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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport - Special train to Krakow

Name: Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpédo Sport 1929
Brand: Bugatti

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Created on June 12, 2023

Text:

Paul Krüger

Photos:

Bonhams

Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - two-door roadster for four people

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - hard to believe, but this is the "short" chassis with 3.12 m wheelbase

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - the only surviving one with Gangloff roadster bodywork

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Typical: horseshoe radiator, curved axle tube and positive camber

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Untypical: spare wheel at the rear instead of on the side

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - fenders, exhaust and running board in minimal design

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - retrofitted indicators as a concession to modernity

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Characteristic style: the horseshoe radiator with the red emblem

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - heavily slotted hood

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - lightweight construction: single step instead of long running boards

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - front axle in detail: technology can be so artistic

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - front axle Mikado: intermediate steering rod, steering arm, track rod, axle tube, brake cable, leaf spring and mudguard supports

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Obligatory: wire wheels with center lock

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Only hand-tight: securing the spare wheel

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Marchal headlights, naturally with amber bulbs

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Steering column lever and intermediate rod

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - A silver fitting as a "door handle" to protect against paint abrasion

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Priorities: 16-layer leaf spring and tiny rear light

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Short side exhaust stub

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - tightly cut cockpit

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - still the first seat upholstery

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Door panel with map pocket

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Gearshift gate with reverse gear lock

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Wooden steering wheel with wafer-thin metal spokes

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Jaeger instruments for speed, engine speed, oil pressure and charging current

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Braking more often than shifting gears

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Parking brake and gearshift

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Lever for ignition and hand throttle

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - protection by St. Christopher and a retrofitted water thermometer

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - folding backrests for better rear access

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Intake side with polished intake manifold

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Exhaust side with a hint of fan manifold

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Aesthetically and technically a masterpiece: the three-liter eight-cylinder engine with 80 hp

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Tidiness is a must: neatly laid cables and lines

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Similar in shape and volume to the exhaust: the horn

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Fuel filter with sight glass

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Steering gear with Hardy disk

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - The nameplate

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(1929) - Advertisement of the Krakow Automobile Company

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - still with the old car number "KR 98 013" before 1937

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Czesław Gębala (right) next to his car

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - One-eyed: already with the new car number "A 30 245"

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Czesław Gębala at the wheel

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Czesław Gębala poses on his car

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - arrival in Belgium at the end of 1966: the car here is allegedly light gray with dark red fenders

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Bugatti Type 44 Gangloff Torpedo Sport (1929) - Guy Huet on a "test tow" in Belgium

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Summary

Although it was battered in rallies when it was young and then forgotten for 27 years, this Bugatti Type 44 has never been fully restored to this day. It proudly bears the marks that 94 years have left on it. Read the story of the only surviving Type 44 with sports bodywork by Gangloff.

This article contains the following chapters

A Swiss in Poland
A car for a car
Partially restored and unique

Estimated reading time: 4min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Shortly before Black Thursday plunged the world into its first economic crisis, the Roaring Twenties were approaching their equally golden peak in May 1929. King Alfonso XIII opened the 20th World Exhibition in Barcelona; the German Emil Jannings was the first person to win an Oscar for best leading role in Hollywood; the English national football team lost its first away game against Spain, and nobody was yet calling the World War I, which had been going on for ten and a half years, the First World War, because nobody had any idea that in another ten and a half years the Germans would start a second one.

Welcome to Zwischengas!