The first Bugatti.


ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,769
Scottsdale, Arizona
Gentlemen,

I'm not often blown away by very old, crank start, vintage cars but at last Saturday's C&C in Scottsdale there were two Bugatti's sitting across the aisle from my GT and 100 years separated them. A 2013 Veyron and a 1913 Type 13 which was the first production Bugatti. The owner drove it to that event at 75mph and said it will do nearly 100 flat out. All original and pristine I was slack jawed looking at it. Overhead cam and 4 valve heads in 1913!! No radiator fan so the little race car needs to get moving soon after starting it. The owner has 13 vintage race cars and this Bug is the 2nd NEWEST car in his stable. At a future event in AZ he would like to host the GT Forum at his garage for a tour. Cheers.

Chip
 

Attachments

  • bug5.jpg
    bug5.jpg
    218.4 KB · Views: 281
  • bug3.jpg
    bug3.jpg
    168.1 KB · Views: 279
  • bug4.jpg
    bug4.jpg
    142.1 KB · Views: 278
  • bug2.jpg
    bug2.jpg
    177.9 KB · Views: 269
  • bug1.jpg
    bug1.jpg
    176.7 KB · Views: 230

GKW05GT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 28, 2011
2,755
Fayetteville, Ga.
That is an amazing story and what a trip it must be running 75+ in a 100 year old + priceless classic.
 

Special K

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Aug 23, 2016
1,775
Franklinton, LA
Wow! I love seeing how “creative” some designers were for their time. That has to be one of, if not the first OHC engine in an automobile.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

txviper

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 31, 2007
613
Man, how much is that car worth?
 

DakotaGT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 9, 2012
1,694
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
That must have been some truly astounding engineering for its day. Remarkable auto.
 

FGT899

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 10, 2013
300
Phoenix, AZ
What a piece of history. Nice guy. He said he spent 1600 hours restoring it after finding it in Sweden (if I can remember correctly). He said he has to go to auto museums all over Europe to collect vintage parts to restore his cars. I believe the range was $3-6M.
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,267
Kalama, Free part of WA State
The quintessence of "Steam punk."
 

MJSFRX

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 26, 2010
813
Carlsbad, CA
That's pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing Chip
 

SBR

GT Owner
Aug 23, 2009
206
The instrument cluster is gorgeous, very cool car.
 

txviper

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 31, 2007
613
What a piece of history. Nice guy. He said he spent 1600 hours restoring it after finding it in Sweden (if I can remember correctly). He said he has to go to auto museums all over Europe to collect vintage parts to restore his cars. I believe the range was $3-6M.

That is just awesome. And sometimes we complain of having a hard time getting parts for our cars, lol