Bugatti Type 35 is a Most Amazing Car

Bugatti’s Type 35 was a successful and most amazing racing car in the 1920s and 1930s. The eight-spoke alloy wheels are a distinctive and innovative – Bugatti characteristic.

Italian engineer Ettore Bugatti started building ars under his own name in 1909, but it was the Type 35 of 1924 which really put Bugatti on the map. This vehicle is the archetypal bugatti: light, fast and built like a Swiss watch, advanced in some areas but frustratingly old-fashioned in others. The characteristic eight-spoke alloy wheels often fitted to Type 35s were one novelty, in an era when wire-spoke alloy wheels often fitted to Type 35s were one novelty, in an era when wire-spoke wheels were the norm. The 2.0 litre straight eight engine was also innovative, with three valves per cylinder and five ball race main bearings allowing it to reach 6000 rpm and develop 90 bhp. It also produced a very distinctive sound, likened at the time to ‘tearing calico’.

Despite Bugatti’s opposition to superchargers, a Roots-type blower was added for the 128 bhp Type 35C. There was also a cheaper and less powerful Type 35A with plain bearings. Later the engine was stroked to 2.3 litres for the unsupercharged (and very rare) 35T and the supercharged 35B. The same chassis was also made available with 1.5 litre engines in the Type 37 and Type 39.

Bugatti’s Type 35 was an extraordinarily successful racing car, winning hundreds of events including five consecutive Targas Florio in Sicily and the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix in 1929. It must also rank as one of the prettiest cars of the pre-war era. It’s a combination which makes the Type 35 one of the most sought-after and most valuable of collectors cars.