By the late 1920s, Bugatti had cemented its reputation as one of Europe’s leading high-performance road and racing car manufacturers. Despite being a champion of small, lightweight automobiles, Ettore Bugatti could not ignore the booming luxury market, then dominated by firms like Rolls-Royce, Hispano-Suiza, and Isotta Fraschini. His ambitious Type 41 Royale project was intended to showcase the company’s capabilities, but when the car’s extraordinary expense and impracticality collided with the economic realities of the time, Bugatti was forced to reimagine the Royale on a more approachable scale. The result was the Type 46, which debuted for the 1929 model year.

Bugatti’s largest production model to date (the Type 41 notwithstanding), the Type 46 was powered by a magnificent 5.4-liter, straight-eight engine that utilized a single overhead camshaft, twin-spark ignition, three valves per cylinder, and nine main bearings. Its 140 hp was driven to the rear wheels through a new three-speed gearbox built in-unit with the rear axle, and its road manners were impeccable, thanks to the innate flexibility of the drivetrain.

Most Type 46 Bugattis left Molsheim as rolling chassis, and no fewer than 45 coachbuilders are thought to have bodied the model in period. The car’s long wheelbase, imposing horseshoe radiator, and 20" cast-aluminum, vane-type wheels made it the ideal canvas for European coachbuilders. The Type 46 chassis was frequently adorned with the most elegant and elaborate custom coachwork of the day and its grand scale and luxurious appointments earned it the nickname “La Petite Royale.”

Even in a recessionary economy, demand for the Type 46 was robust. Roughly 460 examples were built through 1933, including 18 supercharged variants known as the Type 46S.

The Type 46 presented here, chassis 46470, was constructed in September 1930, originally fitted with engine no. 377 and four-door saloon coachwork by Gangloff.

In April 1931, Algerian Bugatti agent Sagnier purchased 46470 on behalf of his customer, M. Etievan, the country’s sole importer of agricultural equipment and a well-established Bugatti customer. It is believed that the new Type 46 remained in Molsheim until 1933, when it was shipped to the Gangloff workshop in Colmar, France. Soon after its arrival, Etievan commissioned Gangloff to build him a new body for 46470 – the handsome, two-door, four-seat Cabriolet seen today – which features twin, side-mount spares, skirted fenders, and a three-position top with landau irons. Reportedly finished in two shades of brown with a cream top, the Cabriolet was finally shipped to Etievan in Algeria in August 1937.

Etievan used the Bugatti to visit his properties across the Mitidja, covering about 5,300 km before parking it inside his farmhouse garage around 1939. It remained there, on blocks and under cover, throughout WWII. Remarkably, the Type 46 was kept in static storage until 1959, when it was moved to a new warehouse in Belcourt, an industrial area on the outskirts of Algiers.

In 1963, the great American Bugatti enthusiast and collector David Mize discovered 46470 and bought it from Etievan, who begrudgingly sold it as he felt he would never be able to export the car out of newly independent Algeria. At the time Mr. Mize purchased the Bugatti, it was in completely original condition, down to its Dunlop tires. In a letter on file, Mr. Mize claimed: “It is, in essence, a new Type 46 Bugatti.”

Soon after acquiring the Bugatti, Mr. Mize shipped it to France to be serviced by a mechanic in Marseille, then stored it in Holland through the early 1970s. From there, the car was shipped to the UK, where a restoration was completed by Nigel Arnold-Forster and Ian Wilkinson.

In 1975, Dr. Theodore Waugh purchased the Type 46 from Mr. Mize and it has been a prized fixture of his Bugatti collection ever since. Like the two owners prior to him, Dr. Waugh used 46470 sparingly, and with a more recent cosmetic restoration overseen by Jim Stranberg’s High Mountain Classics of Colorado, it continues to present very well in all respects. Except for its inclusion in a Bugatti exhibit at the Saratoga Automobile Museum in 2018, this Type 46 Cabriolet has rarely been shown publicly, making it an ideal candidate to debut on the contemporary concours circuit.

Boasting a superb provenance, with just three distinguished owners from new, elegant open Gangloff coachwork commissioned by the original owner, and its matching-numbers engine intact, this Type 46 Cabriolet presents a rare and exciting opportunity to acquire one of the finest examples of Bugatti’s legendary 5.4-liter luxury car.