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Bugwrench · **Joined:** Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:16 pm **Posts:** 338

Johan Buchner wrote:

Thank you Scuderia CC, this is an utterly glorious choice. This car should be declared as a world heritage site, let us hope it is possible for her to remain so original. Question : Can this car still be driven and if so, should it still be driven? For the record, I do not have the answer.

But thanks again for choosing the Monaco winner, I had hoped that someone less vulgar than myself would.

Johan

Several years ago the former owner drove the car in the paddock during the Monaco Historic GP so I am rather certain the car is in drivable condition.
As to the question 'should it be driven?' my answer is YES! I agree 100% with Herman.
It is not too difficult to keep the car mechanically in good condition without destroying the patina. (provided it is not done in the US of course!)
Fitting new valves, guides, pistons and rerollering the crankshaft will have no effect on the current patina provided it is done by the right man.
Regards, Bugwrench

Herman · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:38 pm

Johan Buchner wrote:

Hi Herman

It is as I suspected; there are no easy answers to the reasonable use/preservation dilemma. Let me raise another conundrum : Let us assume that this car is approaching the point where the engine is sufficiently worn out to warrant a mechanical rebuild. Which is better, a sensitive renovation of the engine, including replacement of worn pistons, conrods etc. while still keeping the precious patina on the surfaces, or have a replacement engine fitted so that the car can be used, while the original engine is preserved? Or is that cheating?

Needless to say, I have no answers for these either.

Johan

On new cars, the replacement option is done regularly. I have made Ferrari F40 replacement bodywork, which was meant for racing (lightweight, lighter then original parts, and in Le Mans style). The original bodywork was stored, untill racing with the car was finished. Then the cars got sold, being undamaged. (although the chassis has seen quite some battering....)

About Bugattis:

These are old cars. I like the look of well-maintained, old cars. There is nothing wrong with some grease, and a dull, aluminium look under the bonnet.

Scuderia CC · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:36 pm

I agree with you at 100% and if I was happy to be the owner I would be happy to drive in several mettings, which is not the case with its new owner, German Friedhelm Loh it does appears to be a fan of that. He released some time to my knowledge its Mercedes W196 # 000 06 including Pebble Beach in 1999 but that he did not driving, she has remained frozen on the lawn. Only once it has begun its W196 it was at the Grand Prix Historic of Monaco in 2000. I hope that one day, we will be happy to participate in a meeting this jewels what #4914 !!

J.J.Horst · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:02 pm

Johan Buchner wrote:

46546. My first love, how can I not. Herman is right, just look at it.

Johan, I would expect more surprising choices from you!

J.J.Horst · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:05 pm

DJ Dirk wrote:

Johan Buchner wrote:

57374. Never mind my favourite Bugatti, this is the single greatest car ever. Not just because it is beautiful, but it's entire history pays testimony to the greatness of the men who have owned and loved her, and when Dr. Williamson finally had her restored, all that history, all that glorious originality remained intact. She still has her soul and her dignity.

Strangely enough, my best friend thinks this is a singularly unattractive car. "It's hunchbacked, and the bonnet too low," he whined. "Touring did so much better with the 8C2.9." I need new friends. I have to see this car before I die, perhaps to reverentially lay my hands on her. Then I shall weep.

The Rothschild Atlantic; the personification of everything I love about Bugattis.

Johan

PS. The other 3? Don't hold your breath, I am utterly incapable of whittling the list down from 7. But I will and I must.

Johan

come down to Pebbel Beach next month, Gooding is auctioning Dr. Williamson's collection then
so you can see her then

Sorry to say, but a few cars will not be in the auction; the main one being the Atlantic, the other one the T50.

No need for you to go to the US then, Johan!

J.J.Horst · **Posted:** Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:30 pm

List of 5 biggest mistery's (no particular order):

1: Was there really a Bugatti Coupe de Ville body build on a Fiat chassis? (Not a later replacement, but an original design, specifically for that chassis)

2: Why was no twin-cam follow-up of the T40 designed?

3: Where did the several times rebodied T57S 1935 Paris show car with the then Barchetta body end up? (57385) Was it stolen and then.....

4: Stories of a BIG Bugatti, walled in under an appartment building in Romania - rumoured to be a Royale, possibly only a T46. Are these true?

5: And of course the biggest mistery of all:
What would have been, if Jean Bugatti would not have died in 1939? Would the company have lived after the war, and continued to make automobiles, or would it have shifted to other production anyway?? Would it have gone bankrupt, as most other luxury manufacturers in France??

I could make a longer list, with probably even bigger misteries.....

hortig78rpm · **Joined:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:12 pm **Posts:** 247

list of the 5 biggest mistery`s:
3: during the 5o`s , as raffaelli tells in his book, gypsies were bound to steel old cars and torch them up for selling scrap metall. this could
be true for #57385 for, as far as I know some mechanical pieces still exist.
4: romania: this seems to be one of the last "old car paradise". many historic cars like a batch of three pre 19oo panhard had surfaced during the last years and the stories of existing bugattis can be true. here again read the raffaelli book ( chapter of the mercedes GP-car, in the same village there should also be an T51 and a duesenberg racer, which also had turned up during the last years).

5: nobody knows, but if he had followed the line of luxury cars and racers, he would have faced the fate of the other " grand routiers"as delage, hispano or delahaye. maybe he `d sold all the properties after the war to life a quiet life at the cote d azur...

mike

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