Curbside Classic: 1926 Bugatti Type 37 – Hot One Hundred (Year Old)

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– Posted on August 15, 2024

It’s getting harder and harder to break new ground at CC. One way to go is exotic. Another is to find something super exclusive. Or perhaps pre-war. Combine all three and you might well have a winner. And if you wait long enough on a certain gingko tree-lined part of Tokyo, there is a fair chance that something truly old, foreign and exclusive might show up.

We’ve talked about Bugatti on the site a few times, but mostly using archive shots, because they don’t exactly prowl the pavement on a daily basis. The “true” Bugattis, i.e. the ones made prior to the marque’s first demise in the ‘50s, are invariably ancient and very, very expensive. Just like the new ones, I guess.

But where the new Bugattis only focus on the marque’s historic large cars – your 12-litre Royales and 8-cyl. Type 46s, 50s and 57s of the ‘30s – there was a whole range of smaller 4-cyl. Bugs in the ‘10s and ‘20s that were extremely successful in their own right. And just as iconic.

After having worked ten years for other carmakers, Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947) founded his business in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace – then part of the German Empire. In 1910, Bugatti launched the Type 13. A small and nimble machine made with the utmost care and powered by a highly advanced 1.3 litre OHC 4-cyl., the Type 13 racer and its street derivatives were key to establishing the marque’s racing pedigree pre-WW1. In fact, they were so advanced that their career continued well into the ‘20s, updated with a 16-valve engine.

But there was a limit to everything, and Ettore Bugatti knew he needed a new chassis to keep his cars in the game. The Type 35 was the answer. Debuting in 1924, the 2-litre straight-8-powered two-seat racer, with its distinctive alloy wheels, would accumulate over a thousand wins until the early ‘30s.

Our feature car, the Type 37, is basically a 4-cyl. version of the Type 35 – same body, very similar chassis. The easiest way to tell the two apart: the Type 37s usually have wire wheels, unless they are of the spicier 37A variant.

The other tell-tale sign, obviously, is under the hood. In this spec, this 1496cc block of Art Deco perfection provides 60hp to the rear wheels via a 4-speed gearbox. Which was modest for a race car even at the time, but the Bugatti’s secret sauce lay in its lightness, superior handling and reliability, not raw power. But if you wanted more oomph, the supercharged Type 37A became available in 1927, providing 90hp.

This 60hp figure also happens to equal the one of the Type 13 Brescia that this model was replacing. After all, Bugatti had produced around 2000 Type 13 chassis (and derivatives), so following such a hit required kid gloves. As did driving this formidable machine, I’m sure.

Compared to its predecessor, the Type 37’s chassis was a leaner, lower and longer. It was also very narrow, so controls such as the gear lever were still protruding from the body at the driver’s right hand.

This is chassis number 134 out of a total of about 300 made (including 67 Type 37As). I don’t know whether it was raced – they usually were, but not always. Ettore Bugatti specifically claimed that these were sports cars, not out-and-out racers. His philosophy, which was pretty common at the time, was that one could drive these on the street as well as the track. Some cars were ordered as chassis-only and received closed bodies, or had large fenders grafted on. Not this one, though.

Most folks who ordered a Type 37 got the factory racer body that fitted it best. If you wanted a more civilized version, the way to go was the Type 40, which featured the exact same 1.5 litre engine on a longer wheelbase and with a wider body – either made by Bugatti or an external coachbuilder.

The Type 40 also had an electric starter that the Type 37 would not have bothered with when new (this one has one now). We can also see, just behind the license plate, the famous lightweight tubular front axle that graced nearly all Bugattis from the mid-‘20s to the ‘50s. These were forged by Bugatti using the highest grade British steel and featured a squarish hole on both sides designed to anchor the leaf suspension to the axle itself.

The global economic downturn took its toll on Bugatti, from 1930 onwards. The smaller 4-cyl. range was sacrificed to focus on white elephants like the monstrous Royale, to the dismay of Bugatti’s less well-heeled clientele. The race cars followed suit: the Type 37 was never replaced, but Type 35 was followed up by the (larger) Type 51. But racing victories became scarcer: Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Mercedes-Benz were dominating the track in the ‘30s, leaving a dwindling contingent of blue Bugs in their wake.

Ettore Bugatti never lost his taste for 4-cyl. engines. During the Second World War, he guessed that smaller displacement cars would be in vogue again, so he designed on a completely new range of small Bugattis, both in racing and civilian variants. A prototype Type 73 coupé, as well as a couple of engines (1.5 litre 4cyl., both in 12-valve SOHC and 16-valve DOHC form) were shown at the 1947 Paris Motor Show, alas weeks after Ettore’s funeral.

Luckily, Bugatti did such a good job putting together the last generation of 4-cyl. cars that, almost a century later, they remain sprightly and as sought after as when they were new. Here’s to the next hundred years!