What is it?: Mystery Bugatti body.
This mystery Bugatti body recently came out of a long-term storage, from the owners of the chassis that it’s supposed to belong to. The body is of a 1927 Type-40 Bugatti. This body was found at the location of the original owner of the chassis over 50 years ago. It’s former owner was at the time, due to age and health, unfortunately not able to tell the story of this car and body anymore.
After the current owners had the chassis and body for over 50 years, they recently sold the pair and I came in possession of this fine piece of automotive history. Since the coachbuilder is unknown to me, I would like to ask the experts on this website and share what I already think I know.
Knowing that the car has been bought new in the Lille area of France, this body has very likely been built somewhere between Molsheim and there, leaving us with a wide range of possible coachbuilders.
Our most probably bet is that it is a Pourtout body. The reason for this is that they have constructed a famous Lancia Belna with the same door style, same rear end with spare wheel and the same narrow fender setup. The style of the door seems to be quite rare. With the hinges at the front-side and this typical shape.
Pourtout made much more cars with the similar rear, like this Lancia Belna Eclipse, which have the narrow space above the rear-fender, sweeping all the way down to the end.
Another feature that Pourtout bodied cars had more often was the disappearing top. This Bugatti body has a soft-top that folds away behind the rear seats, completely out of sight when folded down. Although the famous Eclipse roof, which Pourtout called it, was designed by Georges Paulin for Pourtout in 1935 (8 years after my body was built), there are examples of earlier soft-top foldaway roofs to be found from this coachbuilder.
If anyone has any information about my body, please share. I do not know for sure if I’m searching in the right direction with Pourtout, so anything is appreciated.
Article written by Jos van Genugten
(images from Wikipedia: Carrosserie Pourtout )
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Mystery Bugatti body
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