The chassis of the Type 44 offered here, numbered 44784, is noted to have been completed by the Bugatti factory in November 1928. The Factory Monthly Register lists the sale of the car, in its first form as a rolling chassis, to important Bugatti dealer Christy, Pangaud & Monestier of Lyon, who paid 48,000 French francs. Originally mounted with an eight-cylinder Type 44 engine, numbered 571, the chassis left the Molsheim factory under the instruction of its supplying dealer for the short journey across north-eastern France to Gangloff’s workshop in Colmar. Here, the French coachbuilder styled the Type 44 Profilé with a rare ‘Aerodynamique’ body, seldom worn on a Bugatti chassis. The Gangloff coachwork is instantly recognisable for its ‘Aerodynamique’ shape, with its compact coupé profile and low-rake windscreen that combine to denote a sporting character.

Upon completion, the Bugatti was first registered for the road in France on 26 February 1929 in the department of Rhone, wearing the registration “3021 PF”. According to the Bugatti expert Pierre-Yves Laugier, who commissioned a history report of the Type 44 in September 2025, chassis 44784 was first privately owned by Jean Paul Prylli, a devoted car enthusiast and member of the Automobile Club du Rhone. Monsieur Prylli was known to have made his fortune in London by selling silk muslin, tulle fabric, and veils for weddings, eventually ranking among the most prominent globally and the biggest silk buyer in France. The Bugatti was delivered new to the Prylli family home in Lyon in February 1929. It is thought that Monsieur Prylli acquired a Bugatti Type 49 Berline around October 1933, forcing the sale of chassis 44784 to one Monsieur Aufenast, also of Lyon.

In February 1934 the Type 44 was sold again by the Monestier agency, with its ledger roughly translated as commenting: ‘It is the only Type 44 for which we have Bugatti agency archives with the mention of ‘Aerodynamique’, even if we do know that chassis 44419 was quite similar.’ By this point the car had been acquired by Marcel Perrin, a renowned motorcycle racer residing in Mâcon, and registered as “9367 QD 2”. The Monestier agency sold the car again when it was registered as “6582 PF 5” in May 1934, and it was sold once more in August 1936, assuming the French registration “3318 RK 5”.

Andre Paul Sirejols owned the car next, with it registered in his name by September 1938. It is possible, however, that Monsieur Sirejols had the car before this; he was involved in a road accident with chassis 44784 the year before. A document provides his statement: ‘On 19 December 1937, at 3pm, I was driving my Bugatti closed car chassis 44784, 17 HP, plate “3318 RK 5”, with a racing BNC behind which had mechanical trouble. The BNC being towed hurt a car coming the other way, which went into the front left wing of the Bugatti whose front axle was also damaged.’ It is unknown if the frame of the car was spoiled in this accident. The Bugatti was next owned by Philippe Vernholes, treasurer and later secretary of the French Bugatti Club, who bought the car around 1969. Monsieur Vernholes bought the car in poor condition and so instructed Henri Novo to return the engine to running condition and Jean-Paul Monceau to carry out repairs to the coachwork. The wings were replaced, interior and seats retrimmed in green, and the body repainted in Souffre Blanc—a light green colour.

By June 1972, the Type 44 had been acquired at auction by prominent marque collectors of the 1970s and 1980s: Nicolas Seydoux, with his brother Michel. It was next acquired by Edgard Ben Soussan in 1988 and later exported to Switzerland to join Peter Aeschliemann’s Bugatti collection in Zurich in 1993. The Bugatti was noted for sale at a Swiss garage in Teffen in 1995 and in 2006 it was bought by the Dutch car dealer Jack Braam Ruben. It was sold to Spain one year later. In the care of the consigning owner, the Type 44 has been subject to at least £250,000-worth of maintenance, performed by Bugatti-specialist Ivan Dutton Limited and established race mechanic and engineer Maurice Ogier.

On Monsieur Laugier’s last inspection of the car, he noted that the lower crankcase of the engine (numbered 470) originates from a Bugatti chassis numbered 44760. The gearbox comes from a Type 44 made around May 1928, the rear axle from a same model made in December 1927, and frame (stamped 683) correct for a chassis numbered around 44520. The report concludes: ‘There is no doubt that the actual body on the car is made for 44748, one of the very rare Gangloff ‘Aerodynamique’ bodies for Bugatti. The car presented today is a unique example, an original Type 44 ‘Aerodynamique’. It is an historic piece of Bugatti and Gangloff coachwork.’