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Why Mess With History? Sandy Leith’s Type 37

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In 1935 George Rand installed a Ford Model B engine into this Bugatti T37. 82 years later it is still there. Sean Smith photo.

From the VeloceToday Archives, July, 2017

Story by Sean Smith
Color images taken at Lime Rock by Sean Smith
Historic photos courtesy Sandy Leith

If anyone was born to the VSCCA it is the current President, Sandy Leith—his father Bill Leith was a founding member. At a very young age Sandy was in the paddock watching his father race his Type 35B Bugatti against others in the fledgling club. Formed in 1958, the Vintage Sports Car Club of America was seen as a kinder, gentler version of the growing Sports Car Club of America. It was a place where their pre-war cars could shine. Then as now it was a place for racing, rallying and good old fashion socializing, but the prime focus was racing. “Isn’t this what all parents do on the weekend… zoom around in old race cars?” Sandy thought so! Classic cars, especially Bugattis, were ingrained in Sandy’s soul. At 17, there would be no snarling muscle car or modern sports car for him.

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Milliken’s Bugatti T35A

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By Pete Vack
From the VeloceToday Archives, April 18, 2012

According to Bill Milliken, the acquisition of his first sports car was simply elementary. While visiting New York City in 1946, he happened upon a shiny black MGTB, asked the owner if he’d like to sell, wired home for the $1500 necessary to title it in his name and drove it up to Albany. [Read more…] about Milliken’s Bugatti T35A

Sandy Leith and the Scrambling Egg Bugatti

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In 1935 George Rand installed a Ford Model B engine into this Bugatti T37. 82 years later it is still there. Sean Smith photo.

Story by Sean Smith
Color images taken at Lime Rock by Sean Smith
Historic photos courtesy Sandy Leith

If anyone was born to the VSCCA it is the current President, Sandy Leith—his father Bill Leith was a founding member. At a very young age Sandy was in the paddock watching his father race his Type 35B Bugatti against others in the fledgling club. Formed in 1958, the Vintage Sports Car Club of America was seen as a kinder, gentler version of the growing Sports Car Club of America. It was a place where their pre-war cars could shine. Then as now it was a place for racing, rallying and good old fashion socializing, but the prime focus was racing. “Isn’t this what all parents do on the weekend… zoom around in old race cars?” Sandy thought so! Classic cars, especially Bugattis, were ingrained in Sandy’s soul. At 17, there would be no snarling muscle car or modern sports car for him. [Read more…] about Sandy Leith and the Scrambling Egg Bugatti

The Milliken Bugatti T35A

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There is much more to the Milliken Bugatti Type 35A than just an incident at Watkins Glen.

By Pete Vack

According to Bill Milliken, the acquisition of his first sports car was simply elementary. While visiting New York City in 1946, he happened upon a shiny black MGTB, asked the owner if he’d like to sell, wired home for the $1500 necessary to title it in his name and drove it up to Albany.

At a time when the average price of a new American car was about $1200, the TB was a bit pricey, being a 1940 model and right hand drive. It was very similar to the later TC, with the same snazzy wire wheels, upright chromed radiator grille, and the same 54 hp engine, but only 379 TBs were made before the War stopped production at Abingdon.

Milliken was in seventh heaven; his previous transportation was a secondhand Chevy that was “…little more exciting than a grocery cart.” His thoughts of the early Duesenbergs and Millers of his boyhood returned to him and he found himself in a “machine that turned on all my senses and made driving a delightful experience….my childhood euphoria of driving had returned, and I was to never lose it.”
[Read more…] about The Milliken Bugatti T35A

The Racing Bugs

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Sandy Leith pushing hard with his 1931 Type 37. Leith, who is the Registrar of the American Bugatti Club, tell us about his car: My car was the second-to-last T37 built. It was bought by a New York banker on vacation, Elgood Lufkin, in Paris who brought it home with him. After one or two more owners and an engine blow-up in early ARCA competition, it received the 4-cylinder, Ford B engine in 1935 and raced as the 'Scrambling Egg' Bugatti-Ford special with the ARCA until 1940 when it disappeared. I found it in 1995 and have kept it, essentially, as found.

Photos and Captions by Hugues Vanhoolandt

The best of the bugs from Monterey.

[Read more…] about The Racing Bugs

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