Bugatti

D:F, 1909 – 1956, 1956 to date

Automobiles E. Bugatti, Molsheim, Bas-Rhin

Ettore Bugatti was perhaps the greatest maker of racing cars until his fellow Italian Ferrari began to dominate the scene in recent years. Born into an artistic family in Milan, Bugatti soon found that the graphic arts were not to his liking and turned to the mechanical. Drawn by speed and racing, at the age of 18 Ettore Bugatti attracted attention in early motorcycle and tricycle races in Northern Italy, enevitably applying his mechanical talent to the improvement and alteration of the machines.
In 1900, at the age of 19 he embarked on the design and production of his own Bugatti 4-cylinder, 90 x 120mm car with the help of Count Gulinelli, and won a medal for it at the Milan Exhibition in 1901. Baron de Dietrich who was attracted by the Bugatti machine and who was searching Europe for designs to produce at his Niederbronn works, signed an agreement with Bugatti to design for him. Bugatti moved to Niederbronn in 1902 to produce in the next two or three years a basic design of 4-cylinder, 114 x 130mm chain-driven chassis with variations, sold commercially as the De Dietrich-Bugatti, or in England as the Burlington, and occasionally raced by Bugatti himself. Engine dimensions varied, as was customary in those days, and larger engines were also listed.
De Dietrich was offering other designs at the same time, particulary the Turcat-Méry, and Bugatti’s car was not a commercial success; the arrangement came to an end around 1904, and Bugatti teamed up with Mathis, moving to Strasbourg, the district where Ettore was to remain for the rest of his active career.
The Mathis collaboration produced the Hermes car, which bore a strong resemblance to the earlier De Dietrich design, certainly in conception – 4 large cylinders, 4-speed gearbox, chain drive, semi-elliptic springs – but by now it had a modern type of radiator with a surrounding shell to replace the earlier exposed film type.

In 1906 Bugatti and Mathis fell out and separated, Bugatti going to the Deutz factory at Cologne to design and produce cars for them. Two chassis were produced, the first another typical 4-cylinder layout with an engine of 145 or 150 x 150mm and chain drive, and later a smaller 92x120mm car with, for the first time Bugatti’s design, a shaft drive.
During this period (about 1908) Bugatti produced at his own expense (and, it is said, in the cellar of his home at Cologne) the miniature Bugatti chassis, with a 4-cylinder, 60x100mm engine, and shaft drive which founded the thoroughbred line of his designs and enabled him later to produce his own car. This prototype (Type 10 in the Bugatti series) is still in existence.
There is at least some evidence that the creation of this Bugatti car owes something to the 1908 Coupe des Voiturettes Isotta Fraschini; it is more than likely that Bugatti saw and was inspired by these beautiful little cars. There is certainly no evidence that the Isotta Fraschini cars owe anything to Bugatti, and their designer Cattaneo has denied the suggestion. The overall conceptual similarity is, however, striking.
Whatever the origins of his thoroughbred, Ettore Bugatti found a backer who would help him to start up production of his own car at the end of 1909, in a disused dye work at Molsheim a few miles west of Strasbourg. Here production was started of the real Bugatti car, with 4-cylinder, 65x100mm, 1327cc and 2 valves per cylinder operated from an overhead camshaft with curved, sliding tappets and three chassis lengths; Bugatti Type 13 with a 6ft 6¾in wheelbase,the Bugatti Type 15, 7ft 10½in, and the Bugatti Type 17, 8ft 4½in and reinforced back springs for heavy bodywork.
Output was a few cars in 1910, but the Bugatti car caused a great deal of favourable comment at the 1910 Paris Salon, and in the early speed events it was entered in; commercial success, in spite of a high price, came immediately and several hundred Bugatti cars had been produced by 1914. During this period Bugatti also sold a licence to Peugeot for an 850cc Baby car(Peugeot Bebe), and kept his interest in large cars by producing a few chassis with a 4-cylinder 5-litre (100x160mm) ohc engine and reverting again to chain drive, for racing. The first chassis went to the aviator Roland Garros and survives as the famous Bugatti Black Bess. Other Bugatti cars competed unsuccessfully at Indianapolis in the 500 mile race in 1914 and 1915.

