Bugatti’s ultimate pre-war roadgoing model, the Type 57 was the successor to the swift and comfortable Type 49, but it shared little except for the bore and stroke of its inline-eight-cylinder engine.

The design was steadily revised between 1934 and the end of production in 1939, with regular refinement to its specifications, including the late-in-life adaptation of Lockheed hydraulic brakes.

Optionally available beginning in 1937 was a supercharged engine, identified as a Type 57C, which could boast over 215 horsepower—a significant improvement over the output of a stock Type 57.

The example offered here, chassis number 57769, was originally delivered as a factory-supercharged 57C, with a berline body by Gangloff, through the Lyonnaise agent Monestier to one Balay.

It was next known to have been owned in 1949 by young Pierre Noblet, the wealthy textile heir who, co-driving with friend Jean Guichet, would become a successful racing driver of the late 1950s and early 1960s, finishin...