1938 Bugatti T57S Roadster Corsica

started life on a 1937 Bugatti Type 57 S chassis acquired by British Colonel Godfrey Giles. Giles assigned the task to his brother to design a roadster and entrusted the execution of that design to English coachbuilder Corsica. Registered in 1938 with plate number GU7, the vehicle was later modified with a compressor, thus bestowing the SC designation on the vehicle. After owning the vehicle for nearly ten years, Mr. Mozart (1985 owned) commissioned a complete restoration and entered the Corsica roadster in the 1998 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where it won the coveted Best of Show award.

Bugatti T57S (57593) GU 7 (GB).

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Prescott 1946

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I love this car... Precious.

 

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crocodile skin

 

These photos reminded me of my first visit to P.B.C.d'E. (in 1998 ?) with a friend (drag racer/hot rodder) who had never been in any Concours d'Elegance type classic car show before. About half way through the field/morning we came upon this (I didn't even know of its existence until then) and I immediately told him "This is IT, the best of this show", which prompted him to ask "How can you say that since so far we've only seen maybe half the cars here and it looks like they haven't even finished judging all the entries yet ?", to which I replied "Just look at it, there's absolutely no way anything better can be here today".

BTW, what's story on the spare tire rear deck vs. currently not having it ?

 

Great question Timo, I can t give you the reply But in my opinion without the 5 wheels the car look better. Too much civilized probably, the rear wheel give it this a race configuration.

 

I agree it looks "better" without the spare, but I'm just curious if the body was originally designed & constructed with it or if it was added weeks/months/years later ?

 

At this time I can t give you a correct reply but I keep the question with interest. I like so much this model...

 

#57593 is the model with the crocodile leather, I think the picture in B§W was a other Corsica 57...must to check.

57593
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British Colonel G. M. Giles was a lucky man. He received in 1936 the most exclusive Bugatti chassis, the Type 57SC, with a body designed by both his brother Eric Giles and had Jean Bugatti. Corsica (UK coachbuilder ) of London executed the design on chassis 57593 an the car was driven around England with the registration GU7.
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Others pictures
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That top fixture(?) sure looks like some kind of a removable "all weather"(?) enclosure or frame for one. Does it or more (close-up) pictures of it still exist ?

Was there two of these built by Corsica ?
The seat upholstery design (& material ?) of "GU 7" doesn't seem to match that of the '98 P.B. winner either.

 

I must to have time for checking something more about this car. Without any documentation, or books about Bugatti it s quite difficult. Anyway, as I told you before the questions are interesting, and I like to have also a reply.

 

Neat car - the grainy photo in the first post looks like my photo
On flickr: https://flic.kr/p/9g1M6g
Back when I was taking photos on film and later scanned them (poorly).
Also - picture of the car in 2000 at the polo grounds at Pebble Beach
https://flic.kr/p/etRv4G