The Ex-Hamish Moffat, D. B Madeley 1923 Crossley Bugatti Type 23 Brescia Chassis No. CM 1614 Engine No. 16 Registration PD 8180 Believed to be the only complete example of the 24 Bugatti Brescia to have been assembled for Bugatti, using Molsheim parts, by Crossley Motors, left in existence. Wonderfully complete and original with a well documented and rich history both pre and post-war. Owned from new and hill climbed in the 1920 s by one of the founding members of the Bugatti Owners Club D. B. Madeley. Present at the first ever meeting of the Bugatti Owners Club and the first running of the famous Prescott Hill Climb. Restored by, owned and campaigned by one of the most charismatic and well know figures in the Bugatti and Vintage car world post the second World War, Hamish Moffat. Fresh from 14,000 + of work with Internationally renown Bugatti experts Tula Engineering, including - a complete gearbox, front and rear axle and brake rebuild. Few models have evoked the same passionate following within and outside of the Bugatti world as the Brescia. Whether you want to take on the muddy hills of the VSCC trials circuit, grace the winding roads of one of the many Bugatti rallies and events, or race up Prescott Hill; the Bugatti Brescia has to be one of the most exhilarating and usable Bugatti of all time.
Derived from the 8-valve model introduced in 1910. It was uprated to carry Bugatti s characteristic reversed quarter-elliptical springs in 1913. The 16-valve version of this model was designed and built for an important international voiturette race scheduled to be held at Le Mans on the 16th of August 1914 but cancelled due to the outbreak of war. With the war thankfully behind them, production began alongside the 8-valve model in February 1920. Production built up slowly but, as would become characteristic of the great marque, it was bolstered by racing success. On the 29th of August 1920 works driver Ernst Fridrich took victory at the Coupe des Voiturettes at Le Mans. On the 8th of September 1921 Bugatti entered a team of four cars into the Voiturette Grand Prix held at Brescia in Italy. They took the first four places with Fridrich taking overall victory at an impressive average speed of over 70mph. From this point on these fabulous little racing cars have been affectionately known as Brescias. These early race cars with their 2m wheelbase were designated the Type 13. Although the Type 13 was the most famous, the majority of the models were either the Type 22 with its 2.4m wheelbase or the Type 23 with a 2.55m wheelbase. Fitted with a variety of striking and elegant sports as well as more conventional touring bodies, they were a huge success. When production of the 16-valve model came to an end in mid 1926 a total of just over 2000 examples had been built.
D.B. Madeley in CM 1614 at Chalford St. Giles Hill Climb 1925 Due to Mosheim s front line location Bugatti s War years had been tough with the Molsheim works being commandeered by the aggressors for munition manufacture. Re-commissioning the war-torn factory was going to take time and resources and the lack of sufficient machining facilities drove Bugatti to look foreign car manufacturers with spare capacity to help complete cars from Bugatti delivered parts. Through the introduction of famous British racing driver Charles Jarrot and his business partner William Letts, a deal was struck with Crossley Motors of Gorton, Manchester. Aimed at being mutually beneficial to both parties, the agreement meant they could side step the 33.3% import being imposed on foreign cars at the time, very much like Chinetti s Paris Assembled Alfa Romeo s. Comparable agreements were established between Bugatti and the German firm Rheinische Automobilbau AG and Italian firm Diato. While the German cars were marketed as Rabag the cars assembled at Crossley were very much sold as Bugatti as can be seen in the period sales brochures. A series of 24 chassis were laid down, with one complete set of spares, using imported Molsheim parts. Numbering chassis No. 1601-1625 overlapping the Molshiem cars built in the same series, their chassis numbers bore the prefix CM before them. Although production did not continue past these 25 cars. Chassis No. CM 1614 is remarkably one of only 3 of the 25 Bugatti Brescia assembled by Crossley Motors left in existence and is believed to be the only example to remain complete with its original engine. David Sewell also believes this is possible the only complete Crossley assembled Brescia engine left in existence and if not it is certainly the only once still complete in its original car. Wonderfully original, there are details, numbers and features on this car that we have not seen on any other car. Even all of the springs are dated and have all of their 1923 patent stamps still on them.
