Jay Leno Smitten By Louis Chiron’s 1931 Bugatti Type 51, The Original “Race Car For The Road”

Jay Leno Smitten By Louis Chiron’s 1931 Bugatti Type 51, The Original “Race Car For The Road”

Jay Leno takes a look at the 1931 Bugatti Type 51 Dubos Coupe in his latest video, an incredibly rare Bugatti that started life as a Grand Prix race car.

It started life as a Type 51 Grand Prix racing car and was raced by Louis Chiron in that period. Yes, that’s the same man who inspired the name for the modern hypercar. After racing for Bugatti in 1931, Chiron was gifted the vehicle and owned it until 1936 when it was sold to a man named André Bith.

In 1937, Bith took the then-racecar to Carrossier Louis Dubos to inquire about having a grand touring body in the style of the new Type 57SC Atlantic installed. On July 20, 1937, the finished vehicle was delivered to Bith, featuring the gorgeous body you see here.

At some point in time, the vehicle’s chassis and body were separated and were apart for almost 50 years. In the year 2000, the Nethercutt Collection found and purchased the original body, and restored it back to the way it was when it was in 1937.

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Opening up the hood of the Bugatti is really like opening up a jewelry box, the engine is so beautiful. Almost every piece is polished to a beautiful shine, and everything that isn’t is “engine turned”.

Powering the Type 51 is a supercharged 2.3-liter dual overhead cam straight-eight, which could produce 200 horsepower running on alcohol and has a top speed of 140 mph. The combination of the supercharger and the non-synchronized gearbox creates an incredible sound that can’t be replicated by any modern engine

Although the vehicle is magnificently restored, one concession to modernity is made by way of an electric cooling fan.

Bugatti has always been ahead of its time with car design, and although the Dubos is over 90 years old its extremely aerodynamic body and clean lines make it look like something that could still come out today.

The only thing about the vehicle that isn’t ahead of its time is the brakes, which Jay explains are operated by a cable instead of by hydraulic fluid. Even a lot of bicycles use hydraulic disc brakes these days, but I think we’d still prefer to take the Bugatti for a ride.

Photos courtesy Jay Leno’s Garage YouTube

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