It's all About Cars: Bugatti 1959 Type 101

Type 101, was a new model was largely based on the brilliant prewar Type 57, including the 3.3-liter dual overhead-camshaft inline eight-cylinder engine and semi-independent front and live rear axle suspension. Its coachwork, however, was thoroughly modern, a full-width streamlined envelope creation that owed only Bugatti’s trademark “horseshoe” radiator grille to its prewar design heritage. The success or failure of the Type 101, however, was determined not by its character or appearance but by Bugatti’s fateful decision to leave the Type 57 engine’s displacement intact, putting it in a “17 Chevaux Vapeur” fiscal horsepower class, which imposed confiscatory annual taxes under postwar French regulations.

This car was auctioned off by RM Auctions in August of 2011 at the Portola Hotel & Spa and Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, California.

135 bhp, 3,256 cc supercharged DOHC inline eight-cylinder engine, Cotal electric pre-selector gearbox, semi-independent front suspension with semi-elliptic leaf springs, live rear axle with reverse quarter-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 130"