The early Bugatti 8-valve chassis had conventional semi-elliptic springs and radiators of squarish, 5-sided shape. At the end of 1913, Bugatti introduced his reversed quarter elliptic springs on the two long-length chassis, probably to simplify the fitting of the body: many of Bugatti’s design features show more originality than essential logic. This springs feature was to remain on all Bugatti’s chassis designs produced afterwards. At this time Ettore also introduced his design of oval Bugatti radiator, pearshaped, but later more like an inverted horse shoe.
Just before World War 1 Ettore produced a modified engine for voiturette racing, with 4 valves per cylinder (2 inlet, 2 exhaust), and an enlarged bore (66mm initially, later 68-69mm) giving more power, but the war prevented its use. Molsheim was soon occupied by the Germans and Bugatti found himself spending the next years in Paris working on aero engines.
In 1919 Ettore Bugatti reoccupied the factory himself, finding it happily undamaged, and resumed production of the 8-valve chassis and then the new 16-valve version. Wins at Le Mans in 1920 and at Brescia (1921) in voiturette races once more established his reputation and regular production of the car, now known as the Bugatti Brescia, followed steadily. The long-wheelbase chassis were now known as Bugatti Type 22 (7ft 10½in) and the Bugatti Type 23 (8ft 4½in) but the designation Bugatti Type 13 was retained for the short racing model. Improvements followed such as a crankshaft carried on ball bearings, better crank lubrication, a prettier radiator, and eventually 4-wheel brakes: in spite of these changes the similarity between the last chassis in 1926 and the first in 1910 is striking.

In 1922 Bugatti produced his first 8-cylinder production model, the Bugatti Type 30, with a 2-litre 60x88mm engine, an overhead camshaft and 2 inlet and 1 exhaust valve per cylinder. This 3-valve layout had been seen on the pre-war Bugatti Garros car(Black Bees) and the aero engines. Racing versions were entered in the 1922 French Grand Prix at Strasbourg, Friderich, Bugatti’s faithful mechanic, finishing 2nd. Production continued for the next few years of the 4-cylinder and 8-cylinder cars; an abortive attempt to produce a successful streamlined ‘Bugatti Tank’ with the 2-litre engine was made for the French GP at Tours in 1923 and then for 1924 Bugatti made the successful effort to produce a racing car which combined performance with aesthetic quality – the Bugatti Type 35 was the result.
The new 1924 car had the Bugatti Type 30 engine with its plain bearing crank replaced with a full ball and roller bearing, built-up unit, and a completely new chassis of fine lines carrying a handsome body, and first class brakes inside cast aluminium wheels. Tyre trouble prevented success in its first outing but soon success followed success, culminating in the world championship in 1926.
Although reluctant at first to fit a supercharger as his competitors had, Bugatti eventually in 1926 added one to the car to produce the Bugatti Type 35C (2-litre, 60x88mm), Bugatti Type 35B(2.3-litre, 60x100mm) and Bugatti Type 39 (1.5-litre, 60x66mm). A sports car version (Bugatti Type 35A) used the touring engine, and in 1926 a 4-cilinder (69x100mm, 1.5-litre) engine appeared, similar in layout to the 8-cylinder engine, but with a 5-(plain bearing crankshaft, which when fitted to the GP chassis became the main sports car version (Bugatti Type 37). Later this too had a blower fitted and became very potent (Bugatti Type 37A).

