1923 Bugatti T32, what happened to 'the Tank'?

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Some time ago we posted an article with photos of a visit to Cité de l'Automobile in Mulhouse. One of the photos shown was of a Bugatti T32. We wondered what was still known about these cars. The 1923 Bugatti T32, also known as 'the Tank', was like a streamlined racing car that most of us can draw. The design was, like many Bugattis, very innovative. Whether it deserved the beauty prize for looks is for you to judge.

What we do know is that the car did not achieve the greatest success in the 1923 French Grand Prix. Of the four participating T32s, it was Ernest Friderich who was most successful with third place after covering a distance of just under 800km in 7 hours and 22.4 seconds. The winner was Henry Segrave in a Sunbeam.

The engine of a T32 was an 8 cylinder, 1991cc (bore: 60mm, stroke: 88mm) producing around 90bhp. The shape of the aluminium body was based on the theory that one square foot of frontal area equals 5bhp. The theory may have been good, but they forgot the possible lift factor. And at 115mph, the cars reached the point where they 'came off the ground'.

Fun fact: it is the only Bugatti with an ‘underslung’ chassis, the axles are over the chassis. Because it was not a success, the T35 was built with a different chassis (and did become a huge success).

As mentioned, there were originally five Bugatti T32s built: four to participate in the 1923 French Grand Prix and one prototype. Who can add to our information?

Chassis no. 4057

This car was the Bugatti works prototype. It originally had registration no. 4874 JI, which was later changed to 4877 JI (changed with chassis no. 4058). It was first driven in Bol D'or in May 1923. After that it was used by Pierre de Viscaya in the 1923 Grand Prix, after he had crashed his own car (chassis no. 4058) in practice, but he retired after the first lap. Afterwards, 4057 was sold in the Paris Showroom on 24 February 1924. Further history unknown.

Chassis no. 4058

Originally had registration no. 4877 JI, later changed it with chassis no. 4057 to 4874 JI. Planned to participate in the Tour de France in 1923 (no. 11), driven by Vizcaya but he crashed in practice and the car was written off and most likely no longer exists.

Chassis no. 4059

The Ernest Friderich car. As it was the only one to finish, it was also the best of the four Type 32s that participated in the 1923 French Grand Prix, where it came sixth. Registration no. was 4876 JI.

After the 1923 race, Friderich's car (4059) was sold. It became the property of Elizabeth Junek from the Czech Republic in mid-September 1923 (officially 6 October 1923 but she had already participated in previous events with the car). What happened to it afterwards we do not know, but we do know that around 1974 Paul Foulkes-Halbard bought parts of a car that turned out to be Friderich's T32. According to an article in The Automobile in 1983, half of the car was originally from 'the Tank', another quarter was original Molsheim and a quarter reproduction parts. The car was then (1993-1994) restored in Italy. A book about it was written by the son of the restorer, Diego Ratti.

Chassis no. 4060

No. 18 in the French Grand Prix was driven by Prince de Cystria. After 12 laps he ran into a sandbank and was unable to finish the race. The registration no. was 4878 JI. What happened after the race is not known to us.

Chassis no. 4061

The only original T32 known to exist. Like 4058 and 4060, it did not finish the 1923 French Grand Prix. The car was driven by Pierre Marco but had to retire after four laps. After this, the car, which had registration no. 4875 JI, remained with Bugatti until it was sold to the Schlumpf brothers. The car is still in the museum in Mulhouse.

Others

There is the ex-Bob Sutherland replica (engine no. 4093, registration no. 112-384), built in the seventies, sold at Christies in 2000 and last seen in California.

What we would be most interested to know is what happened to the cars, are they still in collections around the world, are they shown at events and, most of all, has anyone driven them and can they share that with us?

Sources: The Automobile, BugattiRevue, Book: Bugatti Type 32 Tank by Diego Ratti, photos from own archive and Jaap Horst of Bugattipage.com.

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