Oh thank God Herman, I thought I was the only one who thought that adding instant patina is somehow cheating. In my humble (Humble? Moi? Hah!) opinion when a car is restored, the actual restoration adds to the history, and the work should be shown for what it is. Paint on a car is different to an actual painting. With the Mona Lisa, the treasure and the value lies in the brushwork of Da Vinci; with a car the value lies in the concept of the engineers who designed it, and in the metal shaped by the craftsmen who built it. The value is in the machine, the paint just stops it from rusting.

So sayeth Johan

Since I started this project, I have been troubled by one thing. The peddles. In my effort to keep the thing accurate to the proportions of the original, I have done everything possible to understand how people could possibly have driven the thing! There simply is no way possible for a large man to keep his shoes from hitting the brake and accelerator peddle at the same time. I have wrestled with this for a long time.

I finally learned the secret. There is no secret. Jay Leno has a Type-37 and in his video (available right here on the video's thread) he showed how it is done. He has special narrow shoes which he puts on in order to drive the car. So I went through my shoes and found a pair of shoes made for bicycle riding. They work perfectly. it is still a tight fit but it works and is reasonably comfortable. I had to trim the brake peddle on the right side but it works just fine.

I also solved the radiator problem. In the back of the warehouse, there was an old Triumph GT6 radiator. With the top tank removed, it fits very nicely inside the shell. It also has five rows of cores so it should give reasonable cooling. I am making my own top tank from sheet brass to conform to the rounded top of the shell as well as allow for the filler and "motometer". When it is assembled, I will post some pictures.

Very creative on the radiator. Glad you found one that fits (almost).

I will see if I can watch teh video of the Jay Leno site as well. Last time I checked, they made it impossible to watch videos from outside USA. I will never buy a GM product again...

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Vive la Marque !!

Size is not the only problem when driving a type 35/37 … Heat is the other enemy.. Some drivers wear special leg protectors to not burn their legs against the gearbox / engine.

A friend of my got a ride in the passenger seat of a closed type 37 on a circuit. Besides the lack of room.. the heat… there was an extra bonus… Tremendous noise… Best described as driving at full speed sitting under the bonnet… What a driver friendly cars the Grand Prix Bugatti’s are….

You are not the only one building his own Bugatti

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Other-Makes-BUGATTI-Type-35-BUGATTI-open-wheel-sports-type-35-incomplete_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6472QQihZ002QQitemZ120258115607QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

In the Jay Leno video, he mentions the heat. He also mentions the fact that he added a small electric fan to both the Type-37 and his Type-38. In Sothern California, It sometimes gets very hot. It is clear to me that the Bugatti Type-35, 37, and other late twenties Gran Prix cars were not meant to be driven in the climate often found in the southern half of the U.S..I am thinking it would be delightful to drive it in the early spring or late fall.

The noise in mine won't be anywhere as bad (or good?) as in a real Bugatti. The Toyota 2 liter inline six is reasonably quiet. No roller bearing crank or anything like that. Mine even has two mufflers that will hopefully keep the exhaust noise to a reasonable level. Also, in my transmission, I used the complete gearset from a Borg T-5 with the fifth gear removed. I made the patterns and had castings poured to mount the gearset side by side as Bugatti did. However, the Bugatti gears had straight cut teeth and no syncros. Mine has the original Borg gears complete with syncros and angle cut teeth. Also, the Bugatti differential has straight cut teeth. Mine has a spiral bevel gearset - all of which is much quieter than original Bugatti. The differential, a Peugot, also has a limited slip which I removed two of the springs. Because the car is so much lighter than the Peugot it was designed for, I thought it would be reasonable to cut the limit in half.

Just to show that you're not the only one building a Bugatti Replica by himself, not pretending that it will be a real one, just for your own fun and love of the marque, see this Royale Replica by Mr Garric from the USA.



I especially like the wheels, while the shape of the body is quite good also.

