Return of the Works Bugatti 59/50B (2)

In July 1939 Jean Bugatti accepted the invitation to compete at the first Bugatti Owners’ Club International Prescott Hillclimb and brought the monoposto Type 59 fitted with 8-cylinder supercharged 4.7-litre type 50B engine for his works driver Jean-Pierre Wimille. The car came second in the event behind the ERA of Raymond Mays. Except for its single post-war outing in 1945 in the hands of Wimille at the Coupe des Prisonniers in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, the 59/50B was not to be driven again and like so many Bugattis, ended up in the Schlumpf collection, which has now become the French National motor museum – Cité de l’Automobile in Mulhouse. This summer the car will return to Prescott after 80 years as part of the Bugatti Trust’s summer exhibition, just as the Bugatti Owners Club that owns Prescott celebrates its 90th anniversary this year with a special anniversary edition of the famous hillclimb on 25-26 May

when it hosts its popular annual French themed event ‘La Vie en Bleu/La Vita Rossa’. See www.prescott-hillclimb.com for details.