responsable, avec un mécanicien Ford, sans doute Ed Iskenderian, du remplacement des pièces Bugatti par des éléments Ford, moteur et trains roulants. Il existe une photo de la voiture prise devant un atelier et portant une plaque d'immatriculation personnalisée pour l'occasion EB 2300, elle ne possède pas encore la mascotte de radiateur qu'elle arbore sur les photos dans les rues de L.A en 1947.
Selon l'historien Tom Konop, le comédien Donald O'Connor aurait lui-même fait enlever le moteur Bugatti pour un Ford 6 aux pistons bombés, à culasses spéciales par le génial Ed Iskenderian, spécialisé dans les moteurs V8 pour Hot Rod.
Il semble acquis que la transformation mécanique date d'environ 1947, plutôt pour George Blanquet qui l'aurait ensuite cédé à Donald O'Connor (1925-2003), l'une des plus grandes vedettes d'Hollywood dans les années 1950, ayant notamment remporté un Golden Globe en 1952 pour sa participation au film « Chantons sous la pluie » avec Gene Kelly ! Avec son coupé 43 Derham, il participe à plusieurs courses de côtes vers 1948-1949, dont l'épreuve de « Little Tujunga Canyon » au nord de Los Angeles.
Dans le numéro de juin 1950 de la revue « Mechanix Illustrated », le journaliste automobile de renom « oncle » Tom Mc Cahill présente la Bugatti devant le panneau d'un marchand de véhicules d'occasion qui semble être « Movieland Motors » à Hollywood. Elle conserve le moteur Ford comme l'indique le double échappement sortant du profilage arrière. A cette période un dénommé John Nelson d'Hollywood doit en être le propriétaire. La plaque d'immatriculation californienne 74L 521 est bien lisible.
Plusieurs photographies prises à Los Angeles vers 1952 montrent la voiture avec un nouveau propriétaire inconnu posant devant son véhicule, maintenant équipé de flasques de roues chromés et immatriculé 3RB 733.
Après cette période, la voiture disparait des radars bien qu'elle fut aperçue à Inglewood par Bob Hammel et Bunny Phillips, dans un état d'abandon en mauvais état, au début des années 1960.
Un article, paru dans la revue Pur Sang du Club Bugatti américain au printemps 1981, met en lumière une voiture que l'actuel propriétaire de Long Beach, Robert Lane décrit dans un magazine en 1979 : « Le châssis est Bugatti ainsi que le boitier de direction et le radiateur. La suspension et le train avant proviennent d'une Ford des années 1932-1935.Le moteur est un Ford six cylindres, dont les culasses portent l'inscription « Iskenderian ». Le moteur est équipé de trois carburateurs Rochester, montés sur une pipe d'admission chromée. La carrosserie est en aluminium avec ailes arrière en tôle. La voiture est une conduite à droite avec deux portes suicide et deux petits sièges avant, sans vraies places arrière. Les freins avant sont de grandes dimensions et à l'arrière sont ajourés pour un meilleur refroidissement. Toutes les pièces constitutives du train roulant ont été allégées par perçages. »
Il faut attendre 1997, pour que le responsable du Registre américain, Sandy Leith, annonce que la voiture a survécu et se trouve entre les mains de la famille du regretté Dr William O'Brien à Reno dans le Nevada. Il confirme que les pièces Bugatti encore sur le véhicule sont le cadre de châssis, les ressorts avant, le boitier de direction, le radiateur et le tablier. Bill O'Brien s'était mis en quête de retrouver la Bugatti disparue de D. O'Connor. Ne connaissant que ce dernier comme ancien propriétaire du véhicule, il chercha à le joindre à chaque fois que celui-ci se produisait à Las Vegas ou à Reno. Après vingt ans de chasse, O'Connor donna enfin à O'Brien le nom de l'amateur à qui il avait vendu le véhicule !
Mais l'histoire est peut-être un peu différente, car en 2015 le frère d'un dénommé Jerald Winchel raconte comment O'Connor qui avait un penchant pour la boisson aurait abandonné la voiture un soir dans une rue de Los Angeles sans jamais pouvoir la retrouver ! Mise en fourrière, elle sera ensuite vendue par la Police de la ville à J. Winchel pour 100 $ au milieu des années 1960. Il conserve le véhicule une douzaine d'années, d'abord à son domicile de Gardena, puis il le remise à Carson avant de devoir s'en séparer pour s'acquitter des frais de garage. Il est possible que la Bugatti arrive alors chez William Smith.... Les dires du frère de J. Winchel ne correspondent pas avec l'histoire connue de 43264 qui ne peut avoir été possédé par O'Connor après 1950, mais nous les livrons tels que rapportés.
