Bugatti Type 57g Tank Value ~ destrengthdieidee

Bugatti Type 57g Tank Value

Automobiles Ettore Bugatti, a French car manufacturer founded back in 1909, was known for its beautiful, sleek design and a victorious racing reputation. Famous for many amazing classics, the company designer, Ettore Bugatti, passed away in 1947, but his legacy lives on today both in the classic cars he designed, which are now incredibly collectible and in the reiteration of the company as Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S.

Artistic design was not new to the Bugatti lineage as Ettore's father, Carlo Bugatti, was an Art Nouveau furniture and jewelry designer. Ettore, and later his son, but that same level of care for beauty into the engineering and design of their automobiles, which is what made the company so successful.

The Bugatti Type 57 is one example of the family's designs which is still highly coveted today. Originally created by Ettore's son, Jean, Type 57s were only produced for seven years. The model is so sought after that the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic has been deemed "the world's most expensive car," and it can take years for a collector to locate their desired year, trim, and variant of the ride.

Let's take a look at how much a Bugatti Type 57 is worth today.

What Makes The Type 57 Special

VIA: Flickr

The Bugatti Type 57 was only made for seven years, from 1934 through 1940. In that time frame, just 710 were manufactured in total. The Type 57 featured an engine based on the Type 49 but heavily altered by Jean Bugatti to be a twin-cam rather than a single cam. Additionally, in an update on previous models, the Type 57 did not have bevel gears at the front from the crankshaft and instead had spur gears in a train at the rear of the engine. It's updated fiber gear wheels on the camshafts allowed the Type 57 a quieter ride.

Originally, the Type 57 was manufactured in two variants- the original Type 57 and the lower Type 57S/SC. The original Type 57 was a touring car and included a 3.3L engine. Only 630 original Type 57s were produced. It was capable of speeds up to 95 mph and produced 135hp. This original design had a 130-inch wheelbase and weighed in at just over 2000 lbs.

One of the notable features of the Type 57 was its use of hydraulic brakes instead of cable-operated ones, which was a change that Ettore Bugatti was not in favor of. In appearance, the Type 57 was a very classy car, although it was taller than the norm of its time. It also included a very recognizable square-bottomed arched grille, a past favorite of the Bugatti brand, which was adjusted from the original inclusion on the Royale and thermostatically controlled shutters down the sides of the engine compartment.

The original Type 57 also came in two other minor variants- the 57C and 57C Tank. The 57C was altered to be a racing car, and only about 96 were created. Its included Roots-type supercharger allowed it to reach a higher horsepower of 160hp. The 57C Tank was the car to beat on the racing scene for quite a while and won the Le Mans in 1939. After the win, Jean Bugatti took the car on the Molsheim-Strasbourg road, swerved to avoid a drunken bicyclist, and tragically lost his life in the crash at just 30 years old, marking the end of both the legendary car and its designer.

The Type 57S/SC was the other major iteration of the Type 57. It was lowered and supercharged. It included some major design changes, which were primarily made at the request of the public. Mesh grilles replaced the shutters on the engine compartment, and the lowering of the vehicle required many shifts in the overall framework of the car. Rather than riding under the rear frame, the rear axle now passed through it. It also required a dry-sump lubrication system in order to fit the engine into the lower hood.

Only 43 lowered (S) and two supercharged (SC) Type 57s were originally manufactured by Bugatti. However, later, many owners of the lowered models decided they'd prefer the additional power of the supercharged blower, and so Bugatti allowed original Type 57S cars to be returned to the factory to be outfitted for the addition, which increased power from 175hp to 200hp and bumped the top speed to up to 120 mph.

The S/SC versions of the Type 57 were available with a few different body types. The Atlantic body on the 57SC was based on a previous concept car design by Jean, and only four were built. Of those four, three are known to still survive today and have been fully restored. The Type 57S/SC Atalante was built after the Atlantic trim. Only 17 were made, and one was located in 2009 in a barn and sold for $4.5 million . Of the remaining with known whereabouts, four are housed in the Automobile Museum in Mulhouse, France, one resides in a museum in Portugal, and two are in private collections in the United States.

Costs And Availability of the Type 57 Today

VIA: Flickr

If you are one of the many collectors interested in owning a piece of Bugatti history in the form of a Type 57, you may spend quite some time and a substantial amount of money to locate one. Since only four of the Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe versions of the car were created and only three have known whereabouts, they are now considered the most valuable cars in the world.

In 2010, one of the three was sold at auction for over $30 million , setting a new record. If you are hoping for the coveted S/SC, you may have a harder time convincing the three owners to sell than you would locate the fourth missing S/SC ( now estimated worth over $100 million )! All hope is not lost for owning a Type 57, though. At the time of publication, there is one Bugatti Type 57 (C, 1939) available for sale in the UK for $1.9 million.

NEXT: Bugatti Celebrates 100-Year Anniversary Of The Type 13, The First Supercar

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