I haven't posted about this before but I have been building a pretty serious T-35 replica for about a year now. Going through a tremendous amount of research and work to make it as realistic as possible. Just got it steering this past week. Picsd attached.

Dan

Nice work Dan,I hope you are going to fit a few Bugatti nuts and bolts.I am surprised that you didnt use a real front axle at least.A T44 or T49 front axle wth stubs would have improved it a lot.I doubt that it would have cost much more than what you have done .

you made all this parts ? Or did you buy all or most of it , and where ? I hope to see more fotos in the future .

Dan[/quote]
Nice work Dan,I hope you are going to fit a few Bugatti nuts and bolts.I am surprised that you didnt use a real front axle at least.A T44 or T49 front axle wth stubs would have improved it a lot.I doubt that it would have cost much more than what you have done .[/quote]

Thanks. I really didn't want to get into the cost of reproducing a T-35 in every aspect. I will not call this a Buigatti when I am done - just a GP car inspired by Bugatti. So, I didn't want to be tied to using Bugatti style brakes and backing plates, etc... I wanted to use Hydraulic brakes so I decided to make the axle to my specifications so I could use the brake system I wanted.

I am also running an Alfa Romeo drive-line that I collected a few years ago.

Myh theory on this is that it isn't and never will be a Bugatti - no matter how much money and time I put into it - so I figured I would take liberties where appropriate to make it a little bit Bugatti and a little bit me.

Either weay its been a tremendous amount of fun.

Dan

Yes - I made everything you see other than the brake drums and the backing plates. The rear-end is Alfa Romeo.

can you show a foto with the back axel ?

I haven't narrowed the rear end yet, but here is a current photo. I really haven't spent too much timew on the rear-end yet. just starting to figure out my axle/backing plate setup this week.

Lovely a nice honest toy.You will have tremendous fun with this.How will you register it?

Really good question ! I don't know. I might have to go through the process of registering it as a modern custom vehicle. Not looking forward to that process.

Registering isn't that difficult -- just depends on where you are at.

One tip for yourself to think about now. Insurance. Detail photos/costs/manhours as you go for a "declared value" insurance coverage later. Liability, etc through your regular provider. Vehicle itself insured through specialty provider (cheaper but sometimes limited mileage ala 2000 or 5000 miles/year).

Last thing you want to do is get done and then have to go to 3rd parties to determine "value" of your project for insurance reasons. Most will decline to do.

Reason I state this is a friend spent 5000+hrs in building a project. He had the receipts for parts to build (need for vehicle registration as well to show not stolen). But insurance company wouldn't let him add his hours into the project as a billable rate because he couldn't document. When it was later damaged by someone running a red light and hitting him -- the other insurance company wrote him a check for the "parts" (he had receipts for as part of insurance policy). All the labor to build it wasn't applicable. (it's been in court now for almost two years to try to determine "cost" to build)

Admittedly the reason for building projects like this is as a labor of love -- but be aware that some idiot can easily destroy years of your work without any recourse for yourself to fix.

Keep posting updates on this project. It appears it will be fun when done given the robust nature of the Alfa parts used within.

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me: Mark - home: Gilbert, Arizona now

At the Molsheim Festival , I did see a 35 with a Opel engine, gearbox ,brakes and backaxel .

This Opel engined 37 has been made mainly in the Bugatti (Messier) factory.
So it is perhaps the last real Bugatti

bietbert

OK , is any car build in the Bugatti - Messier company a Bugatti ? If yes , my fantasy plays games with me