By order of the executors of the late Per Henricsson
1929 Bugatti Type 40 'Grand Sport' Roadster
Registration no. Not UK registered
Chassis no. 40780
Engine no. 670

'Bugattis encapsulate concepts of engineering which, once seen, change your ideas radically and definitively. Drive them, and you realise that each car is form and engineering in equilibrium, and a work of art.' – William Stobbs, Les Grandes Routières.

By the early 1930s Ettore Bugatti had established an unrivalled reputation for building cars with outstanding performance on road or track; the world's greatest racing drivers enjoying countless successes aboard the Molsheim factory's products and often choosing them for their everyday transport. Introduced in 1926, the Type 40 Bugatti succeeded the Brescia types, being built on a longer wheelbase and equipped with a more powerful engine. Virtually identical to that used in the Type 37 Grand Prix car, the latter was a four-cylinder unit displacing 1,496cc and incorporating an all-plain-bearing bottom end with five mains. A single overhead camshaft operated three valves per cylinder (two inlets, one exhaust) and the Type 40's 45bhp or thereabouts maximum power output was transmitted to the rear wheels via a separate four-speed gearbox. A total of 775 Type 40s had been made when production ceased in May 1931 with a further 32 Type 40As completed by the end of that year. It is estimated that fewer then 200 survive today.

The example offered here, chassis number '40780', was completed in April 1929 with engine number '670'. It was ordered by the Bugatti agent Vladimir Gut in Prague, Czechoslovakia and delivered as a chassis with two spare wheels. The car's entry in the Nordic Bugatti Register states that it was probably first built with a light open body, as indicated by the documented 710kg weight. Later it was re-bodied as a four-door faux cabriolet with coachwork by either Carrosserie Sodomka or Tomᚠ& Pavala in Prague.

The Bugatti's history is not known prior to 1950, which is when cars in Czechoslovakia were issued with registration books. The Nordic Bugatti Register lists eight owners in Czechoslovakia, one of whom owned it for only one day! The current vendor's husband purchased the Type 40 from the last of these, a Mr Bubenik, in 1974 and imported it into Sweden. At the time of acquisition, the Bugatti was in a dismantled state and its level of completeness is not known. The restoration files illustrate with sketches and technical drawings that some machining of mechanical components was undertaken. It also illustrates that the long-term restoration was fastidiously project-managed Per Henricsson, the late owner.

In the Czech registration book it is noted that the Bugatti had covered approximately 80,000 kilometres up to September 1957, and a further 50,247 up to the end of 1968. It was de-registered in August 1970.

Its Swedish owner restored the Bugatti with considerable assistance from Per Larsson, in the course of which it was equipped with a Grand Sport replica body. The latter remains in very good order, boasting a nicely made interior equipped with seat frames supplied by Wilkinson & Sons and trimmed by a local saddle maker. After completion the car was registered in Sweden in 1998 and went on to participate in numerous rallies in its adopted home. '40780' last ran in 2014 and is presented in generally very good condition. Accompanying documentation is comprehensive and consists of a copy of the car's Nordic Bugatti Register entry, various restoration files, and Swedish registration papers.