The first Le Mans streamliner: the Bugatti Type 32 'Tank'

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We wrote about the Chenard & Walcker Z1 ‘Tank’ last week (click) and referred to Bugatti’s Type 32 ‘Tank’ as its inspiration. Now, let’s take a look at the streamliners from Molsheim - here they are in all their glory.

With their 90 bhp, two-litre inline eights and underslung chassis under streamlined aluminium bodies, these avant-garde cars with claimed top speeds of 112 mph (180 km/h) certainly seemed ahead of their time in 1923 – now a century ago, no less. However, they weren’t all that successful. These beautiful pictures, taken in front of the mayor’s house in Tours, show four of the five Tanks made just before their finest hour, the 1923 Grand Prix of the Automobile Club de France, held in Tours. Their finest hour it may have been, but any hopes of victory were short-lived and overshadowed by problems. The Type 32's short wheelbase and light weight caused it to lift at speed, which made them uncompetitive, and their drivers weren’t very lucky, either. One  retired just after the start of the race when it was involved in an accident. The second fell out after just three laps and the third after twelve. Just one of the four cars finished, in third place overall. Bugatti’s next racing model, the celebrated Type 35, ensured the little Tanks were quickly forgotten and overshadowed them in every respect. That certainly does not mean, however, that they aren’t intriguing pieces of Bugatti history, which played an important part in the marque’s racing development.

Back in 2021, we did a little survey about the few Tanks made: the four works racers seen here plus the fifth car, a different-bodied prototype (click here). That handful of Tanks is shrouded in mystery today, with just one and a half survivors plus one replica known. In the article, we asked whether our readers knew more about other possible survivors, but it didn’t result in any conclusive comments. Perhaps we should give it another try now?

Words: Jeroen Booij; pictures Bugatti

Article originally published August 7th, 2023

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