Beautiful Girls and Bugattis

horseshoe · **Joined:** Sun Sep 21, 2008 10:52 pm **Posts:** 52

Does somebody has some pictures of the most famous girl with a Bugatti?
Isadora Duncan,the namerican dancer. She died in a Bugatti, her scarf came in a wheel and snapped her neck. :cry:

J.J.Horst · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:16 pm

Sorry to inform you:

Isadora Duncan was in fact killed in an Amilcar, not a Bugatti.

Wouldn't have made a nice picture either, I'm afraid....

Johan Buchner · **Posted:** Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:44 pm

Hi Jaap

I too heard the story of the unfortunate Ms Duncan's grizzly demise, first I read it was a Bugatti and then, from your site if I remember correctly, that it was an Amilcar. Do you perhaps know who started the Bugatti myth, and who provided the Amilcar retort?

Famous author Alber(t?) Camus died in a Facel Vega, and Jane Mansfield in an American car (An Oldsmobile?) Fred Duesenberg died in a Model J roadster by Murphy, which showed some style. (Actually he didn't die in the accident, he died from pneumonia while recovering, but I think you know what I'm getting at) Ettore crashed the Royale, which was careless of him, but he was uninjured, so my rather macabre question is : Which famous people had the superb good taste of dying in a Bugatti? Must be road accidents, the death of a racer is sacred and much beyond mockery. Ayerton Senna was a god.

Perhaps this can be dealt with in a new thread, going from pretty girls and Bugattis to dead people in Bugattis is just going to needlessly upset the heterosexuals. Martijn might never speak to me again.

Regards
Johan

J.J.Horst · **Posted:** Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:42 am

I don't know exactly who started the Isadora - Bugatti Myth, but it keeps being copied. It seems that through a lot of comments on forums etc the myth was finally taken to truth. One of the basic facts in that was the remark that the car had staggered seats (driver's seat a bit in front of the passenger's), which no GP Bugatti ever had. I don't know exactly who had the most responsability in solving this.

Here is the story, with Benoît Falchetto playing a key role in it: taken from http://www.historicracing.com/top100.cf ... &fromrow=1

Benoît Falchetto
FRANCE

Born 8 / 7 / 1885 Died 4 / 8 / 1967

Falchetto raced mainly in France between 1928 and 1935 driving a Tony Speciale, Bugatti, Amilcar and latterly a Maserati 8CM. It was in hîs Amilcar Grand Sport that Isadora Duncan met her end.
Though French, Benoit Falchetto was half Italian and flew for the Italians in WW1.

In 1927 he was working at the Helvetica Garage in Nice, France and first came to prominence that year when he took Isadora Duncan out for a drive on the Promenade des Anglais in his 1924 Amilcar Grand Sport. There are a number of different stories as to how this came about but it would appear that Benoit had a eye for the ladies.

They had spotted each other a few days earlier at a Restaurant called Tétu just down the coast from Nice in Port Juan, near Juan Les Pins. Duncan was lunching with her friend Mary Desti and had nicknamed the handsome Benoit, 'Buggatti', mistaking the spelling and the Amilcar for one of Ettore's machines. The next time Falchetto visited the restaurant he found that she had left her number for him with the proprietor.

He called on her at her hotel on September 13th but was turned away by Desti as Isadora was sleeping and just left his calling card. The following day after returning from working on a customer's Maserati he was informed that an American lady had called wanting to buy the Bugatti. However the Helvetica Garage had no Bugatti for sale so Falchetto assumed that she meant the Amilcar. She had left the address of her studio and Falchetto went round with the car. She told him she didn't want to go for a test drive then and there but to come to her hotel at nine that evening. Falchetto duly arrived at the appointed time and Duncan came down to meet him.

Mary Desti followed her down and reported that before getting into the car, she said "Adieu, mes amis. Je vais a la gloire!" (Farewell, my friends, I go to glory). Later, Desti admitted that in fact Duncan's last words to her were "Je vais à l'amour" ("I am off to love"). Desti considered this unsuitable to go down in history as her final utterance.

