Why the 1928 Bugatti Type 35B Still Stands as the Most Beautiful Race Car Ever Built

In 1928, when grand prix racing was raw, dangerous, and astonishingly pure, one car stood out above the rest: the Bugatti Type 35B. Its combination of engineering brilliance and sculptural beauty made it an instant icon, and nearly a century later, its influence is still unmistakable.

The Stats That Still Make Modern Supercars Blink

• Supercharged 2.3-liter straight-eight

• 140 horsepower — in 1928

• Top speed: 133 mph (214 km/h)

• Weight: about 1,650 lbs (750 kg)

• 0–60 mph: roughly 6 seconds

Sure, plenty of modern cars can outrun those numbers, but very few can match the presence, the engineering purity, or the soundtrack of eight open pipes working in perfect chaos.

The Design That Changed Everything

Ettore Bugatti didn’t simply engineer a race car — he created an aesthetic that became the blueprint for decades.

The iconic horseshoe grille wasn’t just a signature piece; it delivered air cleanly to the radiator while giving the car an unmistakable identity. The lightweight spoked wheels with integrated brake drums were a technical leap in 1925 and remain one of the most influential wheel designs ever made. And the tapered boat-tail bodywork? Still one of the cleanest shapes to ever cut through air.

Many remember French Racing Blue, but the Type 35B often carried raw, polished aluminum with a narrow blue stripe. In the sun it shimmered; at night it seemed to float.

The Sound

Fire up a Type 35B and the first thing you hear is the supercharger — a sharp mechanical whir that quickly becomes a full-throated roar from the straight-eight. There’s no insulation, no modern filtration, nothing to blunt the experience. It’s mechanical, immediate, and unmistakably alive. The closest modern comparison might be standing beside an old aircraft warming up — loud, deliberate, and unforgettable.

Why the 1928 Bugatti Type 35B Still Matters in 2025

In an era of quiet EVs and semi-autonomous driving, the Type 35B is a reminder of what performance once meant:

• Race cars that were technically street-legal

• Gearshifts that felt like precision tools

• Brakes that demanded respect

• Drivers who were essentially part of the suspension system

Between 1924 and 1931, the Type 35 lineage won more than 2,000 races — everything from the Targa Florio to countless national grands prix. That level of dominance hasn’t been repeated.

Owning One Today (If You’re Very, Very Lucky)

Only a small handful of true supercharged Type 35Bs survive. One sold for $6.6 million at Goodwood, and others with fully original components are valued well above $10 million.

The best part? They’re not museum pieces. Many still run at the Goodwood Revival, Monaco Historic Grand Prix, and vintage events worldwide. Watching one at full throttle is like seeing history move at speed — raw, brilliant, and completely unfiltered.

It’s one of the purest expressions of automotive design ever created. And nearly 100 years later, we’re still chasing the standard it set.