Bugatti Type 50 I gallery (1930–1934)

Introduced in 1930, the Bugatti Type 50 was conceived as a high-performance successor to the luxurious Type 46, combining touring comfort with race-derived engineering. The vehicle was built on a sturdy steel ladder chassis featuring solid axles with semi-elliptic front and quarter-elliptic rear leaf springs, utilizing a shorter wheelbase than the Type 46 to deliver sharper handling and agility. Under the long bonnet sat a sophisticated 4.9-liter (4,972 cc) inline-eight engine equipped with dual overhead camshafts (DOHC), two valves per cylinder, and a Roots-type supercharger, producing approximately 225 hp. Power was sent to the rear wheels via a three-speed manual transaxle integrated with the rear axle. A longer-wheelbase touring variant known as the Type 50T was also produced, delivering around 200 hp in naturally aspirated or mildly tuned form. The Type 50 was available in bespoke coachwork configurations including sleek fixed-head coupes, elegant cabriolets, and open roadsters crafted by Jean Bugatti or coachbuilders like Gangloff. Sold primarily to wealthy European motorists, the Type 50 remains one of the defining dual-overhead-cam grand tourers of the classic era.