1932 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport Roadster Recreation

Like many premier automakers in the early 20th century, Bugatti used its success in competition to elevate the profile of its road cars. In the case of the Type 55, introduced by Bugatti in 1932, the ties to motorsport were quite explicit: it was a direct descendent of the Type 51 race car, and was similarly powered by a supercharged 2.3-liter dual-overhead-cam straight eight-cylinder engine.

The application of the supercharger a first for a Bugatti Road car to the Jean Bugatti-designed power-plant proved necessary due to the simple fact many of their clients were informal privateers who enthusiastically raced their cars. Since the factory’s Grand Prix cars had required additional power to remain competitive, it naturally followed that Bugatti customers might benefit from the same update to their road cars; after all, the point of racing was to win, and then recycle that success into further sales.

Simply put, racing alone was not enough for any marque, and the Type 55’s supercharger is an evident artifact of this prevailing philosophy. The 38 Type 55 examples which Bugatti produced between 1932 and 1935 typically wore sporting bodywork, often open-topped, that further emphasized the model’s racing roots.

With its flowing lines, doorless cut-down sides, eight-spoke aluminum wheels, and iconic horseshoe radiator (perhaps Bugatti’s most definitive styling element), the design of the Type 55 Super Sport Roadster is surely among the marque’s most famous.

Today, these early sports-derived roadsters typically trade hands for prices upward of $2 million, making this recreation executed by Argentina’s Pur Sang a particularly accessible facsimile of the Type 55 experience.

The Pur Sang Bugatti, simply put, offers the best of all possible worlds the exact experience of using a great vintage Bugatti, but with improved durability and ease of maintenance. It is the ideal example for those who seek to take his or her car out and actually use it as its designers intended, on road or circuit.

The Ron Sturgeon Collection