Bugatti Type 57 Roadster Grand Raid Gangloff

When this Bugatti Type 57 is unveiled at the 1934 Paris Motor Show, it is a complete sensation.

The word ‘raid’, French for a long rally through inhospitable terrain such as a desert, immediately conjures up the idea of an adventure. Bugatti chose the name deliberately for this extremely sporty version of the Type 57 with its two aerodynamic bulges at the rear, resembling the contours of an aircraft. Coachbuilder Gangloff from Colmar, who built much bodywork for Bugatti, was responsible for this beautiful design. The aluminium body was built on a Type 57 chassis. After the 1934 motor show in Paris, Veyron and Wurmser drove the car in the Paris-Nice-Paris rally. Robert Benoist triumphed with this Bugatti in the 1935 Chavigny hill climb, after which the car also took part in an endurance race through the Vosges Mountains. In the fifties the Bugatti ended up with a Belgian collector, and in 2001 the car was acquired by the Louwman Museum. The ‘Grand Raid’ was then fully restored to the specification as seen in Paris in 1934.