What really set the new Type 59/50B apart from its predecessors was the true single-seater driving position; all previous Bugatti Grand Prix cars could accommodate a passenger, making them eligible for sports-car racing.

The Type 59/50B was also the first Bugatti racer with a true single-seat configuration. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)

Furthermore, the car was clothed in an aerodynamic body with a fully cowled radiator. This was another break with tradition as the previous generations all shared the same basic design dominated by the horse-shoe shaped radiator. The wheels, which doubled as the brake drums were vintage Bugatti and virtually identical to those used on the Type 59.

Bugatti debuted the Type 59/50B at the 1936 Monaco Grand Prix for Jean-Pierre Wimille. Unfortunately, technical problems prevented the car from starting the race. Wimelle was back out with the new Grand Prix machine at the Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten. A gearbox failure cut this effort short.

The car was then shipped to the United States where it finished a commendable second in the Vanderbilt Cup. In 1937, it was rebuilt to Type 59/50B II specification with a naturally aspirated, 4.5-liter version of the engine. This was done to compete in the one-million Franc race organized by the French government at Montlhery. Wimille was beaten by Dreyfus in a V12-engined Delahaye.

This was still not the end of the line for the now five-year-old machine. New regulations were announced for 1938, with displacement restrictions of 3 liters for the forced-induction engines and 4.5 liters for naturally aspirated units.

The handsome wire wheels that double as the brake drums were vintage Bugatti. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)

Despite having a 4.5 liter version of the engine that complied with the regulations, Bugatti nevertheless opted to develop a downsized, supercharged variant of the alloy straight eight. Known as the Type 50B III, it sported an identical bore and stroke of 78 mm to give a displacement of 2,985 cc. The chassis was modified to accommodate for the engine's massive 300 mm supercharger. Wimille raced the car twice in this guise but was dogged with engine failures on both occasions.

Despite the poor results of the original Type 59/50B, Bugatti built at least one more for 1939 to replace the aging machine. Fitted with the supercharged, 4.7-liter variant of the engine, it may have been built on the other Type 59 chassis retained by Bugatti but that is not clear.

Fitted with hydraulic brakes, the second Type 59/50B debuted at the La Turbie Hillclimb where Wimille finished first in class and second outright. He went one better at the Coupe de Paris at Montlhery, scoring the type's first victory. The Bugatti works driver would go on to finish second at the Prescott Hill Climb and take a victory at the 1945 Coupe des Prisonniers in Paris immediately after the War.

Production at Bugatti did not resume after the War, making the second Type 59/50B the very last Grand Prix car built by the fabled French manufacturer under its original ownership. Unfortunately, it could not live up to the standard set by the all-conquering Type 35 and equally impressive Type 51.

Had the War not intervened a new generation of Bugattis might have been introduced as an independently sprung road car was in the process of being completed. The lessons of this model would have surely also had an effect on the company's however-limited racing activities.

For a gallery of photos, see Bugatti Type 59/50B.

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