In the period 1926 -1929 a profusion of Bugatti models was listed for sale: racing types T35, T35B, T35C, T39; sports version Types 35A, T37, T37A; the touring model Type 30 replaced with a similar Type 38, later itself replaced by the 3-litre 8-cylinder Type 44 (69x100mm); Type 40 using the 4-cylinder engine from the Type 37; a splendid Bugatti Type 43GP sport four-seater using the Type 35B engine in a long-wheelbase chassis and catalogued as the fastest sports car in the world (110mph) which it was; and to crown all the Bugatti Royale.
The Bugatti Royale (Type 41) was to be Bugatti’s car of kings. It had a 12.7-litre (125x130mm) 8-cylinder engine of typical Bugatti layout producing over 250hp, fitted in an enormous chassis, intended to carry the works of the world’s finest coachbuilders. Although a batch of 25 was projected only six were built and indeed only three were sold (in 1932 – 1933), the financial crisis of 1929 intervening to spoil Bugatti’s plans.
Around 1930 Bugatti continued to produce fine cars mixed with oddities. The Bugatti Type 44 3-litre touring car became the Type 49 with the bore increased from 69 to 72mm, one of the best models. The Bugatti Type 46 5.3-litre with a 3-speed gearbox in the back axle was introduced as a small size Royale and several hundred were produced. A racing Bugatti 16-cylinder (Type 45, 47) was made, having some success in hillclimbs, and later an unsuccessful 4-wheel drive Type 53. The de luxe 5.3-litre had a new twin ohc engine fitted to become the Bugatti Type 50 of 4.9-litres, very exciting and exotic but rather too powerful to be safe, even in the racing version, the Type 54. 
The GP Type 35 had a new engine with twin overhead camshafts fitted in 1931 to become the Type 51, a very successful and fine-looking car which was perhaps the most effective racing model Bugatti ever produced, but the search for power and the competition demanded a larger car. Thus in 1933 Bugatti produced the Type 59 3.3-litre racing car which was his last racing production except for specialized single-seaters. Meanwhile a sports version of the Type 51, the Bugatti Type 55, had appeared usually with a roadster body among the handsomest ever fitted to a car.
The touring equivalent of the Type 59, the Bugatti Type 57, was the last Molsheim model to go into production; about 800 T57’s were produced between 1934 and 1939. This had a twin-ohc 72x100mm, 3.3-litre engine, integral 4-speed gearbox, and a conventional Bugatti chassis with semi-elliptic springs at the front and reversed quarter-elliptic at the rear. Later supercharged versions (Type 57C) and sports versions (Type 57S, 57SC) were produced.
Production of Bugatti cars was interrupted by the war, and only sporadic and half-hearted attempts were made ( a few Bugatti Type 101 models were produced) to resume car manufacture after Ettore Bugatti’s death in 1947. In 1956 two Formula 1 GP cars were built. Known as the Bugatti Type 251, they had 2½-litre straight-8 engines mounted transversely behind the driver in a space frame. One was driven by Trintignant in the 1956 French GP at Reims, but retired, and the cars were never heard of again.
Bugatti is now part of the Volkswagen group and is still producing sport cars.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; HGC
The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Daimler

D, 1886 – 1902

(1) Gottlieb Daimler, Bad Cannstatt, 1886 – 1890

(2) Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft, Bad Cannstatt, 1890 – 1902

Gottlieb Daimler was employed until 1882 as technical director at the Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz, where he worked on internal combustion engines. Wilhelm Maybach was also engaged by Daimler at the Deutz works. Daimler held shares in the Deutz company and the income form these gave Daimler some financial support when Daimler left Deutz. He moved to Bad Cannstatt near Stuttgart, where Daimler started a small workshop for research and experimentation and brought in Maybach to work for him. Daimler’s plans were to develop a high-speed internal combustion engine which could be fitted into road and rail vehicles as well as into boats. In 1883 a high-speed Daimler prototype petrol engines with hot-tube ignition were built. This was the first time that petrol was used for an internal combustion engine. The next step for Daimler was the construction in 1885 of the world’s first Daimler motor cycle, which was also the last one ever built by Daimler or later companies bearing the Daimler name. Next, trials were made with a motorized boat and sleigh before Daimler and Maybach fitted an engine to an ordinary horse-drawn carriage, modified for the purpose . The Daimler car was ready in 1886 and made its first trial runs around Cannstatt. The engine was an air-cooled vertical single-cylinder or 1.5hp with tube ignition. Further trials with Daimler engines in boats, trams and fire-engines followed.

For some time Maybach had tried to convince Daimler that they should build a vehicle designed from the start as a motor car. Daimler opposed the idea for a long time but he at last agreed to build a Daimler prototype. It was a two-seater 4-wheeled vehicle with a rear-mounted V-twin engine. The chassis was a tubular steel frame and the steel wire wheels gave the cars its name of ‘Stahlradwagen’. The Daimler car was sent to the Paris World Fair of 1889. Panhard-Levassor and Peugeot took a great interest in this car, and both firms started car production with Daimler engines and laid the foundation of the French motor car industry.

