As close as you can get: chassis #4323

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Enough has been written about the Type 35 Bugatti. Enough has been said about its virtues, its character, and its few weaknesses. Enough has been reported about the replicas. Enough, enough, more than enough. So if you are ready to buy one you know what you're up to. You know what to look for and know about the pittfalls. You studied the books. You listened to the experts, maybe even paid a few of them.

Now what we have here is a non-original, never winning car and still you need it, still you want it. You don't care about the fact that it didn't race at the Lyon GP of 1924. You don't care it was only the reserve car. You don't care it never won in later years. You don't care that it crashed at Brooklands in 1934. You don't care that it is an umpteen owner car. You don't care that it ended up competing with a Brescia engine and later even had an MG TF unit under its bonnet. And that the original engine got lost many decades ago.
Reason why you want is in the genes of the car,  it is different from the 'the original' in many ways.

Many engineering features are unlike the production T35. The chassis is somewhat flimsier in Brescia style, the rear axle housings are handmade, the radiator is narrower, and so on. Reason for all that: chassis #4323 is at the roots of  the most famous, successful, envied, and copied racing cars of all time. It is the blueprint, the pre-production car, 'the prototype' of all Type 35s following, used and tested by Ettore himself. How much closer do you want to be? (Bonhams Monterey, August 16)

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