Bugatti had both the chassis number and the engine number puched in on the engine, in the aluminium, so I guess that is the first priority. That was probably done to prolong the life of the punches. However It goes without saying that the owner does not want to run the risk of damage to the car, and after the test there should remain no stains whatsoever.

The frame number is located on the rear, on a vertical plane. However in a number of countries such as Germany and Holland the local law stipulated that the chassisnumber was also put on the chassis itself, so importers had to do that as well.


I am looking forward to more information on the test.

@Kees,

Thanks a lot for getting yourself involved in our research of this mystery!

When reading Les Matthews' story about the Seydoux car, I see that the car for it's "first"(After the reconstitution) outing in 1981 used the "carte gris" from 57171, which came along with the car when Seydoux bought the car from Berson! But also Matthews writes that the car now uses the number and carte gris from 57645 from which the engine in the reconstituted Atlantic originally came! The engine 473 was bought by Berson from Mr. Dumontant who had this non-supercharged engine available at the time!
This could indicate that the original chassis of 57645 was broken up or destroyed already by that time. (Conway indicates also that this chassis was broken up) This again raises the question about the originality of the chassis that has been sold to the German and which is supposed to have been under the fiberglass car in the beginning of this topic! There is also a possibillity that the chassis really is the 57645, and that the number has been ground away because of the missing papers, that are now with the Seydoux car??? But then again maybe not since the chassis was used under the fiberglass car, and it would have needed the original papers to be accepted, and also it would indeed have been in need of it's engine, so why was this chassis and the engine parted from one another in the first place???
Was the fiberglass car ever owned by Mr. Dumontant? Then perhaps he was the one to remove it's engine and then sell this to Berson? Did the fiberglass car ever have a Bugatti engine??? Did it ever run......? The questions are many.....
If the Seydoux car is now (Again)registered as 57171, then perhaps it could be possible that the available carte gris from 57645 was sold by Seydoux, to the seller of the Dutch/German chassis, since this chassis maybe did not have it's original carte gris or papers??? But if so, what chassis and engine is really in the German car??......it would indeed be interesting to find out!

Best regards

Carsten

_________________
"The drawing is the only great master that rules automobile construction!" "Ettore Bugatti"

Vive La Marque

Carsten

Dear Carsten,
This is interesting, as the car now in Germany also is registered as 57645. The owner is very adament that this is the correct chassis number. In fact we should know the frame number; I will ask him; I also will try to check it out in Essen when the new Aerolithe body will be revealed (provided it is ready in time) I also expect the car will be present at the International Bugatti Rally in Germany this year.



I have read that but he did not mention his sources.



The numbers have only been ground away on the engine; and as the engine of 57645 has been placed in the Atlantic this must be a replacement engine of unknown identity. The owner and the Dutch seller have gone to great length to claim that the car indeed is 57645





No idea. I know for sure that both fibreglass cars had a Bugatti chassis as well as a Bugatti engine as Ronald van Ramshorst took pictures in the garage. Ronald was allowed to take pictures of all cars and all engines except one!! He could take a picture of that particular engine but not of the numbers as the owner got a bit irritated and when Ronald wanted to take closeups, the owner stated: now it is enough, lets go.



Edit Herman: I took the liberty to throw in some quote-breakers, to improve readability. Thanks Herman! Live and learn

Here is a picture of 57645 when the cars were still together in a Bugatti garage in France. The cars differ in the presence or absence of a tiny air inlet underneath the headlamps, so I guess the picture that started this discussion was 57645.

This one is 57723 in the same garage. The pictures were taken during the same visit by Ronald van Ramshorst.

This is the engine of 57645, (it also had a compressor, here not shown)

A little more info....

Pictures of the 1:43 scale model by MA Collection. This model is owned by Gerrit Bus from the Netherlands.