Bugatti Type 57 "Galibier" Berline, 1934-1939

Thanks to World War 2, Bugatti's efforts to replace 1934+ Type 57 models were put on hold.  Patron Ettore Bugatti died in 1947.  Post-war efforts to productionize Type 57 replacements failed.   Even if they had been partly successful, government efforts to restructure the French automoble industry helped the demise of firms making upscale cars.

Type 57 Bugattis came in four body types: (1) conduite intèrieur or Berline -- 4-door sedans; (2) "coach" -- 2-door sedans; (3) cabriolet -- convertible coupe; and (4) coupé.  These were marketed under the respective names "Galibier," "Ventoux," "Stelvio," and "Atalante."  Some background on Galibiers is here.

Galibiers and Ventouxs were made by Bugatti, some custom body examples excepted.  Bugatti-designed Stelvio bodies were sub-contracted to nearby coachbuilding firm Gangloff Frères.  Atalantes appeared in 1936 and apparently were Bugatti-built, aside from the usual buyer option for ordering a custom body.

In the Gallery below are examples of Type 57 Galibiers for each year of their main production run that lasted from late 1933 to perhaps early 1940.

Unless identified, images below are from photo sources unknown to me.

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1934 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via RM Sotheby's Auctions
The Type 57 was introduced in October, 1933 at the annual Salon de l'Automobile de Paris.  Earliest versions had exterior door handles for both front and rear doors, but that detail was soon changed, as this photo indicates.

1935 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via Tous les voitures Françaises 1935
Included in this scan is the the Ventoux, or "coach" Type 57 variant.

1936 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via Artcurial Auctions

1937 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via Gooding Auctions
This sorry looking car is the only true 1937 Galibier I could locate.

1937 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier
This is an interesting design, but I am having serious trouble dealing with it.  In the authoritative Tous les voitures françaises 1937 by René Bellu, page 16, this photo is captioned La berline Galibier sortie au cours de l'anée 1937.  On the other hand, it is illustrated as the Galibier in Bugatti's 1938 Type 57 brochure.  But note that it shares the hood-side air vent design as the 1937 car in the previous image.  Moreover, it's the only photo of this car that I could find.

1938 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier
This 1938 Galibier has a slightly different body than the supposed 1938 Galibier in the brochure just noted.  For example, rear window profiles differ, and include segmented glass (the previous image suggests no or partial window glass).  That car was most likely a prototype, the one shown here, a production car.

1938 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier - via Tous les voitures françaises 1938
Another production 1938 Galibier.

1939 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier
Basic 1939 Galibiers had headlights blended into the catwalks, as seen here.  However, customers could and did order conventional, freestanding headlights.

Lady Cholmondeley's 1939 Bugatti Type 57 Berline

Pictured above is the Marchioness Cholmondeley in her Bugatti Type 57 saloon built by the French carrosserie Figoni & Falaschi and delivered early in 1939.

Bugatti's Type 57 , produced 1934-1940, was the original Bugatti firm's last true production model.

The factory built production bodies for "Galibier" 4-door sedans, but buyers could purchase a chassis for a cochbuilding firm to body.  One of the most interesting of the latter is today's subject, a 1939 Bugatti Type 57 delivered to Lady Sybil, wife of George Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley (Wikipedia entry here).  A Bugatti Review post titled "The Cholmondeley Bugattis" is here

By the way, Cholmondeley is pronounced CHUM-ly.

I have no source information for the images below.

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The final two Cholmondeley Bugattis.  Lady Sybil's car is at the left (chassis 57739).   At the right is George's 1938 Type 57 Atalante coupé (chassis 57698).

Front quarter view.  As was usual for custom-bodied cars, the front of the car from the cowling forward was factory-made.  That said, the bumper is not stock, whereas the windshield apparently is.

The after part of the body is via Figoni & Falaschi.  Even the doors are hinged differently from production Galibiers.

Side view photographed post- World War 2.  A sensuous, very French, aerodynamically-inspired design.

A photo of similar vintage.  This proves that the car survived the war.  Does it still exist?  Assuming it wasn't destroyed by accident, it might still be found.  Perhaps it has resided in a private collection.  My internet search turned up no indication of it being auctioned or otherwise publicly advertised for sale.  Nor did I notice any photos of it taken in automobile museums.

1993 Bugatti EB112 by Giugiaro

The car pictured above in front of the abandoned Automobili Bugatti factory in Campogalliano, Italy, near Modena, is the second of three Bugatti EB112s.  Some background on the EB112 is here, and on that car is here.

The iconic Bugatti brand name tempted revival more than once following the original firm's demise not long after World War 2.  The brand is now part of Volkswagen's portfolio, and production Bugattis are supercars that I find difficult to relate to.

The other serious revival took place around 1990.  A factory was built, engines designed, and Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign was hired to create the styling.  A prototype car was completed in 1993, before the Bugatti firm foundered.  During liquidation, parts for more cars were bought by Gildo Pallanca Pastor of Monaco and used for creation of two more cars that were completed around the year 2000.  One of these was sold early 2002 for what must have been a substantial price.

