Any car that flashes the famous bright-red Bugatti badge can usually command a certain level of respect, admiration, and price tag. The late Bob Turnbull’s 1934 Bugatti Gangloff Roadster takes this idea and runs with it to very lofty heights.
Based on the same Type 57 platform as another Bugatti recently imported to the country by Hamilton collector Tom Andrews, which we featured earlier in 2015, Bob’s Gangloff-bodied roadster is a true one of a kind vehicle. Purchased in 1958 for the grand sum of £475.12s.6d, the Bugatti is now insured for a jaw-dropping $1 million.
After his death in 2012, Bob entrusted the Bugatti — as well as his other two classic vehicles; a 1907 Sizaire et Naudin, and a 1904 Humber Humberette — to his close friend Pete Brabant. Instructed by Bob to finish restoring the roadster, Pete did just that, and the car was completed by February 2015. The car now finds itself up for sale, with its proceeds to go to Bob’s own charitable trust, of which Pete is a trustee.
Bob was known for keeping to himself and dodging the limelight — a feat most difficult for someone who owned such an amazing vehicle. But those times spent alone helped massage and nurture Bob’s incredible knowledge of engineering and attention to detail — and that knowledge is clearly visible as you look over his immaculate roadster.
It’s not surprising that Bob wasn’t big on technology, which makes it all the more ironic that his Bugatti is being featured online on The Motorhood. We hope that whoever does purchase the big Bugatti can appreciate it as much as Bob did.
