I recently purchased (last year) 37265, which is a Bugatti T37A (converted to compressor by Bunny Phillips in 1960s.

I am trying to track down it's history before the 1960s. It started off as a T37 roadster (bugatti blue), and in the 1960s, Bunny Phillips converted it to a T37A grand prix car (US racing white color) for Otto Zipper or Joe Ricketts. The roadster tail, fenders and lights went to Erik Koux, who refitted them to a replica T37A, which his son has now. (There is a picture of it under 37265 under http://www.bugattibuilder.com or under the T37 section of http://www.bugattipage.com - (http://www.bugattipage.com/b1c.htm))

Previous owners were: Jan Voboril (usa), Mike Gertner (usa), Willet Brown (usa), Joe Ricketts (usa), Otto Zipper (usa), Jean de Dobbeleer (belgium), Paris Showroom.

There is a big gap between the paris showroom and going to de Dobbeleer(in the 1950s/1960s), so this is some of the history I'm trying to fill in.

Would you have any possible history that you might know of, or anyway for me to find this out on a webpage, phone number, email, etc.?

I would greatly appreciate it.

Here is an update with more history that I have on 37265:

Here is verbage from two Pur Sang articles that give a little more history of 37265. It details that roadster body may have been put on post-war, so did it originally have a grand prix body? Erik Koux's article shares that he only received rear and fenders, so front bonnet of 37265 is probably original.

"Chassis 37265: This T37A was first delivered to the Paris show room in 1927 and came to America via De Deobbeleer, already converted as a roadster. Its first owner here was Otto Zipper who campaigned it in early ABC days during which it was written up in the SCA journal. A tattered photo from that magazine is reproduced here.
The car next passed to Joe Ricketts who took it to Bunny Phillips to have the (rear) body replaced and the car restored. Quite by coincidence, I was at Bunny's shop the day Ricketts came in (back in the early sixties), and I remember Bunny trying to persuade him to buy the then Ray Anderson T37(37207) which had just been completed. Ricketts would have none of it, insisting that he wanted to have "his own car done". Thus the car got restored, passed through Willet Brown, and is now with Mike Gertner. The roadster body (rear and fenders) got kicked around a bit and is now with Erik Koux who is fitting it to a newly built up Type 37 in France."

Erik Koux wrote, "Otto Zipper's T37A had been reborn. The car was imported to the US from France in the early fifties when it was in Paris. Enclosed are two photos of the car which appeared in a French fashion journal in 1954. When I saw an ad in Pur Sang in 1990 advertising the beautiful body for sale, I could not resist buying it with a recreation of the complete car in mind. I purchased the body from Lawrence Deutsch in October 1990 when I was still living in Denmark. Since then I have moved to France, and work has kept me from completing the car.
Finally this spring, I finished it. Apart from the fenders and the rear end, which was probably built in France just after the war in the style of Zagato, almost everything is new. I have built it as a real T37A, i.e., with magneto ignition whereas the original car was a T37 fitted with a compressor but retaining its battery and coil ignition."

Also, I found out that , "Kees Jansen doesn't think the car was ever with DeDobbeleer...he has the DeD ledgers and there is no record of 37265..." As a result, if there is any info on who might have passed the car on to Otto Zipper, this would be much appreciated!

Some pictures:

Car as it is today:


Car with the roadster body:


Link to the photo album:
http://www.bugattibuilder.com/photo/thumbnails.php?album=1697

Link to The Bugatti Register:
http://www.bugattiregister.com/wiki/index.php?title=37265

_________________
Vive la Marque !!

Hi Andrew, congratulations on owning a Bugatti and thank you for sharing your pride and joy with the rest of us. Obviously you're not French then. (Mwah, hah, haaaa) Anyhow, moving on, I'm fairly sure Kees Jansen is correct, in the second volume of the Dutch and Belgian Register all(?) the De Dobbeleer cars gets a comprehensive write-up - your T37 is not mentioned.

