{"id":611038,"date":"2020-01-13T15:01:09","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T15:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/\/\/speedshop2-star-car-2"},"modified":"2020-01-15T12:27:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T12:27:14","slug":"speedshop2-star-car-2","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/november-2019\/123\/speedshop2-star-car-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Speedshop2 Star Car"},"content":{"rendered":"
February\u2019s Paris Retromobile show may be a way off, but Bonhams has already given pre-war car enthusiasts considerable food for thought by consigning a Bugatti Type 55 that began life as a works Le Mans entry driven by two of the greatest French pilotes<\/i> of the era.<\/p>\n
There were high hopes for Louis Chiron and Guy Bouriat\u2019s chances when they took to the grid at the Circuit de la Sarthe during the 1932 event, for which the car was fitted with makeshift, regulation-compliant four-seat bodywork. But, as it turned out, the pair were forced to retire after just three hours and 22 laps \u2013 when the car ran out of petrol.<\/p>\n
Following its ignominious Le Mans failure, Bouriat sold the Type 55 to magazine publisher Jacques Dupuy, who commissioned Parisian coachbuilder Giuseppe Figoni to clothe it in an elegant, one-off, two-seater body featuring high-level doors and came complete with wind-up windows.<\/p>\n