Bugatti Type 35

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At the 1928 Alessandria Circuit race, Pietro Bordino with his mechanic, Pietro Lasagni, had died in practice. Trying to avoid a dog running in front of his Bugatti, Bordino bumped into the large Alsatian. The canine jammed his steering. The car crashed over a earth wall and ended upside down in a ravine of the Tanaro river, where Bordino and his mechanic drowned before help arrived. In honor of this great Italian driver, the Alessandria race became known thereafter the Coppa Pietro Bordino on the Circuito Bordino.

It is said that the car was T35B #4866, which Bordino had acquired from Umberto Pugno, but this serial is also reported for the T35C of Paul Morand. Anybody able to clarify?

This is one of those fascinating cars where 2 respected historians differ. Conway has the following information :

Chassis Number : 4866
Engine Number : 175
A T35 (C , Grand Prix 2004 ; TC , Magnum) delivered to Paul Morand, Paris March 1928.

However, Raffaelli has the following, and I quote : "On 14 March 1928, Pietro Bordino left Molsheim by road for Turin with the temporary registration 6560 WW 20. Pietro Bordino, nicknamed Il Diavolo Rosso (the Red Devil) was the last driver to win a G.P. with a Fiat. After his victory at Monza on 4 September 1927, Fiat withdrew from competition. For the 1928 season Bordino bought a Bugatti, which he entered for the Vth Circuito di Alessandria on 22 April 1928. Pietro Bordino was killed during the practice session after hitting a dog, which jammed his steering and sent the Bugatti into the river which ran alongside the circuit. After the accident, the car was returned to the works where it was completely reconditioned . On 28 May 1929, the author Paul Morand left Molsheim by road for Paris with the temporary registration 1655 WW 5 : 4866 has been reborn! Registered 5582 RB 9 in the name of Paul Morand, Paris. Sold on 10 July 1930 to Max Fourny and registered 3289 XP 1 (Somme)."

Then the author included a full list of race entries for Fourny with 4866 till the Dieppe Grand Prix 26 July 1931, when the car overturned on the 36th lap coming to rest next to Wimmille's T51 which crashed earlier. Raffaelli included a photo of this scene amongst others on pp. 170/1.

Michael, neither Raffaelli nor Conway mentions Umberto Pugno. This is the first time that I have encountered such differing histories for the same car. I presume that Conway got his information from the factory documents, but Raffaelli does not mention his sources. Does anyone know more?

Regards
Johan

PS. Thanks for the photos Bugatti91

No idea where I have the Pugno information from, possibly based on the registration (12545-TO). However, it seems that this probably is wrong. may be his was #4867, which in May 1927 was delivered to Bugatti Agency Alberto Musy of Torino.

To be honest, the engine number 175 does not fit into 1928 and also not to #4866, but into spring 1929.

#4863 - T35C - Engine # 111
#4864 - T35C - Engine # 153
#4865 - T35C - Engine # 100
#4866 - T35C - Engine # 175
#4867 - T35B - Engine # 137T
#4868 - T35B - Engine # 132T
#4870 - T35C - Engine # 141
#4871 - T35C - Engine # 139
#4872 - T35B - Engine # 163T

Therefore it would make sense that the car was first delivered to Bordino in March 1928 as T35B, and then was rebuilt as T35C with new engine in early 1929. Conway has the first delivery date correct, but not the corresponding customer.

Yes Michael you are right about the out of sequence engine number. Looking at engine numbers in Grand Prix Bugatti I discovered the following :

4914 / eng. 170T / 35B / May. 1929 / Friderich, Nice
4921 / eng. 171 / 35C / Mar. 1929 / Guy Bouriat, Paris
4935 / eng. 172T / 35B / Jun. 1929 / Lehoux, Algeria
4942 / eng. 173T / 35B / Jul. 1929 / Guy Bouriat, Paris
4965 / eng. 174T / ? / Jun. 1938 / Beri, Paris *
4866 / eng. 175 / 35C / Mar. 1928 **
4927 / eng. 176T / 35B / Feb. 1929 / Matarazzo, San Paolo
4930 / eng. 177 / 35C / May. 1929 / Guy Bouriat, Paris
4941 / eng. 178 / 35C / Jun. 1929 / Friderich, Nice
4928 / eng. 179 / 35C / May. 1929 / Jean de l'Espee, Guethary***
4931 / eng. 180 / 35C / May. 1929 / Guy Bouriat, Paris

*Conway's notation : No doubt this was a second delivery

**As you said Michael, this must be the first delivery date. I presume this engine was fitted during the works rebuild - the delivery date of 28 May to Morand seems to correspond with the rest of the 170 - 180 series engine numbers.

***Conway's notation : 1928 Targa Florio Works car (This makes no sense to me - the 1929 Targa Works entry was 4923 / 191 / 06/1929 /Karrer, Zurich)

A final thought, Raffaelli gives the impression that he only included surviving cars' histories - is 4866 still around and what engine and frame numbers does it carry?

Regards
Johan

Your theories are interesting, but the problem is that if the engine was replaced by a later one, what was the original engine number and what happen to this engine. Because you will probably notice that there is no engine number not allocated.
Maybe the engine was rebuilt later and fitted to a later car, which one.