As I've said in my post of this morning, yesterday I received 2 books - the Du Gan T43 and Mathews Bugatti : Yesterday and Tomorrow.

Second one first : What a jewel of a book, it is such a personal account of one man's lifelong involvement with the marque. Only a few of the essays deal with the cars, most are interviews with people who, in some way or another, made huge, and in some cases, unsung contributions to Bugatti. Last night was spent with the Du Gan book, but the Matthews work promise much delight for those times I am in the mood for the unexpected. And Cheap! 10 Euros is all it cost me, Martijn found it for me at Retromobile. What a friend he is, and so much for Retromobile's reputation for offering overpriced wares ; let me tell you, even by South African standards 10 Euros is remarkably cheap. And it is a damn good read to boot.

A 100 Euros + postage got me Jack du Gan's masterpiece on T43, and it is excellent value for money. I really enjoy Mr. du Gan treating his readers as equals; I may never be able to afford a Bugatti, but I do enjoy reading about what it takes to maintain a T43 (Mr. du Gan owns a T43 - the reason he wrote the book) But the best bit is that the man does not mince words; he makes a very clear distinction between replicas (a good thing) and fakes. (a crime)

Speaking of which, I found the interior of the car I recently saw. On p343 under a chapter headed : 43-PS-2 (43270) This fake was offered for sale on e-bay in Dec 2006 as original, and the interior is EXACTLY as I remember, down to the magneto (typical P/S according to du Gan) and two little tap thingies on the right side of the non-original metal-turned dash and on the top of the right chassis rail (just in front of the bottom of the dash). The "patina" on the front suspension is exactly the same, but it has a side mounted spare. So the car I saw might be a different Argentinean fake. Please ask around , has any Belgian recently brought a fake T43 to South Africa? It broke an axel, apparently.

One of the reasons I awaited this book with such anticipation, was to read about Julian Majzub's original car. Upon finding the relevant chapter, I felt like weeping. Allow me to quote the history of this car : "Has original Chassis plate. Not much else has been disclosed about this car." 43248, original engine was No.93, it is now fitted with engine No.9

Julian Majzub is one of a number of equine sphincters who refused to divulge any details of their cars, not even the name of the coachbuilder was given to Mr. du Gan. Perhaps Julian does not like the great unwashed (like myself) to enjoy his possession.

Speaking of which, David Sewell's reports are quoted for a number of cars, and at first I barely recognised the extreme obsequiousness, in vain I searched for the biting sarcasm he displayed when talking about John Mozart's Col. Giles T57S, but then I realised, the reports quoted are sales brochures, and David Sewell was obviously paid to put as positive a spin as possible on the vehicles concerned. And the two I've read so far was owned by Brits, and, of course, John Mozart is American.

To be expected, really, but by refusing to compromise, Jack du Gan received no co-operation from a number of people, as a result, and this is very important, the information he did choose to print has the ring of truth about it. His book is all the better for it, and I, for one, applaud this take-no-prisoners approach. This is a very good book, and I can recommend it without reservation.

Thank you Mr. du Gan, not only for printing No.408 (out of just 750) just for me, but also for signing it. It now lives between King and Laugier, and it is very happy. I should know, I talk to my books often, and they occasionally talk back to me, and your book told me it's very happy. Why yes, my medication was recently adjusted ; how did you guess?

With Grateful Thanks
Johan Buchner