CM 1614 was sold new in 1923 to D. B. Madeley fitted with a four-seat touring body and carrying the registration PD 8180, which it still retains to this day. Mr. Madeley was one of the founding members of the Bugatti Owners Club. The fabulous picture above shows a line up of Bugatti at the first ever meeting of the Bugatti Owners Club, and as you can see CM 1614 is a proud member of said group. Mr. Madeley kept CM 1614 for 13 years. The extensive history file accompanying the car contains photographs of him hill climbing it on a number of occasions back in the 1920 s. In 1936 Mr. Madly sold CM 1614 to Bachelier and Sons in perfect condition, having covered 49,620 miles. Bachelier and Sons for some reason removed the original body. When exactly the body was removed we can not say exactly as CM 1614 was apparently entered into the first ever running of the Prescott Hill Climb in 1938. The car then passed through a number of owners - D. D. Carrington, D. G. Darby, Mr. Stallard, T. B. Wilkinson, G. W. Nobles, D. Webb in 1955 and then Hamish Moffat in 1960. Hamish Moffat was one of the most charismatic and well know figures in the Bugatti and Vintage car world post the second World War. When he bought the car in 1960 it was complete bar its body, radiator and front axle. He set about collecting the original parts and by 1964, under the guidance and advice of its original owner D. B. Madeley he finished restoring it with the lightweight aluminium skiff body that remains untouched on the car today. The car is totally original bar the body. When I bought the car Hamish s wife Bunty very kindly sent me a large envelope of history for this car with all of the original correspondence between Hamish and Madeley, the letters tracking down the radiator and front axle, and a mass of early photographs. T. + 44 (0)1285 831 488 E. cars@williamianson.com
Hamish Moffat at VSCC Oulton Park 20th June 1964 Hamish was a larger than life character and he used this car as his every day car from 1964 to 1975. He raced it, I imagine competed at Prescott with it and as you can see even used it to tow his Type 35 Grand Prix car. Featured in a number of books and publications at the time. You can see from these pictures and those published that the car has not changed at all since then. When Hamish got divorced he sold the car to French collector Mr. Sedoux in 1975. He kept the car until 1988 when it was purchased by Mr. Aeshlimann of Basel Switzerland. He kept the car for a further 12 years until it was purchased by the last long term owner before me, Bernhard Simon in 2000. A true enthusiast and co-author of the fabulous Bugatti Type 57S book, Bernhard cherished and sympathetically maintained the car through out his ownership. He had the engine rebuilt in Germany where, according to him, they fitted new bearings and valves and re polished, fettled and utilised all of the original parts.
I have had a lot of fun with this car. I took my then one year old daughter up the hill at Prescott in it at La Ville en Blue and my then 6 month old son up the hill a year later. I took the car to Italy for the Vanasca Silver Flag hill climb where it received a standing ovation. I took it to Monthlerey and drove it round the banking and I also took the car with my father to the fabulous Solo Brescia Rally. A delight to drive, CM 1614 was featured in a seven page article in Classic and Sportscar written by Mick Walsh and is planned be featured in the highly respected Automobile. Currently the car is fresh from some 14,000 plus of work by internationally respected Bugatti experts Tula Engineering. The gearbox has been completely rebuilt with a new set of gears fitted (the old gears are retained with the car for posterity). The back axle has been completely rebuilt, the original 93 year old half shafts have been replaced and put aside. Unique to this car they were still stamped with the same number as the cars frame. The front axle, brakes, clutch and prop-shaft have all been overhauled. Upon seeing the car and its comprehensive documented history it is clear that this is a unique opportunity to acquire the only complete example of its kind and as such an important piece of Bugatti history. With the demand for original Brescia ever increasing you will struggle to find a more complete, interesting and original example than this.