The

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars w ...

Type 52 was a half-scale

Bugatti Type 35 The Bugatti Type 35 was the most successful of the Bugatti racing models. Its version of the Bugatti arch-shaped radiator that had evolved from the more architectural one of the Bugatti Type 13 Brescia, was to become the one that the marque is ...

electric racing car for children. About 500 examples were produced in total. About 150 of these were the short-nosed variant while the majority of production comprised the long-nosed variant which was 10 cm longer to get elder children to use it. Production took place at the Molsheim factory between 1927 and 1936, and the cars were frequently used both as playthings and for more serious racing among the children of the European elite. The first example of a Type 52 was built for Bugatti founder Ettore Bugatti's son, four-year-old Roland, and was first shown at an exhibition in Milan. The number 52 was probably given by the late Hugh Conway and was never used by the factory. The factory always referred the car as Baby. The Type 52 was powered by a single 12 volt electric motor with front and reverse. Braking was done by way of expanding wooden shoes at the front and rear

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. The car was originally just 1200 mm (47.2 in) between the wheels, but this was expanded to 1350 mm (53.1 in) when it was found that even children had difficulty with leg room. The car was about long overall with a 625 mm (24.6 in) track width. In 2019, The Little Car Company based in Launton, England received a full license from Bugatti to reproduce the Type-52 in a fully electric, 3/4-scale vehicle for children. The ''Baby II'' as it is known, is nearly fifty percent bigger than the Type 52. The Baby II has a wheelbase of and a total length of . It sits at high, and wide. Baby II has two electric powertrain options, ranging from 1 kW to 4 kW, and with the speed key provided with the Pur Sang and Vitesse models, 10 kW of power is unlocked and speed is unlimited with a tested top speed of 45 miles per hour.

References

{{Commons category, Bugatti Type 52 52 Electric vehicles introduced in the 20th century