The Type 44 Bugatti was a successful 2991cc eight-cylinder touring car produced by the company from late 1927 to 1930, replacing the Type 38. A significant element of the design of its engine was the positioning of the shaft-and-bevel-drive for the single overhead camshaft between two four-cylinder blocks – an arrangement first seen on the prototype Type 28 of 1921. The Type 44 engine’s nine main bearings gave it a smoothness of operation ideal for fast touring. Its power output of 80bhp gave it a top speed of 85mph. A road test in the July 1928 issue of Motor Sport was full of praise for its light controls, lively engine and powerful brakes, which “…made traffic driving and cross-country spurts equally joyous and enabled high averages to be maintained with a complete absence of effort or danger.” In short, the tester felt that the car combined most of the virtues of a racing car with economy and tractability. Quite an impressive conclusion for a touring car, and evidence, if any were needed, that Bugattis were a cut above the norm. The Type 44 was therefore unsurprisingly one of Bugatti’s most popular models, with over 1,000 units built.
This example, chassis 44342, is rather special. It was originally supplied through Bugatti’s Paris showroom in 1928 and bodied with this Faux Cabriolet coachwork by Labourdette.
Jean Henri-Labourdette (born Jean Jacques Labourdette*) (1888-1972) was a renowned French coachbuilder and designer, active from 1858 to 1939. Thanks to the use of new techniques and the adoption of resolutely modern and avant-garde designs for the time, he quickly became one of the most prestigious and celebrated French coachbuilders of the interwar period alongside companies such as Figoni & Falaschi, Henri Chapron, Letourneur & Marchand, Carrosserie Pourtout and Jacques Saoutchik, with branches on the Champs-Élysées, in Madrid and in Saint Petersburg.
Chassis 44342 was bought new by Louis-Aimé Trintignant, elder brother of the famous racing driver Maurice. Louis-Aimé was also a racing driver; in 1932 he won the Trophée de Provence, the Grand Prix of Lorraine and Circuit of Nice. He was showing great skill and was expected to go on to greater things. However, on the morning of 20 May 1933 he was killed in the first practice session for the non-championship Grand Prix de Picardie.
44342 was later owned for around 70 years by the Gros family based around Cavaillon (the car still bears the monogram of Mr Gros), though left unused in a lock-up since the 1960s. Acquired in 2010 from the family by François Chevalier, with its original bodywork and interior untouched, it was restored mechanically but with the body and interior left as is. The engine now has high-compression pistons and with the lightweight body it is a rapid car. It has competed gently at Prescott but is mostly used as a fast long-distance vintage touring car – a rôle for which it was born.
* Jean Labourdette was authorised to precede his surname with “Henri” and to legally call himself “Henri-Labourdette” in the future, by virtue of an order of the President of the Civil Court of the Seine issued on 24 June 1921.
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