Carte de visite du Directeur Général des Automobiles Bugatti - Lot 17

Carte de visite du Directeur Général des Automobiles Bugatti, Pierre Marco, Circa 1947 Pierre MARCO (1896 - 1979) Managing Director of Automobiles Bugatti between 1947 and 1951 Business card bearing a handwritten note on both sides: "Thank you for your kind wishes and best wishes for the New Year". Under glass, accompanied by a recent print of a photo of Pierre Marco at the wheel of a Bugatti Type 32 Tank during the 1923 A.C.F. Grand Prix. Pierre Marco, Ettore Bugatti's loyal servant. Pierre Marco joined Ettore Bugatti in 1919, then became a factory driver for the brand. He raced a Bugatti Type 22 and finished fourth in Brescia on September 8, 1921. In 1922, he had his first success at the French Grand Prix, taking 3rd place at the wheel of a Type 30. For the 1923 French Grand Prix in Tours, Ettore Bugatti lined up four Type 32s - commonly known as the "Tank de Tours" - on the starting line, with Pierre Marco at the wheel of the N°16. An accomplished pilot and a man Ettore trusted with responsibilities, he became the factory's "superintendent of repairs" before the Second World War. With the outbreak of war, he was sent to Bordeaux to take charge of stock control. In the aftermath of the war, and following Ettore Bugatti's death in 1947, the heirs appointed Pierre Marco as the new Managing Director of Automobiles Bugatti, and the stock of spare parts transferred to Bordeaux in 1941 returned to Molsheim. The industrial activity was slowly reorganized. Pierre Marco now played a key role in getting the factories back on their feet, and signed new contracts to try to keep the brand afloat. In 1951, Ettore Bugatti's youngest son Roland set about reviving the brand with small series production of automobiles based on the Type 57, with new, more contemporary bodywork in sedan, coupé and cabriolet versions, now renamed Type 101. On the other hand, in 1955, Roland Bugatti and Pierre Marco tried one last time to revive the brand with the launch of the Type 251 - 25 for 2.5 liters and 1 for "1st prototype" - a Grand Prix car equipped with an 8-cylinder engine, designed by Colombo, transversely positioned in the rear center. After Jean Bugatti's tragic death in 1939, the Patron saw Pierre Marco as his natural successor. Pierre Marco left the Thoroughbred brand in 1958 after following the Bugatti epic, both before and after the war, and died in Molsheim on September 29, 1979, after a lifetime of dedication to the success of Automobiles Bugatti.