Duncan often wore scarves which trailed behind her and on this occasion she had on an immense handpainted silk scarf, a gift from Desti, which was long enough to be wrapped around her body and neck and to flow out behind her. As Falchetto pulled away, it caught around one of the back wheels. Isadora Duncan was pulled out of her seat and died instantly from a broken neck. The tragedy gave rise to Gertrude Stein's mordant remark that "affectations can be dangerous."

About the deaths of other owners: There are quite a few racing drivers of course, I don't know of many accidents in which a normal Bugatti was crashed with the driver dying as a consequence. The crash of the Atlantic is the only one that comes to mind: Rene Chatard and his mistress, Jeanine Vacheron, died in that Bugatti.

I recall that another thread has already been started on this subject??

Bugattitude · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:40 pm

octagonfox · **Joined:** Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:05 pm **Posts:** 232

I thought the subject of this topic was "Beautiful Girls and Bugattis". So where is the Bugatti in the last pic??? :lol:

Bugattitude · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:36 pm

Lool, Jeroen !
I needed a second take as well !
It required some quiet reflection !:lol:

Johan Buchner · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:41 pm

A Veyron is just like a real Bugatti. And being in the airforce is just like being in a real army.

Herman · **Posted:** Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:35 pm

And in the same pic: Where is the beautiful girl? I do see legs, but who tells they are property of a beautiful girl, or perhaps a Thai tranvestite? You never know...

octagonfox · **Joined:** Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:05 pm **Posts:** 232

Sorry, didn't mean to insult anyone. But the VW with Bugatti badge on it is not a Bugatti to me. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a fantastic car, and if I was filthy rich I would surely buy one.

Bugattitude · **Posted:** Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:16 am

Sorry, Jeroen! :lol:

Another VeeDub !

Johan Buchner · **Posted:** Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:32 pm

I'm afraid the Veyron is one of those cars I tried so hard to hate, but failed miserably. No-one needs a 250mph car, absolutely no-one. Just as we do not need the work of Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Rembrandt, or Pavarotti, Elvis and the Rolling Stones, or Henry Royce, Enzo Ferrari and err... Ettore Bugatti. Except we do, we need Greatness and we need Madness. Imagine how dull life would be without Herr Piech's megalomania. As to whether the Veyron should be called a Bugatti - well, my opinion is simple. Piech bought the name, he can put it on whatever the heck he likes. And let's face it, for the first time ever, the fastest car on the planet is a Bugatti. Sorry Ettore, you know it's true.

Kind Regards
Johan

octagonfox · **Joined:** Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:05 pm **Posts:** 232

Bugattitude wrote:

Sorry, Jeroen! :lol:

Another VeeDub !

Oh well, there is something next to it to compensate. :lol:

Pur Sang · **Posted:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:35 am

""I'm afraid the Veyron is one of those cars I tried so hard to hate, but failed miserably. No-one needs a 250mph car, absolutely no-one. Just as we do not need the work of Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Rembrandt, or Pavarotti, Elvis and the Rolling Stones, or Henry Royce, Enzo Ferrari and err... Ettore Bugatti. Except we do, we need Greatness and we need Madness. Imagine how dull life would be without Herr Piech's megalomania. As to whether the Veyron should be called a Bugatti - well, my opinion is simple. Piech bought the name, he can put it on whatever the heck he likes. And let's face it, for the first time ever, the fastest car on the planet is a Bugatti. Sorry Ettore, you know it's true. ""

The new cars are more close to the Ettore philosophy that you think.

Remember : The Veyron at the beginning was an impossible project !

But only few people knows it.

PS

Johan Buchner · **Posted:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:16 am

Very true! Ettore designed the most beautiful race-car ever, the T35, and then put it in production. No-one had ever done that before. In a recent Top Gear Magazine they tested 3 Veyrons, 1 white, 1 red and a highly polished Pur Sang (Whether the finish is polished aluminium or chrome I do not know) and I just fell in love with it. So over the top, such gruesome bad taste, so utterly magnificent! Having said that, I'd still rather have an Atlantic.

Johan

Beautiful Girls and Bugattis

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