A few very basic questions: recommended books on the family, not limited to the cars? is the Molsheim facility open to visitors? My interest here is not in the twice-revived marque, but in the golden years, before WWII. Also, while the great race cars seem to fetch serious money, although suprisingly not as much as you would think- maybe the market has not caught up with Bugatti yet again, the touring cars are not out of sight pricewise. Thus, my question: is there a tradition of specials, like what was done with Bentley pre-war? (ie, taking a big-motored touring car, cutting the chassis, rebody as an open car, etc.- i wouldn't think of doing this to an existing survivor, but if it had already been done, i wouldn't be committing a greater sacrilege). Finally, which clubs/groups are the most tied into the vintage scene? Cursory research indicated that a B Owner's Club was traditionally the closest to the core, but the one I found on the 'Net, although old, seems to be based in England. I found an excellent website from France, but it's not fully constructed, and did not answer my threshold questions. (Oh, and relatedly, where in the US, is there a center of gravity for these cars? I know that there are some famous collectors stateside, but if one wanted to learn more, what's available in the US?)
While traveling in England a couple of years ago I happened upon the Prescott Hillclimb venue. Located on the property is the Bugatti Trust museum. Although it was after closing, the curator let us in and gave us a private tour. We were even allowed to sit in some of the cars. I'm sure a web search would turn up the address for the Bugatti Trust. Even better, the bloke from Prescott let me run our rental crapbox up the hill a couple of times!
Hi, There is no tradition to cut chassis and make specials out of it in the Bugatti world!!! The main reason for this is that Bugatti made "affordable" almost-GP-cars for those of his customers that could not afford the real thing like the famous Type 35 or it's deriatives! These almost-Grand-Prix-cars are built on a real GP chassis like the one found on Type 35 but use the engine from a touring model, and were fitted with cheaper wire-wheels instead of the aluminium wheels of it's big sister! Not as powerfull as the real thing, but they handles very well and should be very fast cars for their time!!! Some specials are made by privateers over the years however, and some of them have been campaigned at certain hillclimbs and historic races with some success! The BOC in England is indeed the closest you will get to the core, but there is also an excellent club in the US with close ties to the British BOC. The US club is called ABC, and they have a great webside located at this link:http://www.americanbugatticlub.org/ Cars for sale worldwide is easily found at one of these links: http://www.prewarcar.com http://www.bugattipage.com/bsale.htm http://www.club-bugatti-france.net/welcome/ads/sale/sale.html What Type of Bugatti are you searching for??? Maybe I can be of help via some of my own contacts in the Bugatti World. EDIT: I nearly forgot the question about recomended books There are so many excellent books on the subject of the Bugatti family and of the famous cars from Molsheim, but I can higly recomend all books by H.G. Conway on the subject of all the different cars! I Think it's much easier for me to redirect you to the French Bugatti Club's website and their magnificent list of books to read for the hard core Bugattiste You will find it at this link: http://www.club-bugatti-france.net/welcome/history/Bibliography_Bugatti/Bold/bold.html Best regards Carsten
Bill: In addition to the Hugh Conway book ("Le Pur Sang des Automobiles"), which is still considered one of the bibles of the Bugatti crowd, Conway co-authored another very nice book with Jacques Greilsamer ("Bugatti") that has a mix of modern (well, modern in 1982 when it was published) color photos in addition to period photos and history of each of the models. Also, if you would like a less technical book that is more evocative of the artistry and history of famous Bugatti drivers and races, along with some wonderful drawings and paintings by Rob Roy, look for "Bugatti- Le Regard de Rob Roy" by Pierre Fouquet-Hatevilain, published by Editions D'Art J. P. Barthelemy, probably around 10 years ago. Rob Roy (born Robert le Proux de la Riviere) was an artist and Bugatti owner who lived during the day and his illustrations really capture the style and spirit of the cars and the times. I got my copy