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| The Giles Bugattis. http://www.bugattibuilder.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1367 |
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| Author: | Johan Buchner [ Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | The Giles Bugattis. |
This is a series of posts about the cars owned by the Giles brothers. After extensive research (I went to the chassis number database and searched the word Giles) I have come up with 17 Bugattis. I am posting them in reverse order so they should appear in Type and numerical order, the first being T18, 474 and ending with T57, 57787. I am not even going to try and assign any of them to a particular brother and I have included but the bare minimum of information. Any additional information and/or corrections would be much appreciated. All references to Register means the chassis number database on this site. Also the source of the photos. Kind Regards Johan Buchner |
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| Author: | GCL-Wales [ Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: The Giles Bugattis. |
GILES, Colonel Godfrey Morgan (Goff). A mainstay of the pre-war UK BOC. He was its Chairman from 1929 until 1946 when he was replaced by his brother Eric. His father was a motoring enthusiast who purchased his first car in 1902 and Giles jnr. had his first drive in 1904. His first sight of a Bugatti was in London in 1913 and after having owned a Bébé Peugeot his first Bugatti was purchased on 7th March, 1920 : a 1914 eight-valve car from Brighton for £435 (photo : see B.5/6/12). The car covered just over 4,000 miles in his ownership and was used in minor competitions. After six months it was traded in for a new sixteen-valve chassis which was fitted with a sporting two-seater body and used for racing at Brooklands, all in the space of a month during which time 816 miles was covered. It was sold for £675 at a loss of £90. After a two-year respite he returned to Bugatti ownership in November, 1922. He then acquired another sixteen-valve car fitted with a three-seater cloverleaf body which was kept for exactly a year and covered over four thousand miles despite having problems with a porous cylinder block (photo : see B.5/6/13). Another four years elapsed before he acquired another Bugatti because he was dissatisfied wirh the poor service and exorbitant charges made by the agents (presumably Jarrott and Letts). When the factory established its own agency Giles decided to give the Bugatti marque another try and purchased a 1926 type 30 in June, 1927. The car was fitted with a lightweight body and proved reliable despite its “very crude engine with a frightful vibration period”. Around this time his involvement in the BOC was noted as being restriced by his work in the Territorial Army. He drove one of the five Bugattis which attended the first rally organised by the UK BOC (a type 44 with his personal reg. no. GU 7 - See Bugatti Trust, Album 13, nos. 036) accompanied by an attractive lady wearing jazz-age headwear thought to be his brother’s wife ; Mrs. Eileen “Jimmy” Giles. He purchased “Black Bess” (474) in the early thirties and acquired a collection of spares (chassis no. 471) from Switzerland in 1935. In 1937 he purchased car 50144 from Jack Lemon Burton for £300. (The car had cost JLB £174 and was subject to import duty of £48). At this time his address was listed as “The Small House, Regents Park” (Central London). He ordered a type 57S chassis in 1937 to be fitted with an open two-seater body. The car was to be a replacement for Thérèse, car 57316 with engine no. 190 and UK reg. no. EUV 9, a streamlined type 57TT which he was offering for sale for £675 and a type 50 for £575 with a choice of two bodies, one a drophead coupé and the other a lightweight open sports body, both in blue and silver. His address around this time was given as 9a, Cumberland Terrace, Regent’s Park, London N.W.1. In September 1939 he was offering “Black Bess” for sale. His address at this time was listed as 2, Queen Street, Mayfair, London W1 (this was the base for the Giles brothers’ interior design business). By this time he had acquired an ex-Harjes (Harges ?) type 57C (57787) fitted with a very conservative looking James Young coupé body and named “Charmaine” but in November 1939 he was reported to be “on special service”. After “many years of imposition” he died in 1962. His obituary in Autumn, 1962 (B.25/3/43) by Jack Lemon Burton refers to him as “slightly Edwardian…and every inch an English gentleman, impeccable in dress and speech”. Ninian Hyslop referred to him as “very much a military man”. GILES, Mrs. Godfrey. Obituary : B.12/1/3. GILES. Eric Leese (Elgy). A founder member of the UK BOC who designed the club badges and magazine cover. He was born in Wimbledon in 1901 and served an apprenticship in his grandfather’s coachbuilding business. He became a professional interior designer and amateur punt racer. He came from a motoring family which owned 36 cars between 1902 and 1939. The family archive lists the purchase in 1919 of a Bébé Peugot (no. 12241) which was followed by several Bugattis. He designed the body for the type 57 (57316) of his brother, Col. Godfrey Giles which was built by Bertelli of Feltham. In November 1939 he was serving in the Auxillary Fire Service in Woking. He succeeded Earl Howe as the President of the UK Bugatti Owners Club in 1951. He died on 30th April 1987 three weeks after attending a re-union of senior Bugatti stalwarts (obituary B.50/2/5). |
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