497
A 1913 eight-valve type 17. (8-valve cars built between 1910 and 1913 were described as type 13, 15 or 17 according to their wheelbase : 2m, 2.4m or 2.55m).
The car's engine number is not known but was likely to have been in the range 135 to 155. (Known engine numbers are 482-133, 484-130, 500-156, 506-155). It was fitted with a “squared” radiator and supplied to agent Theodor Weinstock in Stuttgart (Germany) on 21st August 1913. He sold it to a local architect named Liedecke. It was fitted with "hinterfederung" and double-phaeton coachwork by Durr for 1,300 Reichs Marks. Total price was 4,300 Reichs Marks.
The car later found its way to Paris where it was offered for sale by pre-war agent Huet, the dealer who sold the first Molsheim Bugatti (361).
In 1927 it was purchased by an Angoulême garage owner named A. Guadichaud. In 1972 it was “discovered” by UK “Bugatti Hunter” Henry Posner. Pictures were taken at that time which now appear in the Bugatti Trust archives. In Spring, 1973 it was listed in Conway’s Register ("Bugantics" Vol.36/1/62) still with Gaudichaud. In 1989 Conway listed the car in his “Bugatti Magnum” (p.514) but with no details apart from the type number. It was one of twenty eight-valve cars known to have survived at that time.
It was later said to have been acquired by Jacques Toussaint acting as the agent for two unknown car dealers. However, it was him who displayed it in 2006 to participants in the rally for “Brescia” owners organised by Patrick Friedli. The car’s engine was then stated to be 614 (unlikely to be the correct original number). In March, 2008 a picture of the car appeared on the internet showing the car as a rolling chassis fitted with bonnet and bulkhead (painted off-white), seats, and pale blue wooden wheels. A registration number 409 6-B3 is painted on the base of the radiator. It is now listed in the ownership of Mahy.
The car's mechanical condition is unknown to the author and there is no record of it having run in recent years.
(Other cars delivered to Weinstock in 1913 were 511, 524, 537, 538, 550, 597, 606, 611. Other type 17s delivered in 1913 were 488, 495, 517, 528, 537, 538, 544, 549, 550, 559, 569, 578).
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