1947 Bugatti Type 73 Monoposto Race Car

In 1944 Ettore Bugatti initiated the designs of a new, supercharged 1500-cc car intended for postwar production. It was designated the Type 73, with variations ranging from a four-seater road model to a monoposto racing car. Early in 1947 an artist's impression of a streamlined, two-door saloon appeared in a Bugatti advertisement in a Continental newspaper, and an engine-less prototype appeared on the Bugatti stand at the Paris Motor Show in October, 1947.

Ettore Bugatti had died in August, 1947 and, with the difficult economic conditions in early postwar France it is hardly surprising that the projected Type 73 Bugatti was destined to progress no further. By this time all the parts except the coachwork for an initial batch of five Type 73 racing cars had been manufactured in the old La Licorne works at Levallois near Paris, although not a single car had, in fact, been bench-tested. Thereafter, the five sets of parts remained in storage for several...