Dear Friends

To help motivate myself to save money, I am hereby announcing that I will be travelling to the Northern Hemisphere in August 2009 for my first overseas holiday. Stuart Brown has been kind enough to offer me a place to stay while I am in England.

I will be coming over for a period of no less than 14 days and no more than 21 days, and the exact dates are still to be decided on. While there I wish to meet up with as many of you as possible, and I wish to see the Schlumf Collection. Seeing that this will be my first time in a First World region of the planet, I am open to any advise you may have for me. Even though I am from Africa, I do assure you I am fully house trained, so should you wish to invite me into your home I promise not to pee on the carpets.

I'm sort of loosely entertaining 3 scenarios, 1) to fly to Europe first, visit Mulhouse and The Netherlands (and see everything and everyone I possibly can), then travel to Britain by train and stay there for the duration before flying back home. 2) Fly to England, visit Prescott, the Bugatti Trust and as many Bugatti related places of homage as possible (and burn an effigy of Ralph Lauren, no no, wait, I'd rather wait until I get to Pebble Beach, and then drive a wooden stake through his heart. Yes, I am a class-act indeed.), then travel to Europe by train and repeat the process there before flying home. 3) Do the Europe trip during my stay in England. (I suspect this may be the cheapest option, thanks to Stuart's generosity, my accommodation in England is free.)

In the following weeks and months I hope to, with your able guidance, to start formalising dates and an itinerary. But I do assure you, my fear of public humiliation will encourage, nay, compel me to start living more frugally, to save my money carefully, and not to spend too much on books! (Mind you, Jeroen has found some rare treasures for me..... and August is still a way off. On the other hand, picking the books up personally will save me on postage. I digress.)

So, it is official, August 2009 (Or July, or September, depending on what's happening Bugatti-wise) I shall be up North. I tell you, just writing it is exciting. You must understand, one of the few drawbacks of being a South African is the relative isolation; yes there is an entire continent to our North, but strangely enough, not many Bugatti Collections. This will be a once-in-lifetime experience for me and I shall need all the advice I can get. The big limiting factor is, as usual, financial. Our local currency, the Rand, stands at the moment at 17 to the Pound and 12.something-or-other to the Euro. By South African standards I earn a reasonable wage, but in your neck of the woods, I shall have to watch my spending carefully indeed.

So if you make a suggestion that I attend some festival or other, please indicate not only how much the entrance fee would be, but also how much I can reasonably expect to pay to get there. But like I said, it is still a long way off, plenty of time to decide how best to celebrate Bugatti's centenary. This is going to be awesome!

Kind Regards
Johan Buchner

PS. Welcome back Jaap.

Just to let you know that you have my support as well. I will do what I can to make your stay possible.

You want to travel by train from the USA to Europe? I cannot advise that....

_________________
Vive la Marque !!

Dear Johan Buchner,

a great journey to look forward to. In the meantime you might want to consider the late Uwe Hucke´s fabulous Bugatti book, currently being updated and enlarged by Julius Kruta, to be published later this year. Bugatti: The Complete Compendium. An 800-page English/German text heavyweight, almost 200 Euros - not a cheap book but not as expensive as a good secondhand copy of Hucke´s 1976 Bugatti book which so far has not been available in English - a pity because it is very, very good and well complements Hugh Conway´s marque histories.

Best regards
sleevevalve

Thanks, too late I'm afraid, one of the rare treasures located for me by the Jeroen (Octagonfox - see his page under books on the WIKI) was written by the late Mr. Hucke. Mind you for what I'm paying for it 200 seems a bargain for a version I can actually read. Strange, I still want both though. You must understand, for me books are so much more than just the information contained therein; to me my Bugatti Library is a validation of the new lease on life I have received. As I sit here in front of my keyboard I can see my whole library right next to me. On the right, the Conways (Magnum, Le Pur Sang, Grand Prix, the collaboration with Greilshamer and Great Marques), in the middle the general histories by other authors (Woods, Borgeson, Matthews, Raffaelli & Horst) and then to the left, books dealing with specific Types, starting with T13/15/17/22/23 (King) then T41 (Kestler), followed by T43 (du Gan) and then both Laugier and Simon's works on the T57S. Oh and Barrie Price's booklet on the T46 & 50 - a grievous disappointment.

Books allready paid for, but yet to be delivered are the Klein, Saunier & Jansen work on the T46 & the upcoming Steinhauser work on Ettore's life up to circa 1926. Next year Laugier's work on T51 will be released and so will the next Dutch Bugatti Register (Please God, let someone find me a copy of the first one!)

Apart from Documentation einer Automobilmarke by Hucke, Jeroen has also located Kestlers Evolution of a Style, Elizabeth Junek's Bugatti Mein Leben, David Sewell's British Bugatti Register (I love making fun of the esteemed Mr. Sewell, but he is a superb historian, and he writes well too.) and last but by no means least, a book called Divine Bugatti (Author unknown). All these still have to be paid for, luckily Jeroen has great sympathy with my cash flow issues.

