They were from France, the car had never been in England at that time

I am surprised ! There does seem to be a GB plate on the rear of that car and an english registration number.Is it incognito ?

If you take the trouble to read the article you will see the A.M. belonged to the Whincops. They were on their way to Molsheim and met the 37 in Lille by accident. Rgrds Jacobug

sorry ! the writing is far too small to read.

Look at user galleries and click to enlarge.

I know nothing of the type 37 but here's some information about the Whincops.

Monica was a strangely attractive woman whose appearance was quite different from most womem on the Bugatti scene at the time.

As can be seen from below, "Twink" killed himself two years later. I have heard bar-room speculation about the reasons but won't repeat it here.

WHINCOP, A. Clarence, (Twink ).

The pre-war owner of types 37, 38 (38175), 43 (43175), 51 (51140), 55, and a type 57 “special” (OPJ 2). The type 37 was purchased fom Jack Lemon Burton in 1937. He gave £30 cash and an MG (AAD 359) for the car which had cost Lemon Burton £100. The car carried UK reg. no. UE 5738 and had been purchased on 14th April, 1937. The type 43 (with engine no. 25 and a 1927 UK reg. no. TR 4451) was first registered on 5th November, 1927 and was subsequently owned by Bachelier and Baring. Whincop raced it at Crystal Palace and Donington Park pre-war and it was used at Lewes in July 1938 in the event organised by the VSCC and proved to be a class-winner and, at the same meeting the following year Whincop won the vintage class. He competed at Prescott on numerous occasions between August, 1938 and June, 1949 with his ex-Shuttleworth type 51. He dropped into the forties at two meetings with a best run in July 1948 of 49.56 seconds. He also competed at the meeting held in July 1947 at the airfield circuit called Grandsden Lodge and finished fifth in the Bugatti handicap race. The type 57 had started life as a drop head coupé owned by Kenneth Bear and was modified by Whincop by shortening the chassis to 57S length and fitting a body based on the 57TT. (It was later acquired by the Scott-Moncrieffs). His address in 1937 was listed as 161, Half Moon Lane, London, SE 24. He was normally accompanied by wife Monica but took his own life in 1952. Obituary B.22/3/49.

WHINCOP, Mrs. Muriel Monica. A Prescott paddock marshal (née Strain) who became engaged to A.C. Whincop in 1939. She competed with her future husband’s type 43 roadster at Lewes in July, 1939; her first speed event. (An excellent Klemantaski photograph appears in “Speed on the Downs” by Jeremy Wood.) She entered for the Prescott meeting in June, 1946 with a type 51 but is recorded as having non-started. She maintained her interest in Bugattis after her husband’s suicide and in “The Bugatti Book” in 1954 she is recorded as still owning a blue Grand Sport type 43 (4384 ?? with reg. no. XV 2783). Her address is listed as Goat Cottage, Nutbourne Common, near Pulborough, Sussex . (N.B. XV 2783 belonged to 43214).

As another aside, the person referred to as Seigfried was in fact Seyfried :

SEYFRIED, François. A long term Molsheim employee who is remembered as the factory service manager in the fifties and sixties and the person responsible for the sale of spares to enthusiasts visting the factory. He was employed at Molsheim between around 1930 and mid-1969. He accompanied Jean and Wimille to Prescott in 1938 (see VSCC Bulletin 219 p. 48) and returned in the early sixties* at the wheel of a the first type 101 (10150) on loan from Molsheim. (He was involved in the sale of car 49291 ; see “Bugantics”, Summer, 1955, p. 24). He lived in nearby Dorlisheim where he died aged 61 on January, 30th, 1970. The “Seyfried Note Book” containing technical specifications of pre-war Bugattis gave Hugh Conway an invaluable source of information when dealing with technical enquiries. He was a contributor to Conway’s definitive book “Bugatti – Le pur-sang des automobiles” and was acknowledged by him in the Foreword to the original edition published in 1963, the year the Bugatti firm was sold. (Obituary and photo. : Bugantics : 33/1/8).

"Is that a Gullwing to the left and a Dino Spyder in the foreground? Splendid taste in automobiles, utterly splendid."

Andrew when I wrote the above, I was refering to this photo. Now that this little misunderstanding has been cleared up, I'll let Jacobug and Lazarus get back to their discussion ; any of you two know who owned the T37 when "accidentally encountered near Lille?"

Regards
Johan

PS. I just saw your post GCL, thanks. I always believed Monica Whincop to be one of the famous group of "man-hating lesbians"(not my words) that formed part of the early racing scene in Britain.

GCL my compliments for a super detailed reply. Re Seyfried I van tell you his oldest brother is still alive at Dorlisheim, aged 95. Separately I send a picture taken in1955, he is the chap in the middleb and on the right is a youthfull jacobug.The Bugatti is 37355 in which we made the trip to Molsheim in which we made the trip to Molsheim .

I also send an article on the 57 built by the Whincops. Regards Jacobug.

My compliments, as well, on all the history! very interesting!

I just learned that 37265 was written up in Bugantics. Does anyone know the year and date, so I can track down this article in Bugantics?

Also, the copied pages I have from Pur Sang don't have a date in them. If anyone knows the dates and years of these two articles (that were previously posted), I would love to find back issues of Pur Sang and Acquire them.

Also, I understand this car was written up in an old SCA journal (SCCA?), so if anyone knows where I can find this article, I would appreciate it also.

Username “Bugatti69” just posted on http://www.bugattiregister.com/wiki/index.php?title=37265 under chassis 37265 that Jacques Buson (F) was a former owner of my car, 37265.

Do you know where I could contact Bugatti69, to find out if they might know more info, on the history of the car?

Also, do you know where I might find out more about Jacques Buson? He owned a lot of Bugatti's, so was he an individual owner, or a dealer?

37265 was kept in the North of France, but also had a Parisian license plate ("4558 DT75") when it came to Otto Zipper in the US. Does this help any historians?

Use this link to Email bugatti69:

http://www.bugattibuilder.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=email&u=40

_________________
Vive la Marque !!

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See: American Bugatti Register and Data Book : NA3 2005 to 2007 Revisions II, page 7 :
"... Type 37, chassis 37265, Add former owner Buson prior De Dobbeleer."

Licence plate 4858 DT75 do not exist in France.
it is the 4858 DT 75 see; http://sfpi.asurtech.com/plaques.htm
"De quand date cette immatriculation ?"
No the answer for 4858 DT75
Answer for 4858 DT 75: 1955

Christian

Christian,

Thank you. Yes, I see in the American Bugatti Register that is does say to add Buson before De Dobbeleer.

On the picture below, you can see the license plate - all except for the 2nd letter. It sure looks like 4558 DT 75 OR 4958 DT 75, BUT you can see a space, so almost certainly it is no 4858 DT 75.

Does this change the information you found on this website with the registration date of 1955?

there is no information on the Web site for numbers
4558 DT75
4858 DT75
4958 DT75

information exists for numbers
4558 DT 75,
4858 DT 75
4958 DT 75
and indicates for all these numbers of the department of the Seine the year 1955.

In 1955, the allotted numbers were spread out of the 2606 DN 75 to 1000 ES 75

Christian

Can it be that the licence plate numbers have been mis-read a couple of times? Sometimes, on old photos, it is hard to see the exact numbers.

are there pictures available for all 3 numbers?

_________________
Vive la Marque !!