Durant l'été 1983, W. O'Brien retrouve la Bugatti enchainée à un arbre en Californie du Sud. Elle appartenait alors à un certain William Smith qui l'avait acquise en 1980 auprès d'un shérif du district de Los Angeles, Nicholas Nickolenko qui l'avait sauvée in extremis de la casse. Les restes de la Bugatti 43264 sont remisés dans le garage de W. O'Brien, mais celui-ci décède avant d'avoir commencé la restauration du châssis.
Vers 2008, le châssis 43264 ainsi que les autres pièces Bugatti qui lui sont propres à savoir : les ressorts avant, les restes du tablier alu, le radiateur, et le boitier de direction, sont cédés par la famille O'Brien au restaurateur anglais Robin Townsend associé dans l'achat au collectionneur Michael Steele.
En décembre 2008, le projet est vendu à son propriétaire actuel, collectionneur, qui lui redonne vie.
L'atelier de Robin Townsend « Jarrot Engines Ltd » à Chalford, Gloucesteeshire, débute la restauration du châssis qui ne compte pas moins de 314 trous à reboucher. Le propriétaire possède un autre type 43 sur châssis neuf par Paulin en 1986, équipé d'une caisse réplique Figoni cabriolet 2 places, et décide de monter la caisse copie Figoni sur le châssis original. C'est à Simon Klopper, spécialiste Bugatti hollandais que revient le soin en 2010 de préparer le châssis 43264. Paul Huet, se charge de remonter la caisse copie Figoni sur le châssis 43264, qu'il équipe du moteur neuf réalisé par Laurent Rondoni en 2005.
En mars 2016, le moteur tourne pour la première fois. Le cabriolet participe en juin de la même année à sa première sortie officielle, le Rallye International Bugatti en Italie.
Analyse de Pierre-Yves Laugier, mai 2024, dont le compte-rendu intégral est disponible sur demande.
L'analyse du véhicule retrouve un châssis original dont le cadre estampillé 122 est celui que devrait avoir la voiture châssis 43264 moteur 124.
Le 16 janvier 2009, l'expert et responsable du Registre Bugatti pour le B.O.C, Mark Morris inspecte le véhicule avec Hugh Conway Jr et en accord avec l'historien américain Sandy Leith, ils valident l'attribution par le B.O.C d'une plaque de châssis de remplacement au numéro 43264.
Le faisceau du radiateur original fut refait par Star Engineering en Grande-Bretagne. L'essieu avant semble provenir d'un type 44. Le moteur, entièrement neuf, est monté en 2005 par l'atelier « Ventoux Moteurs Engineering » de Laurent Rondoni à Carpentras. La boite de vitesses est du bon type et porte gravée sur le corps et le couvercle le numéro 38. Le pont arrière est du type 43, numéro 131 et rapport de pont 13x54. La jambe de force est également gravée 131. Dans la suite logique des numéros, ce pont pourrait provenir du roadster Figoni châssis 43284 moteur 129.
La carrosserie, oeuvre d'un jeune artisan hollandais de grand talent, du nom de Bert Nijhof à Lunteren, est neuve. L'ossature en bois avait été réalisée par l'atelier d'Anton Siebelink de Doetinchen aux Pays-Bas, mais celui-ci décède avant d'avoir pu tôler la caisse. Elle fut réalisée en prenant comme modèle la photographie de profil droit du cabriolet Figoni châssis 43270 moteur 136 livré neuf à Robert Bird après le Salon de Paris d'octobre 1928. La voiture originale sera accidentée par son second propriétaire pendant l'été 1931, et sans doute détruite comme semble l'indiquer un courrier envoyé à son assureur.
Liste non exhaustive des propriétaires successifs de 43264
Usine Bugatti, avril 1929
Juan ZANELLI, juin juillet 1929
Leon DURAY, octobre 1929
John FRITSCHR Jr, plaque EB 2300, Pennsylvanie, 1939
XX, 9C 61 94, New York, 1945
George BANQUET, Ventura, vers 1947
Donald O'CONNOR, vers 1948-1949
John Nelson, 74L 521, Hollywood
XX, 3RB 733, Los Angeles, 1952
YY, aperçue par B. Hamel et B. Phillips, Inglewood, vers 1960
Jerald WINCHEL, vers 1965-1977
Robert LANE, Long Beach, 1979 selon article de journal
Nicholas NICKOLENKO Policier District Los Angeles
William SMITH, 1980
William O' BRIEN, Reno, 1983
Michael STEELE & Robin TOWNSEND, vers 2008
Propriétaire actuel, depuis décembre 2008
Additional information
Looking for a similar item?
Our Cars specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistSpecialist section
Auction Viewings
- 28 June 2024, 13:00 - 19:00 CEST
- 29 June 2024, 10:00 - 18:00 CEST
- 30 June 2024, 10:00 - 18:00 CEST
News and stories
Bid now on these items
