1930 Bugatti Type 40 Roadster 'Jean Bugatti' (P.O.R.)


Chassis no. 40852
Engine number 770
Gearbox number 770
First road registration 27/06/1930
Matching numbers example
Known ownership history
Long-term ownership of +40 years
Registered in Belgium

Story

Chassis number '40582' is one of 42 Type 40 roadsters built between February 1930 and February 1931 out of a total production, including the successor Type 40A, of 830 cars.
The 1,500cc engine, '770', was built in January 1930, and the car completed at the Molsheim factory in June 1930 together with six other Roadsters of the same model.
The factory invoicing records state: '28/6 - 40852. 7/4 A. Mathon, Roadster Luxe. Tourcoing. 38.360ff. Juillet'.
The order probably was made on 7th April 1930, with delivery on 28th June and payment in July 1930.
André Mathon was the Bugatti dealer in Lille.

Lille registration records show that the Type 40 was first registered on 27th June 1930 in the name of Jacques Messian, residing in Cambrai.
A prominent Cambrai family, the Messians' holiday home was in Le Touquet, to which the Bugatti was delivered directly.
All three of the Messian brothers liked Bugattis.

Jacques Messian sold his Type 40 on 14th January 1932 to garage-owner Louis Pluquet, an amateur racing driver, who in turn sold it on 3rd June 1933 to Henri Berlaimont, a brewer from Saint Quentin who owned the breweries 'La Pomme Rouge' and 'Les Deux Cigognes'.

Berlaimont was a dedicated Bugatti enthusiast who owned no fewer than 12 between 1925 and 1953. He displayed the Type 40 at the Trouville Concours d'Élégance in 1933 or 1934 and kept in until 1937.

Sold by Berlaimont, '40852' was registered in Paris as '8367 RK 9' on 2nd April 1937 (names of subsequent owners are unknown as all records from before 1950 have been destroyed by the Paris registration authorities).
The Bugatti stayed in Paris until after the war, and in December 1953 was registered '9861 CL 75' to one Raymond Truffier.
On 2nd June 1954 the Type 40 was transferred to the Aisne region and reregistered as '644 BT 02'; most likely the owner's name was Lartizien.
On 16th October 1958, the car was registered as '8696 HH 75' in the name of David Miles Thompson, an official working for NATO. Hugh Conway's Bugatti 'Register and Data Book' confirmed in 1962 that chassis number '40852' had belonged to D M Thompson since 1958.

The 'Registre du BOC', published in 2000, states that the car was purchased in 1967 by E M Lowndes, who would keep it for the next 47 years!

The Type 40 was most likely maintained by Cattaneo in Paris. Cattaneo was the mechanic of Prince Nicolas of Romania at Le Mans and specialised in maintaining Bugattis and Hispano Suizas.
Lowndes had the car repainted in what he believed to be the original colour: blue body with black wings.
A fuller account of this Type 40's history may be found in the illustrated report, compiled by Bugatti authority Pierre-Yves Laugier in October 2014, which accompanies the car.

The current vendor describes this Bugatti as in excellent condition, with very beautiful interior, and advises us that the only deviations from factory specification concern modifications to the doors and windscreen.
Only one third of Type 40 production has survived and '40852' is one of the most beautiful and most original among them.

Owners & History

1930/06/28 Jacques Messian
1932/01/14 Louis Pluquet
1933/06/03 Henri Berlaimont
1937/04/02 ..., Paris, France
1953/12 Raymond Truffier
1954/06/02 Lartizien
1958/10/16 David Miles Thompson
1960 Photo ?
1967 E.M. Lowndes
2014/06/27 Bruno Vendiesse, marchand, achète la voiture à Mr Lowndes
2014/08/11 Invoice for work
2015/04/13 Guy Demeulemeester
2019/04/06 Invoice for work
2019/12/09 Belgian collector, buys the T40 for EUR 375,000 (invoice on file)
2020/21-24 Rally "Les 1000 Bornes", La Roche en Ardennes

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