in France and, while the text is in French and English, I don't know how hard it would be to find one here in the U.S. Probably the internet would be your best bet, albeit with limited opportunity to examine it before buying. I also picked up a copy of Sandy Leith's "American Bugatti Register and Data Book-2003", which documents the history of 453 Bugattis known to be in the United States, of which 35 are untraced or lost. So it would be a good reference if you are trying to locate a Bugatti stateside. Probably the most active place where you can see Bugattis racing in the U.S. is with the Vintage Sports Car Club of America, where there is usually a good turnout of Bugattis at places like Lime Rock (especially at their June and October club events, where there might be a dozen or more present), VIR and other race tracks in the the eastern U.S. Let me tell you, those cars are very quick around the track for their age and the technology of their brakes, often cable operated! A starting point to find Bugattis for sale would be to check out Competition Motors in Portsmouth NH, where the manager is Ben Bragg. Recent Bugs for sale included a T57, T38, and a T57 Stelvio Cabriolet. Phone is 603-431-0035. Lastly, if you happen to need an excuse to get up to Boston, see the Ralph Lauren exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts before the exhibit closes on July 3. I was up there this weekend and 3 of the 16 cars displayed are Bugattis (T59 Grand Prix, T57 Atlantic and a T 57 SC Gangloff Drop Head Coupe), including one of my favorites, the Type 57 SC Atlantic coupe. I had seen this at Rockefeller Center a couple of years ago but the display at MFA, on a slightly raised platform, allowing you to get a better look at the beautiful machine work on the axles and the brake drums, is fantastic. I just sat on the bench opposite the car for a while admiring its beauty. Naturally the exhibit also includes a nice selection of Ferraris, namely a 250GTO, a 250 Testa Rossa pontoon, a 250 TR61, and a 375 Plus. Rounding out the exhibit are an XK120 alloy roadster, 1929 Blower Bentley Speed Six , Alfa Romeo 8c2900, Mercedes 300SL, D-Type Jaguar, the Mercedes "Count Trossi" SSK, McLaren F1, Porsche 550 spyder, and a modern Porsche turbo. John
Thank-you John, very helpful. I will track down the books, already glanced at the Competition Motors site; as to boston, i'm just going to have to make it up there before that exhibit closes....
There is a wealth of Bugatti literature,many good out of print titles but I would start with Barry Egaleston's "Bugatti Book" and Ettore's daughter's own tome. There is also a "Bugatti page" www site and the Bugatti Owner's Club and Bugatti trust sites all good backround sources. Molsheim has the Hotel d'Pursang open to visitors but there is no access to the old factory, but it's has lost most of it's Bugatti heritage during the Messier years. Some old building remain but no parts,machinery or vehicles. The largest collection of Bugatti cars are in the ex-Schumph Museum in nearby Mulouse. Bugatti cars much more than any others are valued on orginality, I'd opine that the entire cult of patina and orginality started with Bugatti owners. The reason that the road going models are not rebodied as racers (although a few have) is that 1.) there is no economic incentive to do so,an orignal Bug no matter how mundane is worh more than a racy recreation 2.) Bugatti built more than 350 Gran prix cars(T35,T37,T51) and parts have availiable for more than 30 years to recreate entirely new GP cars. There are many GP cars that are are in part new. In fact a brand new T35B can be bought from a small concern in Argentina that are identical to the origianls with better metalurgy. 3.)The road model mostly offer pretty slow perfromance campared to the racing models, I have seen a few cut down t57's and they are neither as beautiful nor fast as as Ettore's designed GP. What make a poor imiatiation of a masterpeice ? ( nb Bentley racers were only modifed road cars to begin with) The American Bugatti Club is quite active. last year we had rallys on the East and West coasts with over 40 cars in attendance, you will find that Bugatti owners mostly go to Bugatti speciffic events. The English,American and Italian clubs all have events each year. This year there is an all Bugatti GP race and rally in Sept at Road America. If you want to see some cars and meet their owner's come to this event. It's on the ABC www site. A few Bugatti cars in the Northeast particpate in VSCCA events Jeffrey Vogel
