Chassis Number: 37227
The fascinating history of this example is chronicled in a report on file by renowned Bugatti historian Pierre-Yves Laugier. On December 1, 1926, chassis 37227 was invoiced for the amount of 46,400 French francs to Mr. René Bacon in the city of Luxey in southwest France. The Bugatti was delivered by a Mr. Deprat, who drove it from Molsheim to Luxey. Mr. Bacon was a World War I hero who owned large forests in the region and made his money by manufacturing turpentine from pine trees. The Bugatti was then sold on June 18, 1929, to the famous driver Count Stanislaw Czaykowski, a well-known Bugatti privateer driver who was born in The Hague in 1899. On December 9, 1930, the Type 37 was sold to Count Czaykowski’s friend and mechanic Ernest Friderich in Nice. Friderich, an engineer and racer for Bugatti from its earliest days, had been in charge of the maintenance of Count Czaykowski’s cars since 1929. The Bugatti remained in France and passed among a handful of other owners, including Jean Vuira, a noted automobile and motorcycle racer, and, from 1946 to 1950, Mr. Claudius Alazard. The Bugatti was discovered in 1958 by famed Bugatti hunter Antoine Raffaelli, who was a young 24-year-old enthusiast at the time. In 1960, the Bugatti was sold by Leonard Potter and the Halfway Garages in the U.K. and purchased, for $2,100, by its fascinating long-term owner, Peter Larkin of New York City; it has remained in his family ever since. Mr. Larkin was an influential four-time Tony Award-winning set designer. A 1962 New Yorker article entitled “The Bugatti Upstairs” chronicles an early moment in Mr. Larkin’s ownership. The article states, “He used to keep the vehicle, which was built in 1926 or 1927, parked in the street. Last fall he had to send some parts to New Jersey for repairs, so he had to find a winter-storage place. He decided to put the car on his terrace.” The article reports that Mr. Larkin and a friend took the Bugatti apart, carried it piece by piece upstairs, and reassembled it on the terrace of his 18th Street apartment in New York, which was located above Pete’s Tavern, a legendary drinking establishment dating back to the mid-1800s. The car was eventually taken back down and reassembled. In addition to his important work on Broadway, Mr. Larkin, along with lighting designer Jules Fisher, designed the Mothership in the 1970s for the seminal music collective Parliament-Funkadelic. This was a fire-spitting flying saucer that would descend from the rafters at packed arena shows, and it has since become one of the most iconic stage props of all time. A replica of it now resides in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. It should also be noted that Mr. Larkin was a direct descendant of Deacon Larkin who, in 1775, lent his horse to Paul Revere for that famous “British are coming” night ride. Mr. Larkin was enthusiastic in his ownership of the Bugatti, stating in 2016 that he still drove it every Sunday, weather permitting. He drove the Type 37 until he was about 90 years old, although, according to his stepson Wesley Strick, “Peter knew that not everyone shared his love of automotive excitement. For years, he kept a photo album of dazed-looking acquaintances whom he’d just driven around Bridgehampton’s backroads at top speed. Then he’d screech to a stop in our driveway and my mom would snap their photos as they stumbled from his car — the album was titled ‘Frightened Bugatti Guests.’” Now offered for sale for the first time in over 60 years, 37227 is well respected within the Bugatti community.
