Bugatti Type 54 1931
Grand Prix car of 1931, fitted with a twin overhead-cam 4.9 liter engine delivering 300 hp (223 kW). Four or five were built.
Specifications
4.9-litre Grand Prix
Identifying Features:
Long wheelbase GP, with wide rear spring base. Starting handle inside front cross tube; cast alloy wheels, unusually large brake drums. Square blower relief hole.
Years Made
(approx): 1932-4
Number Made:
4 or 5
Engine:
No of cylinders: 8
Bore x stroke: 86 x 107mm
Capacity: 4972cc
BHP (approx): 300
RPM Limit (prudent): 4500
Camshafts: dohc
Valves (per cylinder): 2
Camshaft drive: Front, spur train
Crankshaft bearings: 9 plain, plain rods
Supercharger: Bevel driven Roots
Carburettor: 2 Zenith
Ignition: Magneto
Plugs per cylinder: 1
Firing Order: 1, 6, 2, 5, 8, 3, 7, 4
Clutch:
Type: Dry, multi-plate
Gearbox:
Location: Separate, central, 3-speed and reverse
Gear change lever: external
Rear Axle:
Normal Ratio. 12/46 = 3.83*
Dimensions:
Wheelbase: 108.3in (2.75m)
Track: 53.1in (1.35m)
Weight (approx): 2100lb (950kg)
Brakes:
Location and Type: 4-wheel, cable operated
Wheels:
Type: Cast alloy, fixed rim
Tyre size: Original 28 x 4.75;* modern fitment 5.00 x 19
Crossbreeding with Other Types:
T50 engine; similar engine to T53. Chassis similar to T55 and T47
* This tyre size and gearing is as originally listed. At least 1 car has 13/45 gears and 6.00 x 20 tyres on 20in GP wheels. The 1932 British catalogue quoted 13/45 and 29 x 5.00 tyres
History
Pictured is one of only nine Bugatti Type 54 Grand Prix cars built. The Type 54 was an evolution of the Type 51. It was used for the 1931 Grand Prix season. The engine is a 300 horsepower 4.9-liter supercharged straight eight. It was entered in the “Above 3-Liters” category, which was essentially an “anything goes” class. Most of the important pieces on the Type 54 were sourced from other Bugattis. Essentially, they took the best bits of every car they built until one super machine was finished. This particular car won the 1931 Grand Prix of Monza with Achille Varzi driving.
This car left the Bugatti team ranks at the end of 1931 and was sold to Prince Georg Christian Lobkowicz of Czechoslovakia. He was a “gentleman driver” so to speak and was unfortunately killed in this car during his first outing in it at AVUS in 1932. The car was given to his teammate, Zdenek Pohl, who had it rebuilt but didn’t really use the car until it was obsolete. So he turned it into a two-seat roadster with beautiful coachwork by Oldrich Uhlik.
The next owner, who acquired the car in 1970, had the roadster body removed and an original-style Grand Prix body was constructed for the car by the Peel coachbuilding company. It was re-bodied again in 2005 by Rod Jolley in painstaking detail back to 1931 Monza race condition. It is being offered as one of four surviving Type 54s of the original nine built and the only one whose original mechanical parts have never been removed/separated from the car. Estimates were between $3,300,000-$4,700,000.