The first Monaco Grand Prix started 83 years ago on April 14, 1929. At the time, Ettore Bugatti was 48, Enzo Ferrari was 31 and Juan-Manuel Fangio was 18. William Grover alias “Williams” drives his Bugatti 35 B, chassis number 4914, in this race. He has a gripping, dramatic duel with Rudolf Caracciola on the factory SSK.
There are a number of leadership changes between the small and agile Bugatti and the 7.2 liter SSK. After 100 laps and a duration of 3 hours and 59 minutes, Williams wins in his Bugatti ahead of Caracciola in his Mercedes. At the race track, a little boy watches the spectacle with his father. M. Escudier will never forget this special day. After the race, his father even has to build him a replica of the GP Bugatti out of wood so that the boy can rest.
Then in 1954, 25 years later, Escudier bought his own large and real GP Bugatti. Escudier only noticed ten more years later – after Fritz Schlumpf tried again and again in vain to buy his car – that he was in possession of theMonaco winning car in 1929is. Escudier keeps the car from 1954 to 2006 –For 52 years. In February 2006 I meet him in Monte Carlo and he tells me this wonderful story.
After two hours we agreed and he sold his Monaco winning car to my customer after 52 years.One of the most original and significant pre-war racing cars in existence.
What a story!
