A Bonza Brescia: The Colourful Past of an Antipodean Bugatti

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Just 50 or so Bugatti Brescias left Molsheim bound for Australia, and an interesting point about almost all those which did is that they received Australian bodywork, due to tariffs against imported coachwork. This 1924 Type 23, chassis 2063, was new to Sydney’s Albert ‘Charlie’ East, and like with so many Bugattis, it wasn’t long before it was being raced, crashed and rebuilt… several times.

East commissioned a sports tourer body for it. He wanted it as daily transport, and for towing a racing Type 37. In 1935, however, its peace was shattered when it was bought by the Lanham family of Bugattistes, who cobbled together a racing body and fitted a Type 39 radiator and Type 37 brake drums. The Bugatti was actively campaigned, but started its 1938 season by running into a ditch at Phillip Island, and ended it in precisely the same fashion. In new wartime ownership, 2063 suffered an even worse accident, and it was subsequently rebuilt by a dentist in a not-unattractive, Type 37-ish vein, but for road use.

The car was, however, something of a mongrel, and a later owner dismantled it. Eventually, a string of enthusiasts did what had to be done, and restored it to a correct Type 23 specification, enjoying the freedom to design a body from scratch. The result is a unique and very elegant baby Bugatti.

Mark Bisset takes a closer look at 2063’s eventful life in the February issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling
Photographs by David Hewison / Bob King Archive

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