Herman just a thought - can a link be provided from this thread to the car's Wiki inscription? This would seem to one of those cars where the "ABSOLUTE TRUTH" is surrounded by "maybe", "perhaps" and of course ; "are you sure?"

Seeing this is primarily a journey of discovery, and even should the whole truth, whatever it may be, ever be proven this debate will clearly illustrate not only the aforementioned journey but also put the destination into context. At least so I think, please tell me if my reasoning is at fault.

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner.

Hello Johan,

You mean like this?

Car or mr. Trepsat: http://www.bugattiregister.com/wiki/index.php?title=%274394%27
Original: http://www.bugattiregister.com/wiki/index.php?title=4394

Regards, Jeroen

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I used the new link to the Trepsat car and noticed that the gearbox lid fitted to the car appears not to be the same as the one in the photo which has been presented as evidence of the car's provenance.

So the only "evidence" we have is a picture of some numbers on a gearbox lid which could have come from anywhere and a chassis plate which looks to me (and Bart Rosman) like a fake.

The ABSOLUTE TRUTH Johan is looking for is that the hand-made products of skilled craftsment like Alan Wragg and Gino Hoskins were prostituted by some clever but totally unscrupulous engineers and their silver-tongued motor-trade chums in their posh London Mews garages.

I bet Frank Trepsat is absolutley delighted with himself for starting this thread off!

Just to summarise, herewith a few observations about the Trepsat car. Kindly note they are purely personal opinions and I welcome any and all comments :

1) Before this thread started I was never even aware of Keith Butti ; from what I have read so far any claim made by him must be treated with grave misgivings. Simply put the man was a crook.

2) Dan Margulies was(is?) a dealer in old cars. And British. Thank God they, Britons and Bugatti dealers both, are all as pure as the driven snow.

3) I recently heard about Rondini's involvement in the procuring of a new chassis to establish a fake provenance for Atlantic 57473. Other names metioned in connection with this fiasco : Kruta, Hunni, Berthon & Russell. I trust Laurent Rondini not.

4) I accept at face value the conclusions drawn by Bart and Graham as to the authenticity of the photographed components. Furthermore I note the near absence of any real proof that this is the Cholmondeley car, and I seriously question the moral integrity of those who provided said "proof."

5) I believe Mr. Frank Trepsat to be an honourable (if naive?) man who, on scant evidence it would seem, bought a car with a fictitious provenance. But let us remember this ; even should this car be an assembled 'bitsa' with few, if any, major components from 4394 we are still talking about a car worth nearly 300 000. And it's a Bugatti T35. And it's beautiful, very beautiful ; no, worthless it is not. If it can be proven to be genuine (a really big ask) it will be worth near a million.

6) Strange how we are all free to discuss and debate 4394, but any mention of the fake 57473 gets one many, many, private messages, mostly from BOC members, issuing dire warnings about the dangers of embarrassing/disrespecting Gonzales and his merry band of Bugatti fakers. You may have noticed I do not give in to intimidation (do your worst Gonzales, I dare you) so it would be remiss of me not to mention that Mr. Trepsat has always treated me with absolute courtesy and has certainly never stooped to anything as low-class as threats. For that I am grateful.

7) And finally : While question marks surround the provenance of 4394 I believe there is still a chance that frame no. 22 may be a genuine works frame. From what I understand the results of the tests do not vary, but the interpretation of said data varies wildly indeed depending on the motives of those doing the interpreting. Am I right?

I believe there is still a lot to be learnt from and about this car. A most enjoyable prospect for sure.

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner

Dear Friends,
Finally , I asked David Sewell to come to inspect my car, here is the summary of his long report:

"Overall this car is almost entirely to the correct early Type 35 specification. apart from its replacement engine all the other major components, notably its chassis frame, front axle, gearbox and rear axle are all original period parts, as also indeed are many smaller parts and almost if not all of its bodywork. Collectively the close numbers on those components are not inconsistent with the car being Cassis No 4394 although in isolation a slightly higher chassis number might have been expected.

The principal evidence that it might be Chassis No 4394 is its scuttle with its driver's side air ventilator and its windscreen mounting holes. These alone are insufficient to provide absolute proof, if only because there is no garantee that this scuttle is the original to this chassis, but in conjunction with the closely matching st of component numbers it nevertheless provides a strong pointer to this beeing so, as indeed is inferred by the car having been indentified in the past, and surely will be again in the future, with brackets around this chassis number."

Best regards to all of you

Frank Trepsat

Well done David and well done Frank.Let this be an end to the speculation.Nice car full stop.

I think it is interesting to note, the car is from 1990 when the British said Laurent purchase Bugatti, which is owned by the Dan Margulies up with Laurent as a former owner. a prior owner...

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