And then I still have to save enough money for my upcoming holiday. But even though this will entail some severe restrictions on my life style, I have never regretted for a moment any book I've added to my collection, regardless of price. I remarked to a friend earlier that I spent so much less money when I was still a drug addict! Mind you, once a book is paid for, I get to keep it and read it again and again. I have much to be grateful for, and I have no regrets.

Anyway, thanks for the heads-up on the Kruta work. Do you know when the publishing date is?

Cheers
Johan

Johan,

Bugatti-wise september would be of course best, you could then attend the festival in Molsheim, of course.

I can only suggest that you visit Louwman's museum as well, not as much Bugatti of course as Schlumpf's, but very interesting indeed. Of course you would want to visit the Trust as well (where I have never been myself...yet).

I will try to help you as far as I can, once dates are set a bit more precise.

_________________
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www.BugattiRevue.com
www.BugattiAircraft.com

Ooh, the Molsheim Festival? I have heard so much about it, maybe September would be better. Question is what's happening in August? Another question, does anyone have a spare Bugatti that need exercising? Okay , so I've never driven anything older than 1973, but I mean, how hard can it be? Driving a Bugatti, that is.

Keep those suggestions coming!

Johan

Dear Johan Buchner,

publication date of the Hucke/Kruta book is October 2008 (according to Amazon) and I´m sure it will be quite different from the original 1976 book. It will be published by M+V - the same people who did Kruta´s T57S book. Well worth the wait... as is Steinhauser´s magnum opus; by chance I met Mr. Steinhauser on my annual Retromobile pilgrimage and he kindly showed me a few of the photos of his forthcoming Ettore Bugatti book - spectacular, to say the least. You Bugatti people are lucky to have so many gifted authors and historians...

Best regards
sleevevalve

October 2008? There goes even more of the budget. I agree, the amount of people dedicated to the study of Bugatti, and the variety of books being published, is quite mystifying, especially keeping in mind that a mere 8000 cars were produced.

One of many aspects of Ettore Bugatti's legacy I still do not fully comprehend.

Thanks Again
Johan

Johan,

I get from a Molsheim friend of mine the following info on the 2009 Molsheim Festival, longer because of the centenaire: 100 years of Bugatti in Molsheim:

Rumeurs 2009 - Centenaire de La Marque

Il devrait se dérouler en trois temps pour les oldies : 2° et 3° week-end de septembre 2009

Le premier week-end sur Molsheim
Le deuxième week-end sur Paris
Entre les deux sur le Musée de Muhouse

So: September would probably be wisest.

Of course, if you sell your current bookcollection, you may go to Pebble Beach first (Bugatti featured marque in 2009), from there go to the Bugatti Trust in UK, and then on to France.....

_________________
www.BugattiPage.com
www.BugattiRevue.com
www.BugattiAircraft.com

Thanks Jaap, but I would rather have the books. Mind you, perhaps a whole group of us can meet up at Pebble Beach in August 2009, and then I can visit Europe in 2010.

Okay then, question to Herman, Stuart, Jaap, Michael, Jeroen, Martijn, Bugwrench, Bugfan, Aravis, ScuderiaCC and all the other contributors I've failed to mention : Would you like to go to California in August 2009 and celebrate the Bugatti centenary at Pebble Beach? I'm sure the Americans will give us a good deal, their international tourism market is down 15%.

Besides, I can't go by myself, I will need someone to stop me from attacking Ralph Lauren. Well, who's keen then?

Johan

Well, Maybe we can attack Ralph together, and "Patinate" his cars a little...

At first, I have to decide if I go to Molsheim this year. Anyone eager to go too??

_________________
www.BugattiPage.com
www.BugattiRevue.com
www.BugattiAircraft.com

For me it's either going to be the USA or Europe in August/September. There is just no way I will be able to do both, I don't think. Does anyone know what it will cost to fly from South Africa to America, and then to Britain before flying back home via France?

I don't think its do-able, but there's no harm in asking.

Airplane rates can be found on the Internet.

I would love to go to Molsheim this year, but the move of my house is planned for the 12th of September, and the transfer of my old house is the 15th of September. Good planning, huh?

Even being present at the Concourse Elegance at the Loo has presented a challenge... (tomorrow they will deliver my kitchen, so this weekend I need to make good progress installing that kitchen.)

Items to visit (including dates when applicable)

-Louwman Collection (T50T and T54)
-Shake hands with Bugwrench
-Visit Molsheim (12 - 13 September 2009)
-Visit Mulhouse
-Visit Prescott
-Visit Pebble Beach

Can anyone update this list with dates and other places to visit? Just copy and paste the list, so the information does not get scattered.

Once a list is compiled, one can put a price behind every item, and Johan can decide on which items give him the most "Bugatti for the buck".

idea?

_________________
Vive la Marque !!

Very good idea actually. If Bugwrench is racing at at Pebble 2009, and Evert Louwman take some of his Bugattis there as well, perhaps I can shake hands with both of them in California?

Herman, let's suppose you say to your lovely wife : "Honey, why don't you do the transfer, I have to go to Pebble Beach." Question : Will your injuries prevent you from travelling to the US?