I'm not sure about sources for the images in this post.  A few are likely from Italdesign, others are from Schaltkulisse, the Munich firm dealing with the sale of the No. 2 car.  But there might be other sources as well.

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It is likely that the body was windtunnel-tested.  The traditional Bugatti horseshoe grille design is retained, though aligned with the frontal shape of the hood.

The crease along the centerline of the car harkens to the famous Bugatti 57SC Atlantic.  It extends across the backlight window, fading to the Bugatti logo on the trunk lid.

Front view, where the horseshoe grille predominates, due to its chrome trim and the lack of chrome elsewhere.  This is the for-sale car.  The car in the previous two images is owned by Italdesign or its successor, so far as I know.

The theme is rounded shapes, unlike the angular designs Giugiaro created in the 1970s.

The roofline is rather high at the rear, but not too high, as in the unfortunate case of the 2010 Porsche Panamara.

The fastback curve reminds me of 1940s General Motors designs, though it lacks the sleeker boat-tail plan profile of those cars.

Giorgetto Giugiaro with his creation.  It's a nice design, and with its V-12 motor it had the ingredients of a successful car (though competition in that price-prestige bracket has always been fearsome).

1993 Designs for Two Attempted Brand Re-Creations

The original Bugatti company failed a few years after World War 2.  In the late 1980s a revival attempt was made.  A factory was built.  Engineering was worked on to near-completion.  A famous design firm was hired to create a prototype sedan, and one car was built.  Then the company went broke in 1995 before production could begin.  The Bugatti brand was later acquired by Volkswagen.

In that general time-frame, Aston Martin, then owned by Ford, explored reviving its Lagonda brand.   Again, a running prototype sedan was built.  And the project was abandoned so as to have Aston Martin focus on its own brand.  Later, Lagonda was revived for a few years.

Some parallels: Both automobile brands were strongly upscale.  One protoype sedan was built.  The stylists were highly qualified.  Those prototypes appeared in 1993, and therefore were influenced by the same design fashions and by the same state-of-the-art factors.

Some background on the Bugatti EB112 is here, and that on the Aston Martin Lagonda Vignale is here.   (The name Vignale, that of a former Italian coachbuilder, was owned by Ford, as was the Ghia coachbuilding firm that made the car.  I often wonder what folks in marketing departments are thinking.)

As for styling, the Bugatti was designed by the great Giogetto Giugiaro of Italdesign.  The Lagonda's exterior design was by Moray Callum, who later held important styling positions at Ford.

Besides both being sedans, the cars were of similar size.  Wheelbases were 122 inches (3100 mm) for the Bugatti and 122.75 inches (3118 mm) for the Lagonda.

Now let's take a look.  Images below are mostly from the carmakers, coachbuilders, or a firm selling an EB112 built from leftover parts.

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Bugatti EB112
One of two cars completed after Bugatti folded.  Note the traditional Bugatti horseshoe-shaped grille, here blended into the frontal streamlining.

Aston Martin Lagonda Vignale
Oddly, the Lagonda's grille appears to be a flipped version of the EB112's.  The only traditional Lagonda feature here is the vertical grille bars, not the shape of the frame.  I'm pretty sure Callum was unaware of what Giugiaro was doing in terms of grille design.

EB112 side view.

Lagonda side view.  The Bugatti has a higher aft passenger compartment greenhouse profile than Lagonda's.  The latter features a mild, quasi- notchback shape suggestive of traditional British early postwar saloon (sedan) styling.  The clean fenderline and  smooth sides recall Gerald Palmer's 1953-1957 Riley Pathfinder that I wrote about here.

The EB112 is actually 1.7 inches (43 mm) shorter than the Lagonda, but seems more massive from this viewpoint.  A crease runs down the centerline of the top, creating a two-piece backlight window.  This crease was a gesture to the famous Bugatti 57SC Atlantic design.

Logonda's aft styling, harkening to traditions, yields what looks like less luggage space than the Bugatti's.

Closer look at rear end styling.

Both designs are far simpler than today's fashion.  The Lagonda looks very English from this perspective -- the smoothness, the 1947-size backlight window, the UK-size license plate framing.  Bumper protection seems questionable, and would have been upgraded for production cars.  The tail light assembly extending abaft from the side trim strip is a nice touch.
To summarize, the Bugatti's styling is more contemporary-international (with gestures to Bugatti iconography), whereas the Lagonda's is a clever harking to traditional English design, yet conforming to the emerging aerodynamic standards of 1993.  Aside from the curious grille-inversion feature, I find the Lagonda's styling more interesting (though perhaps less attractive) than the Bugatti's.

Bugatti Type 46 and 50 Superprofilés

General Motors' styling boss Harley Earl regularly went to Europe.  Partly for fun and relaxation, I suppose.  But the purpose was to keep informed about styling trends there, usually via the Paris early fall Salon de l'Automobile that included examples of custom bodies on luxury cars.

It was such custom or low-volume cars that could express various possible directions for future mass-produced bodies.  The Bugattis featured in this post were highly aerodynamic in spirit (if not actuality) for the very early 1930s.  For example, like the featured Bugattis, in mid-decade several British cars featured conventional front ends and sleek passenger compartments and tails.

