According to the report on file by Pierre-Yves Laugier, Bugatti chassis number 57190 was ordered on 5 March 1934 by the Bugatti agent J.B. Arnaud for his client, a dentist named Raymond Peretti of Poitiers, France. Unfortunately, the mass of orders for the new Type 57 pushed the expected delivery date back several months, and the fully completed car—featuring Jean Bugatti’s elegant Stelvio coachwork—was not received by Mr. Peretti at the Molshaim factory until July. The report further illustrates the exterior was originally finished in Black and Ivory with a Havana leather interior and light beige hood.

The dentist was most certainly a fan of the marque, as this Type 57 replaced a Type 44 roadster by Gangloff sold the day before the order form was signed. In a letter between him and the factory from the summer of 1937, it is reported that the car suffered from a cracked cylinder block and seized pistons. By this point, the Bugatti had traveled roughly 40,000 kilometers (~24,850 miles), indicating Mr. Peretti’s status as a true driving enthusiast. Importantly, however, the engine’s crank case still bears the stampings displaying the car’s chassis number and correct engine number, 62.

During the war, the Bugatti was presumed to have been taken by the Germans. Once peace came, the Type 57 came into the care of André Pigé, a doctor whose exploits during the war are truly impressive: After being an active member of the resistance for some time, Dr. Pigé was arrested in August 1944 by the Germans while attempting to deliver a paratrooper to the free zone in the trunk of his car. He was spared from execution by a remarkable coincidence in which his uncle was educated in the same village as the German Commandant in charge of handling the situation. This uncle convinced the authorities to instead send the doctor to a concentration camp to provide medical care for the prisoners. André Pigé then escaped the camp and returned to freedom. Sadly, Dr. Pigé met an untimely demise as a result of an accident while swimming with friends in 1947, and his family subsequently sold the car.

The Type 57 would remain in France for the following decade until it was sold to Joseph Gest of La Jolla, California in the early 1960s. Under his ownership, the Bugatti received a restoration courtesy of Bunny Phillips, the well-known Bugatti agent of Los Angeles since the 1930s. Over the course of the next 20 years, the car came into the esteemed hands of the Blackhawk Collection and famed collector Bill Jacobs, who had the car restored for a second time in 1985. Just a year later, it was sold to Terence Adderley. Laugier further confirms the Bugatti has retained a large amount of its original components including the gearbox, frame, UUR2 Stromberg carburetor, and bodywork.

For the collector who appreciates beauty, quality, and performance, the availability of this Stelvio, now offered out of 37 years of ownership, marks the opportunity to procure one of the finest sporting automobiles of the pre-war period.