In 1890 the Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft was founded by soon differences arose between Daimler and his new partners. This led to Daimler’s separation from the company in 1893. He and Maybach started an experimental workshop in the Hotel Hermann; this can be regarded as an independent Daimler enterprise which also built cars. Daimler successfully continued his efforts to develop a high-speed engine for motor cars. The very important invention of the atomizing carburetor by Daimler was also made in the Hotel Hermann. In 1895 an agreement was reached and Daimler and Maybach returned to the Daimler company. The Daimler cars produced were the belt-driven 2-cylinder type, the first Daimler car manufactured in any numbers. It was succeeded in 1897 by the Daimler Phönix, the first type with front engine. 1899 saw the first 4-cylinder engines. A car with a 28hp engine was entered by its owner, Emile Jellinek for the Nice Week, 1899; this Daimler car was called the Mercedes after his eldest daughter.

Jellinek was a successful business man and Consul-General of the Austro-Hungarian empire in Nice, taking a great interest in motoring and especially Daimler cars. He acted as an unofficial agent selling Daimler cars to his wealthy friends. But he was not satisfied with their performance and suggested that the Daimler company should build a high-performance car of an entirely new conception. The result was the 35hp 4-cylinder Daimler model which became known as the first Mercedes car. It was designed by Maybach, incorporating some of the principles of the P.D. Car designed by Paul Daimler, a son of Gottlieb Daimler. It made a very successful debut at the Nice Week, 1901. Jellinek had a seat on the Daimler car company’s board of directors since 1900. He now obtained the sole agency for Daimler in France, Belgium, Austro-Hungary and the United States of America. He sold the cars under the name of Mercedes – which formerly had been only his pseudonym – to counter possible legal proceedings by Panhard-Levassor, who owned licences for Daimler cars under an earlier agreement with Gottlieb Daimler himself. As a result of the great successes of Mercedes cars Daimler decided in 1902 to accept this as a new brand name for all subsequent private Daimler cars. Commercial vehicles continued to be marketed under the name Daimler, and this name was also applied to the cars built in 1901 by the breakaway M.M.B. company in Berlin.

GB, 1896 to date

(1) Daimler Motor Syndicate Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1896 – 1904

(2) Daimler Motor Co (1904) Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1904 – 1910

(3) Daimler Co Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1910 to date

The Daimler Motor Syndicate was formed in England in 1893 by F.R. Simms to exploit Gottlieb Daimler motor patents, but it was not until 1896 that the Coventry factory became active as part of H.J. Lawson’s empire. Though Daimler himself was a director until 1898, the English and German Daimler concerns pursued their separate ways. In the first two years cars were mostly imported, and early English Daimlers were 2-cylinder machines, largely on Panhard lines, with automatic inlet valves, tiller steering, tube ignition, 4-speed and reverse gearboxes, chain drive and solid tyres. Prices ranged from £368 for a pheaeton up to £418 for a ‘Daimler private omnibus’. 1899 saw the first 4-cylinder car, a 3-litre machine rated at 12hp; this Daimler had wheel steering, and the Hon. John Scott-Montagu became the first British driver to compete in a continental race on a vehicle of British construction when he drove one Daimler in the Paris-Ostend that year. King Edward VII, while still Prince of Wales, took delivery of his first Daimler in 1900, thus forging a connection between the Daimler company and the reigning house which lasted until the 1950s. Design policy was very uncertain for the next few seasons, but in 1902 there was a chain-driven 1.8-litre twin Daimler, as well as fours of 2.4 and 4½-litres’ capacity with tubular, Panhard-like radiators. These Daimler cars retained stand-by tube ignition. The fluted radiator and 3-piece bonnet, both to become Daimler hallmarks, were introduced in 1904, the year in which the Daimler company went over to large and powerful chain-driven fours with mechanically-operated side valves and coil ignition, which ran in such events as the herkomer Trophy Trials. The 9¼ litre ‘Daimler 35’ was typical, but there were even bigger versions of over 10½-litres, and Daimler advertising made much of sprint wins on the Continent and in the USA as well as at home. Some of these Daimler cars were made under licence in Italy as the De Luca.

