Bugatti Type 50 Grand Sport Recreation

The original Bugatti Type 50 was produced between 1931 and 1933 with a 4.9-litre DOHC straight-eight engine mated to a scaled-down version of the legendary Royale chassis. Vastly expensive, luxurious and complex, only around 65 are thought to have been made in total, all of them road cars and mainly coupes, although there were also three Le Mans race cars. 

However, drawings and brochures also exist of another Type 50, the Grand Sport, which was probably never actually completed. Pictures of the chassis of this car are believed to have inspired the construction of this magnificent replica. Work on the car started in 1985, with two brothers in Stratford commissioning Bob Lewis (then MD of Alcester-based Projects of Distinction), to construct the chassis using drawings and photographs of an original T50S chassis featured in a Bugatti book thought to have been written by Hugh Conway.

The ash frame was constructed by Bob Jones (later of Teal Cars fame) and is an exact copy of a genuine T49 Bugatti frame that he was in the process of restoring at the time. The aluminium bodywork was made by Vintage Wings of Manchester.

Over £40,000 was apparently spent on the car during the next few years until the project ground to a halt. It was then taken over by Tim Perry of TJP Classic Services who finally completed it, circa 1992, with much additional expenditure.

The car is powered by a fully rebuilt Nissan L20A straight-six engine dating from 1976 and producing some 115bhp mated to a four-speed manual gearbox. Braking is by discs at the front and drums to the rear, while the suspension features period-looking friction dampers at the front and modern telescopics at the back. The engine has been cosmetically modified and the turned aluminium engine bay detailed to add period flavour. A two-speed radiator fan has also been fitted to keep the engine cool in heavy traffic.

The cockpit features blue leather seats and doorcards, a turned aluminium and rosewood dashboard with brass ringed instruments, a map reading light and replica Bugatti foot pedals for a vintage look. Leather bonnet straps, P100-style headlamps, a chromed replica Bugatti radiator cap and polished aluminium gear knob (both monogrammed ‘EB\') complete the period impression.

The car was covered some 3,000 miles since completion and is said to be totally reliable. Said to drive well and to cruise comfortably with modern traffic (with an old car ‘feel’), a top speed of 80mph is possible, if you can stand the wind-rush! It certainly fired up instantly and ran swiftly as we chased it along the lanes to take these photographs. It has just been freshly serviced prior to the auction with all fluids changed and will be driven some 50 miles to the saleroom.

The current vendor has owned it since 1998 and a reluctant sale will finance future visits to Australia, to see more of his family and new grandson - appropriately named ‘Miles’!

Currently taxed and with an MOT until November 2013, it comes with a large file of documents and photographs charting the build process, a box full of useful spares plus a video produced by Carlton Television featuring this car on programme no.26 of their 1999 series ‘The Motor Show’.

The V5C records it as a ‘Bugatti two-axle rigid body sports’, first registered in April 1985, and the icing on the cake is a very distinctive (and transferable) FUF 700 number plate, which would have originally been issued in Brighton in 1939. Altogether a most appealing, useable and beautifully built motorcar that is guaranteed to draw a crowd wherever it goes. After all, you will never see a real T50 Grand Sport, so this is probably the next best thing...

To see more information about this car, please use the YouTube link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10VxLqjTIik