Bugatti Type 57C at Bonhams Greenwich 2015 Auction

A supercharged 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Cabriolet with coachwork by Gangloff will headline the Bonhams Greenwich 2015 auction, scheduled for May 31 at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Introduced in 1934, the Type 57 represented a new era for the company under the direction of Jean Bugatti, son of “Le Patron,” Ettore Bugatti.It featured numerous new technical features including its dual-overhead camshaft, five main bearings, 8-cylinder engine, a transmission fixed directly to the engine with synchromesh on the top three gears, and a single plate clutch. Jean exercised control over both the running gear and the aesthetic design of its coachwork and the company began to offer a series of factory-styled bodies, most taking their names from famed mountain passes, such as Ventoux and Stelvio.

As one of the most successful models the company ever produced, the Type 57 would, leading up to WWII, be successively uprated and improved in both engineering and styling terms. This particular 57C represents that later derivative of the definitive Type 57, being an original supercharged example, and sporting the final version of their cabriolet built by Gangloff coachbuilders.

The Bugatti offered at the Bonhams Greenwich 2015 auction is best known for its long ownership in the collection of car collector and Bugatti historian Miles Coverdale of Long Island. Mr. Coverdale acquired the Type 57C in the early 1960s and would retain it until his death in 2000, keeping it over the course of four decades in the company of a number of other Bugattis.

This 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Gangloff Cabriolet (Estimate: $900,000 – $1,100,000) will be offered at Bonhams Greenwich Concours d’Elegance Auction on May 31st, 2015 held at the waterfront Roger Sherman Baldwin Park in Greenwich, Connecticut, just 30 miles north of New York City. Consignments for this sale are now invited. For additional information, visit Bonhams Greenwich.

[Source: Bonhams]