Beschreibung:

1929 Bugatti Type 37 Chassis no. 37385 Engine no. 287• Delivered new in France • Matching chassis and engine • Significant in-period race history • Known ownership history • Restored in the late 1990s/early 2000s FootnotesThe Type 37 engine number '287' was assembled at the factory in June 1929 together with the very last Type 37 un-supercharged engines made, numbers '286' to '290'. All those engines are marked 'vilebrequin trempé', indicating they had special treatment for the crankshaft. If we assume the car was assembled just after its engine had been got running, we may suppose it was kept one year by the factory before being sold. The sales records of the last Type 37s made, from chassis '37379' to chassis '37387', clearly show that most of the cars were sold one or two years after their engines were made, with many cars not sold until 1931. It is possible that the engines were waiting for their chassis for some months. The invoice for the car appears in the factory archives: '18/6 - 3738. A Mathon. Tourcoing 38.625 ff. paid August 1930.' The price asked would indicate the car is not really new, but by June 1930 it was possibly difficult to sell a Type 37 at full price. Mr Mathon may also have enjoyed special prices as in the same period he sold around 15 Type 46 chassis and was able to get the best discount possible. The Bugatti delivery book indicates: '37385/287. Mathon 17th June 1930.' Also: 'on 18th June 1930, car chassis 37385/engine 287 left Molsheim by road for Mr Mathon.' The factory temporary plates register reads: '1767 WW 5 issued from 16th to 19th June 1930 to A. Mathon Tourcoing for Bugatti Torpedo 37385.' André Mathon was the director of Carrosserie Spinnewyn, founded in 1864. His garage, on 162 rue de Lille in Roubaix, was an official agency for Peugeot, Bugatti and Hupmobile. He had a reputation for producing luxury coachwork, some under Weymann licence. There was also a repair shop next to the coachworks. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, A. Mathon sold many Bugattis to wealthy industrialists in the Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing area. The car was registered as new on 21st June 1930 with plate '7038 MB 3' in the name of Pierre Marsolan, 53 rue de l'Alouette, Roubaix. Pierre Mathieu Joseph Henri Marsolan (1881-1938) trained to be a pharmacist while completing his military service but went on to become a dentist. His address as of 30th July 1914 was 53 rue de l'Alouette in Roubaix, which would remain his professional address until his death in December 1937. In 1925 Pierre Marsolan drove a Ravel, bodied by Holvoet, and won 1st prize for open sports cars during the International Meeting of Routes Pavées in Lille in 1925. Marsolan was a keen Bugatti fan and spent a lot of his money buying the cars from Molsheim. He ordered new no fewer than five Bugattis in as many years: a Type 38 bought in June 1927; a Type 44 in August 1928; and a Type 46 in January 1930, sold back in March 1931. He also owned a Type 44 bought in July 1930 and a Type 49 bought in January 1931. So, when Pierre Marsolan bought the Type 37 he still owned his second Type 44, and bought his Type 49 two months before selling the Type 37. Next owner Gerard Victor Herbaux (1907-1980) got married in Roubaix on 7th November 1933, the very same day he had to sell the Bugatti. He was probably the only owner of the Type 37 who raced it. The Bugatti was registered in his name on 10th March 1931 in the village of Neuville en Ferrain. Gerard Herbaux's father, Henri, owned a carpet-making factory. On 10th May 1931, exactly two months after he bought the car, G Herbaux was listed in the entries for the VII Grand Prix de Picardie in Peronne. Competitor number '54', he finished 16th, the last driver classified. As 16 drivers had to retired, this was quite a good result and proved that the car was reliable enough to endure two hours racing on that bumpy 6km circuit. The following year, Herbaux entered his Bugatti Type 37 in the 9th Circuit de l'Aisne in Saint Quent