1909 saw a complete volte face with the adoption of Charles Yale Knight’s double-sleeve valve engine and underslung worm drive, and the Daimler cars of the next 23 years were smooth, and silent, but not capable of high performance. They also changed little in appearance, since Daimler, unlike most luxury-car makers, built their own bodywork. Poppet valves were dropped altogether after 1909. By 1914 the Daimler company’s range extended from a 4-cylinder 3.3-litre ‘Daimler 20’ with rear-axle gearbox at £430 for a chassis up to a very large 7.4-litre 6-cylinder ‘Daimler 45’. Electric lighting and starting were standard on the bigger cars. The purchase of Daimler by BSA in 1910 made no difference to the cars, though the BSA itself became merely a cheap Daimler.

After World war 1, 4-cylinder cars were dropped (apart from a short-lived ‘Daimler 20’ in 1922) and the same solid conservative machines were offered in a range of fearsome complexity. There was a 1½-litre six in 1923 and front wheel brakes arrived with the 35hp model in 1924, becoming universal late in 1925, when light steel sleeves were adopted and outputs went up. The immense and stately 12-cylinder 7.1-litre Daimler Double Six was introduced in 1927; 12-cylinder Daimler cars were used by the Royal Family and persisted in a variety of capacities from 3.7 litres until 1938, the last ones using poppet valves. In 1927 the company offered 23 separate Daimler car models (exclusive of body styles), using five engines from 1.9-litres to 7.1-litres, and twelve wheelbase lengths from the 9ft 9in of the owner-driver ’Daimler 16-55’ up to the 13ft 7in of the Royal model of the Double-Six, which cost £1950 for a chassis alone. In 1930 Daimler pioneered the fluid-flywheel transmission with column selector which was used on all Daimler models from 1932 to 1956. The Lanchester company was acquired in 1931 and the make downgraded into another species of inexpensive Daimler cars for sale. In 1933 the influence of Launce Pomeroy Sr was reflected in a 1.8-litre 6-cylinder ‘Daimler 15’ with overhead valves for the owner-driver at £450, and this was followed by a series of ohv sixes and straight-8s, some of them with fixed cylinder heads. Independent front suspension appeared on 1938 versions of the ‘Daimler 15’. In 1939 there were three sixes and two eights, the top of the range being the 4½-litre 32hp limousine.

After World War 2 the 2½-litre Daimler DB.18 (descended from the ‘15’) was revived and there were two limousine models with hypoid final drive, a 4-litre six and a 5½-litre eight. A certain lack of direction punctuated the early 1950s, which saw the short-stroke 2½-litre ‘Daimler Conquest’ saloon and its 100mph variant, the ‘Daimler Conquest Century’, and also a sports two-seater. The company was reorganized in 1956, in which year automatic transmission was available as an alternative to the fluid-flywheel gearbox. The 3.8-litre 6-cylinder ‘Daimler Majestic’ of 1958 had automatic transmission and disc brakes as standard equipment and a year later came the Turner-designed V8 2½-litre Daimler SP250 sports car, a 120mph machine which broke away form traditional Daimler appearance and sold for £1.395. A synchromesh gearbox was standard. A pair of 4.6-litre V8s with traditional bodywork joined it in 1960, in which year the company was bought by Jaguar. A 2½-litre saloon using the small V8 Daimler engine in a Mk II jaguar body was introduced for 1963, and gradually Jaguar influences took over. The 8-cylinder Majestic Major saloon was replaced in 1967 by the Daimler Sovereign, a Jaguar 420 down to its dohc 6-cylinder engine, and a year later there was a new Jaguar-based limousine using the 4235cc power unit and a Vanden Plas body. The last V8 Daimlers were made in 1996, and inevitably the 1973 season brought a Daimler version of the 5.3-litre V12 XJ6 Jaguar, designated the Double Six; a long-chassis version had trim by Vanden Plas.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; HON, MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com