A Bugatti Type 59 Sports belonging to the late Leopold III, King of Belgians, one of the rarest and most coveted racing cars in motoring history, will be on display during the upcoming edition of the Zoute Grand Prix Car Week in Knokke-Heist (West Flanders) next October. The car is on show at the Zoute Concours d’Elegance, a beauty contest for exclusive cars, on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October.
The 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, once owned by Belgium’s controversial King Leopold III and painted in Belgian national colours – black with a yellow stripe – will be one of the absolute highlights of the competition.
The car was crowned ‘Best of Show’ in 2024 at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in the United States.
In 2020, it was sold for some 10.7 million euros at an auction in the UK, setting a new world record for a Bugatti at that time, auction house Gooding & Company says.
The Bugatti is the ‘legendary’ Type 59. Not only did this model excel in terms of technical ingenuity, but it is also regarded as one of the most elegant pre-World War II racing cars.
The car was part of the Bugatti Grand Prix team during the 1934–1935 racing season. Driven by René Dreyfus, it finished third in the Monaco Grand Prix and also won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa that year.
Bugatti subsequently converted the vehicle into a sports car, fitting a new gearbox, a modified chassis and bodywork. It was painted black and sold to King Leopold III in 1937. The grandfather of today’s King Filip was a Bugatti enthusiast.
Despite being over 90 years old, the car is still almost entirely in original condition. The Bugatti forms part of the Pearl Collection belonging to Swiss collector Fritz Burkard.