Description
This wonderfully sculptural and luxurious Bugatti Type 46 with SuperProfile Coupe bodywork is considered one of Jean Bugatti's finest works of design. The Bugatti Type 46 was first launched at the Paris Motor Show in 1929 and went into production the same year. It bridged the gap between the opulent Bugatti Royale and the 3-litre Type 44. The Type 46 quickly became a success for Bugatti, with a total of around 350 built between 1929 and 1933. The coachbuilders and their offerings for the Type 46 were diverse, but one of the most interesting and iconic body designs for the Type 46 was created by none other than Jean Bugatti, son of Ettore Bugatti and a creative genius in his own right. The Superprofile Coupé, as it was called, is widely recognised as one of his best designs using a sloping windscreen, two-tone paintwork and curvaceous wings that run the length of the car to be completed by a dramatic flared kick at the rear. The engine of the Type 46 is a 5, 359 cm3 SOHC in-line eight-cylinder with three valves per cylinder and twin spark ignition. The engine of this particular Type 46 Ch. 46208 was dyno-tested, producing almost 200 bhp at 4, 200 rpm. The early history of this Type 46 Ch. 46208 is described by the former registrar of the British Bugatti Owners Club and independent Bugatti consultant, David Sewell: "On 10 January 1930, an order was received by Automobiles Bugati of Molsheim from their Paris agent Dominique Lamberjack for two Type 46 chassis, and chassis nos. 46202 and 46208 were allocated in return for this order..... Chassis no. 46208 was then delivered to Paris. by road on the numbered factory plates 1649 WW5 allocated to this chassis between 1 and 4 February 1930. The car was then reportedly delivered to a Paris coachbuilder where it was fitted with a "conduit Intériure", a four-door saloon body, to Lamberjack's customer order."...... The famous Henri Binder of Paris, renowned for his high quality coachwork supplied exclusively for the assembly of the most expensive marquee chassis, is recorded as having built bodies for five Bugattis Type 46s and one Royale.... Due to certain similarities in body details, it is assumed that chassis no. 46208 may have been the fifth. The car was first registered by its new owner in the Paris region... the original owner must have sold the car (or moved to south-west France) in 1932 as its first known registration number, 3630 JV1, was issued in that year. In 1935, the car passed to a man called Grenier who lived in the same region, and then in 1937 to Rodriguez who lived in a château in Villeneuve-Sur-Lot. Around New Year's Day 1938, the car returned to Paris, where it was re-registered under number 6324 RL4..... There now follows a long hiatus in the car's history, as its next registered owner was Baron Johny Raben-Levetzau of Arrholm, Denmark, who over many years had built up a large collection of motor cars". According to the Nordic Bugatti Register, Baron Raben-Levetzau purchased Bugatti Ch. 46208 in a complete but deplorable condition in 1970 and undertook a planned restoration for exhibition purposes. After Raben-Levetzau's death in 1992, the car was sold at auction at Sothebys in 1994, the new owner being Dr Walter Leuthausel in Germany. A few years later, in 1997, the Bugatti was sold to Australian George Fernandez. George Fernandez then commissioned award-winning coachbuilder Ken Hayward of Prestige Restorations Sydney, Australia, to restore the car and replace the saloon bodywork with a Superprofile Coupé body in the style of Jean Bugatti. The restoration work began in 1997 and was completed in 2007 to the highest competition standards. A detailed description of the restoration written by Ken Hayward in 2013, including numerous photographs at various stages of construction, accompanies the car. Chassis 46208 retains its original engine number associated with engine number 77. Following restoration, Ch. 46208 was exhibited at the 2011 Sydney Concours where it won top honours. The Superprofiled Type 46 Coupé was then sold at RM Sothebys Villa Erba Auction in 2013 and only two years later resold by DD Classics in 2015 to the current owner who has cherished and used the Bugatti over the years with great pleasure. Full work and maintenance was carried out with Bugatti engineers par excellence, Gentry Restorations, in the UK in 2017. The invoice totalling £18, 436 accompanies the car. Since then...