The Bugattis are Type 46 and Type 50 models.  They are coupés called Superprofilé, having to do with a strongly raked flat windshield.  The existing Type 46 example shown below has a genuine Bugatti Type 46 chassis and motor, but its body is a replica of the original Superprofilés, as explained here.  It seems that only one original 46 Coupé Superprofilé exists, and is in the Schlumpf museum in France.  Regardless, this recreation sold for a very high price at auction.

The Type 50 Superprofilé was a notchback, not a fastback design.  Images below were taken many years ago.  A few cars might still exist.

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Type 46 Superprofilé

Snapshot of a Type 46.  The two-tone paint design is obscured because the two colors (likely black and dark red) appear dark.  I'd prefer the Superprofilés to be monochrome because the two-tone scheme detracts from the body design.  But who am I to quarrel with Ettore and Jean Bugatti?

Another example, perhaps at the 1929 Salon de l'Automobile.

Side view of 1931 model auctioned by Bonhams showing the extreme rake of the windshield.

Right front quarter.

This shows the fastback styling.  Small back windows due to use of flat glass.  The shaping of the aft ends of the rear fenders is odd, but perhaps was intended to avoid buildup of mud or ice aft of the wheels.

Type 50 Superprofilé

The Type 50 version seems less streamlined, though it's a more practical car due to its large trunk and rear-mounted spare tires.  (A Type 46 spare tire would have been inside the body, taking up storage room.)

Images of a 1930 Type 50 Superprofilé.

1932 Bugatti Type 50 Coupé Superprofilé - 1964 Pebble Beach concours d'élégance winner photo

The Nethercutt Collection

It seems I only saw some of the cars on view when I visited the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, California recently (links here and here.)  I simply took in the museum part and failed to opt for the guided tour of the "Collection" segment that featured super-classic cars.  Will correct that error next time I'm in southern California.

One surprising feature of the Nethercutt is that admission is free!

The cars on display when I visited were mostly American, and from the 1920s and 1930s.  There was a row or two of antiques (which don't interest me because there are from before the professional styling era) along with a few post- World War 2 examples.  That suited me because the 1930s interest me greatly.

Posts from time to time will include photos I took at the Nethercutt.  For now, I feature an atypical example seen near the museum entrance, a 1931Type 51 Bugatti that was re-bodied by the Louis Dubos firm in 1936 when the Type 57SC Atlantic was Bugatti's most stylish design and which must have served as inspiration for the car on view.

Click on the images below to enlarge.

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The Information plaque.

Bugatti Type 101: The Last Gasp

The final Bugatti version created by the original company was the Type 101.  The link lists eight 101s built, but I consider only six of those legitimate.  Of the others, one was a 1935 car converted by the factory.  Another, based on an altered 101 chassis, was a 1965 design by Virgil Exner, former Chrysler styling vice president.  The remaining six cars appeared 1951-1954, the time I consider Bugatti's last gasp as a car builder.

Founder and patron Ettore (Hector) died 21 August 1947 and his son Jean, who styled many important Bugattis, died while testing a Bugatti racing car 11 August 1939.  They were the key players during the company's heyday.  Jean's younger brother Roland attempted to keep the brand going, and the Type 101 was developed under his guidance.

Below are images of five Type 101 Bugattis.  Included are some photos I took at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles when it featured a large display of Bugattis from the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard.

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Publicity material from 1951 or '52.  These seem to be Gangloff designs, neither of which was built.

1952 Gangloff cabriolet that is now displayed at the Schlumpf Collection in France.

1951 Gangloff coupé , also at the Schlumpf Collection.

Yet another Schlumpf Bugatti Type 101, the only four-door version.  Body by Guilloré.  Rear is seen in the mirror.

Coupé by Jean Antem (1954).

Here is the 1952 Bugatti Type 101C cabriolet by Gangloff that I photographed.  It is essentially the same as the car in the Schlumpf Collection.

Side view.

And the rear.

Stylists had a difficult time when asked to create new designs incorporating both traditional brand visual cues and the integrated, "envelope" type bodies expected post- World War 2.  The most important and most difficult item to deal with was the design of a traditional grille.  At one extreme was Rolls-Royce, where traditional grilles were grafted onto more contemporary bodies with little change other than shortening.  Then there was Delahaye, which finally was distorting its traditional grilles almost beyond recognition by the early 1950s.  Packard's 1951 redesign retained key traditional elements while adding fashionable thick, sculpted chromework and reorienting grille profiles from vertical to horizontal.

The Bugatti designs shown above retained the tradition horseshoe grille shape.  The envelope bodies by Gangloff were simple designs where the usual bulky appearance of many slab-sided postwar cars was mitigated by being less tall than the afflicted cars.  If the unbuilt designs in the first image had materialized, they probably would have appeared dignified, but slightly old-fashioned thanks to the vertical grille and the narrow placement of the headlights.  Perhaps worse, such Bugattis would have lacked the flair of 1930s designs by Jean.