I saw a nice story on a website called MarcSavory
I just wanted to check on a fact so I can write it up for
VeloceToday.com It said that Mr. Nethercutt (would that be the Sr. Nethercutt) bought it as a Typ 51 Grand Prix car and then had a body built for it but didn't know that
the coupe body built for it in France after its racing career was out and about on a replica chassis. When that came up at auction (which auction? What year and price?) he bought it and reunited it with the body it had 50 years ago. What I want to know is what did the chassis (I presume with engine) sell for to Nethercutt? I presume the auction price of the real body and replica chassis will be in auction results if I can find out which auction company it was.
Finally does anyone have an opinion on whether it's OK concours wise to have a different body than the car was built with? On this car I'm saying if I was a judge I'd say "Ok" because it was a famous body when it was built (concours winner) and that body was still built in the pre-war period.

I think event organisers will make up whatever rules they need to get interesting cars in that is surely what car shows are about.

The cartier had a car in it recently that was a period roadster rebody of a GP car but now on a new frame. It looks very nice and is owned by a friend of mine he also ownes the GP car (now rebodied as a GP)which it was mounted on and it is beautiful!!!!

I found a story or blog (whatever that is) on the net on the Hemmings pages and it says:
"Bith sold the car in September of 1938, through the same agent he had used to acquire it, Mr. Schaeffer. One Andre Berson owned it for the next year, and in late 1939 or early 1940, sold it to an American aviator. We may never know who that was, but he was responsible for seeing that it survived the war in France, so thanks. In 1946, probably now somewhat decrepit after the war years, it was bought by well-known racing driver Maurice Trintignant as a parts car for his racing Type 51. He took all he wanted, including the supercharger, within a year or two, and it continued its roundabout of owners, painted black in 1946 or ’47, then white.

The next few years are quite confusing. The only fact in the early Fifties that seems to be incontrovertible is that in 1955, Pennsylvanian collector Gene Cesari bought it and sold the Dubos body, possibly to Major Eri Richardson, a Bugatti collector from Washington State. However, another report indicated that Richardson himself bought SN 51133 in France in 1950 and shipped it home to start the restoration. That’s a very plausible version of the story, as Richardson was definitely in France in the early Fifties hunting for Bugattis.

Either way, J.B. Nethercutt bought the partially restored chassis of SN 51133 from Cesari in 1959, and had American Bugatti Club President Overton Axton “Bunny” Phillips construct a replica Grand Prix-style chassis for it,"

So with this new info. I would like to hear if anyone knows what Cesari paid for the chassis, or what Richardson paid for the chassis if he also owned the chassis or was the one who exported it from France. Also what JB Nethercutt had to pay for the Dubos body on the replica chassis, I guess that was at a public auction so may be easier number to find. Thanks for any info.

Gene Cesari in his 1961 catalogue mentions the Dubos Coupé, as having been sold by him.

See: http://www.bugattirevue.com/revue41/henry.htm

You can of course contact Gene if he still knows what he paid for it...

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