'De la Chapelle' Type 55

The Type 55 was a sports car, produced in the first half of the 1930s. Only 38 Type 55 cars were made, 16 of which were two-seater roadsters.

There are quite a few listings on eBay for a 1:24 Type 55 roadster, and I got mine for only £7 (plus p&p); I was the only bidder! 

The model is in very good condition, with no damage that I can see. Doors don't open on this model, but the engine compartment does (though not in the way it would have done on the actual car). Number 4 in the collection!

Although .... not all appeared to be as it seemed at first .... The box which contained the model showed it to be a 'Bugatti 55 de la Chapelle'. 

At first, I didn't pay that much attention to that, thinking de la Chapelle would be the builder of the car's body (many classic Bugattis had bodies designed and built by other coach builders). But then I realised that the body of the Type 55 was actually designed by Jean Bugatti, and not by an outside coach builder ... So who or what is 'de la Chapelle'? Some googling showed De la Chapelle to be a French independent car builder, established in the 1970s .... So no way could my model be of a Type 55 from the 1930s! Bit more digging showed that the company built a Type 55 replica, sanctioned by the Bugatti family, with a BMW engine .... And the '1987' on the licence plate of the model may well be more than just four random digits.

So my model is actually a model of a replica of a Bugatti Type 55! And not of a genuine Bugatti .... Even so, I decided to keep it in the collection, as an unusual non-Bugatti Bugatti.

But I clearly do need to add a model of a genuine Bugatti Type 55 to the collection; watch this space!