I did find your car in Sandy Leith's 2003 American Register, but you've covered all the information contained there-in. Kees Jansen and quite a few members of the B.I.G. (most prefer to either post under pseudonyms, or to stay anonymous by communicating through e-mails with the regulars. The Bugatti world can be surprisingly bitchy, as I'm sure you've found out already) are members of this forum, as is Sandy Leith. Perhaps they can shed more light on your car's early years?

I have a question : Have you ever run your car on those thin beaded edge tyres? If so, does your present set-up improve the handling and/or grip?

It is quite possible that your car started off with a standard G.P. body. I speak under correction here, but few, if any, T37s left the factory as chassis only. Does anyone know different?

Again, welcome to Bugattibuilder.com. It is always thrilling to make contact with owners of the real thing, even more refreshing to meet someone who loves his T37 for what it is, a damn fine Bugatti. Enough T37s have been turned into built-up T35/51s methinks.

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner

I think there was either an early 35 or a 37 which came to the UK as a rolling chassis and was fitted with a body by Jarvis (???) with unusual wings. I think it had a London reg. YM ???? posssibly.

There were a couple of type 37s fitted with coupé bodies. Supplied as rolling chassis ?

A bunch of pictures can be found under 37265 under the Type 37 Chassis numbers. When I purchased the car, the thin beaded tires were no longer on the car. It now has Dunlop tires, which I believe were required to run the Monterey Historics, as they were sponsored by Dunlop. (If I could learn how to post a picture here, I would to show you the current look, but you should be able to look them up under the chassis number page.

I have been in touch with Sandy Leith and Erik Koux, and am just trying to learn as much as I can about the car.

thanks for sharing your information!

Andrew

Send the pictures over, I will post them.

_________________
Vive la Marque !!

Here are a couple of links to the pictures on the 37265 page, which better details the recent condition of the car, and the current tires:

Here is a few more pics and the Pur Sang articles:

Yowser! Is that a Gullwing to the left and a Dino Spyder in the foreground? Splendid taste in automobiles, utterly splendid.

Best of luck with finding info on your T37, however if you've already spoken to Sandy Leith and Eric Koux (+ Kees Jansen?) I doubt very much whether us lot will be able to add much. Speaking only for myself, as a historian I'm nothing more than a rank amateur - I spent my money on Bugatti books, then quote liberally from them. (I should be ashamed of myself) Mind you some of the greatest Bugatti Researchers of our time contribute liberally to this forum ; I'm not fussy, I learn from everyone.

CGL-Wales you are quite correct, the Jarvis body was on a T35A chassis. But whether it, and the other sports bodies on the T35/37/51 were adaptations or conversions of the original G.P. body I have no idea.

Goodnight
Johan

Most recent posted picture is of the 2003 Monterey Historics, where Bugatti was the feature Marque. As a result, all the cars are Bugattis in this picture. I believe the front left car is a Bugatti Tank car, and 37265 is right in the middle of this picture. My father's Bugatti 57478 is also in the back of the picture.

Does anyone know any family members and their contact information from De Dobbeleer, Otto Zipper,Joe Ricketts, Bob Estes or Willet Brown (all previous owners of this car and Estes was Zipper's business partner), as they might be able to shed some light on the history of 37265?

Also, there was an article on this car in the SCA Journal. Did SCA become SCCA? Does anyone have a copy of this SCA Journal, that was probably in the 1960s?

Looking at this item I remembered I have a picture of the car as it looked in 1949.I have posted 2 pictures taken from the Autocar early 1950. On page 2 you can see quite clearly the 37 is the car we are talking about.Remainder of the article might also be of interest to some readers.

Kind regards Jacobug

Here are the two posts, thanks to JacoBug

Jacobug,

Any ideas who the owners were of the car at the time of the article? Where they from England or France?

thanks,

Andrew