This Bugatti Type 23, chassis 693, was originally ordered in 1914 by Stefan Kjeldsen, an automobile racing driver and Bugatti agent in New York. The chassis was sent to Carrosserie Wiederkehr in Colmar, France, where it was clothed in four-seat berline coachwork. The Bugatti was never delivered due to the outbreak of WWI. Instead, it remained at the Molsheim works through the war and was then sold to Johann Hirschler. It subsequently passed through a number of owners in France before being acquired by E. Stuzman of Strasbourg in 1939.

Registered in Germany during WWII, the Type 23 passed through a series of owners in Germany and France following the war, before gracing the famous Belgium-based garage of Jean De Dobbeleer in 1957, wearing drophead coachwork and equipped with a 16-valve engine, no. 819.

Dr. Theodore Waugh acquired this Bugatti in 1979. Intending to return the car to eight-valve specification, Dr. Waugh sourced engine 434 from chassis 766 and enlisted UK-based specialist Wilkinson to produce the current three-seat open-tourer coachwork.

This Type 23 wears its original German chassis plate, wagen no. 693, as Molsheim was a part of Germany when this chassis was built in 1914. For the collector in search of an early eight-valve Bugatti with sporting open coachwork, and welcome at Bugatti rallies and early car gatherings worldwide, the search ends here.