Teamspeed.com - A proper Bugatti

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Meet 'Black Bess', a Type 18 Bugatti from 1913. Her build was originally commisioned by the legendary French aviator Roland Garros. He was the first man to cross the Mediterranean by aeroplane. Garros would regularly use the same plane that carried him across the Mediterranean, a Morane-Saulnier, to pay visits to Bugatti's HQ in Molsheim where he would check up on the build's progress. During the war he joined the French Air Corps are was shot down twice. Reportedly he once drove the T18 to Vienna to join in on high level negotiations.

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After he was shot down for the first time - or by other accounts, he crash landed due to his fuel lines clogging up - he was taken prisoner by the Germans. After 3 years in German captivity he managed to escape the prison camp in Germany and rejoin the French army. In October 1918, just a month before the war would end and one day shy of hist 30th birthday he was shot down for the second time. Sadly, this time with fatal consequence.

After the war the car ended up in the hands of Miss Ivy Cummings. She was a keen racer and succesfully competed in many hill-climbs and speed trials with Black Bessie between 1919 and 1924. She was also the one to christen this car, chassis #474, 'Black Bessie' after Dick Turpin's legendary steed. The name would remain forever be intertwined with T18 #474.

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Her next owner, a Oxford undergraduate named mr. Preston, would race Black Bess at the famous Brooklands hill-climb. By 1933 she was in dire need of a restoration. Her owner at the time was Col. G. M. Giles, Vice President of the Bugatti Owners Club, and he would restore Bess to her full glory again. And naturally he too competed with the car in many hill-climbing events. The first one being the official opening of the club's then new course at Prescott.

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With the Second World War fast approaching Col. Giles was forced to sell the car with a spare chassis and engine to Rodney Clarke for the sum of £200. Mr. Clarke would continue to enter motorsports events with the Bugatti until ill health forced him to find a buyer who would appreciate just how special Black Bess was in 1948. This buyer would turn out to be Peter Hampton. A true Bugatti afficionado with an already impressive stable of early Bugattis. Just two weeks after acquiring the car Hampton undertook an epic drive with the French Grand Prix in Reims as destiniation. The car performed flawlessly, nevertheless mr. Hampton would carry out a full overhaul on her. The car remained in his collection for 40 years.

All in all her racing career lasted for 30 (!) years.

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Black Bess is powered by a 5 litre four cylinder engine with a 100 mm bore and 160 mm stroke. The chain driven, 3 valves per cylinder, engine is said to make about 100 hp at 2400 rpm. This enabled the car to reach a topspeed of 100 mph which made it one of the fastest vehicles on the road in 1913. Contrary to contemporary convention Ettore Bugatti fitted the Type 18 with double semi-elliptic leaf front springs and reversed quarter elliptic rear springs. Always at the forefront of technological development, this would be a glimpse into the future and things to come.

This sheer grunt combined with her handling abilities ensured she would remain competitive well over a decade after her manufacture.

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The notable French coachbuilder Labourdette is responsible for the bodywork. The 2 seater convertible body has remained virtually unchanged over the years.

Today, Black Bess is for sale again at the auctionhouse Bonhams. She will be auctioned off on the 7th of February at the Automobiles d'Exception à Retromobile exposition in Paris.

The estimate? Between 1.3 and 1.6 million Euros.

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