More info: http://www.bugattirevue.com/revue34/garric.htm

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Hi Jaap.

Before the usual hand-wringing starts, allow me to state the bleeding obvious: Mr Garric built it, only Mr. Garric has to like it. As for me, me like, except for the curve of the side-panel. Must have been a helluva lot of work - respect.

And Jaap, killer issue of the Review. It almost makes up for calling me Herman............. or for disagreeing with me about the 57S radiator.


Johan

Well, of course there are aspects of this car that are a bit less - perfect, however, the wheels, the fenders and some other parts (almost) are.

I agree with you (yes, this time I do!) that Mr. Garric has to like it, I have the most respect for somebody who starts such a venture, and finishes it this way. Somehow, I like this better than all kind of replica bodies built on original Bugatti chassis. Whenever a replica body is put on an original chassis, there's an original body that's lost....

And, sorry for calling you Herman, those Typo's'....

And yes, it's one of biggest Revue's of recent times, with a lot of variation in subjects, your article on Dr. Peter Williamson would have been part of it, but I couldn't wait any longer after he died.

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This is my kind of guy. I can only imagine the work that must have gone into it. Looks to me like a beautiful job.

My project, by comparison, is much less complicated. The Type-35 is, after all, a very simple car. The amount of time and money that has been poured into mine must be only a fraction of what went into his.

I will post some pictures in the next two weeks when it is outside for its first test under its own power. Sorry I have not been able to post more on my project but I have kept busy with it and the competetion from my business.

I received some pictures: (larger versions here)

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Vive la Marque !!

Hi, everybody.

First, let me apologize for being absent for the past year or so. I had to put my project on hold because of the brutal economy but that is no excuse for not staying in touch with my pals. I am sorry.

The car is running and totally driveable. Of course, there were some "bugs" to get ironed out... things like a stop that I forgot to make for the emergency brake handle. It moved forward while I was driving and turned all the way around under the car and became a jack while I was going about 30 miles per hour -- an uplifting experience, to say the least. No other real serious failures so far.

I have never driven an original Type-35 so I have to guess as to what it must be like. Mine is a thrill to drive and I suspect it is not too much different from the feel of an original car. The engine is similar in size, weight, power output, torque, and even the sound. The dimensions of the car are close as is the total weight. The final gear ratio is 3.78 which is close to the three ratios available from Bugatti. The shift lever is in the same place and the pattern is the same as a Bugatti except for reverse which is forward and right rather than rearward right. Even the transmission noise is there as a result of the fact that, when I machined the casting for the transmission housing, I bored the layshaft bearing holes .003" too far apart. It doesn't hurt anything, just makes some noise in the lower gears. Also, I built a hand crank that is fully functional and a spark advance / retard lever to retard to spark when hand cranking which is much easier to do that I thought it would be.

The original design goal was to build a car that was as close as possible to the performance of an original Bugatti Type-35 rather than to focus my energy on a futile attempt to build a car that would fool anybody into thinking it was a real Bugatti. Those huge disc brakes and the exhaust on the right side of the car would let anybody know from a distance that it is not a Bugatti. It is fun and it is fast.

Next, I am going to disassemble the entire car and finish the body. The frame has some holes where things were moved that now need to be welded closed. At that time, I will have much of the hardware nickle plated and the frame power coated. I bought ostridge hides for the seat cushions and the area around the cutouts in the hope of making a comfortable and hopefully attractive interior.

I don't know how fast mine will go but I imagine it will go at least as fast as the original T-35 -- about 125 to 130 miles per hour. The Toyota 1G-FE engine that is currently in the car produces 156 horsepower at 6500 rpm so, with a final drive ratio of 3.78, it should easily exceed my the capacity of my nerves.

Hi everybody, Progress is being made.

Finally, I found a company that could supply honeycomb material that would mimick the appearance of an original Bugatti radiator. The company, a small aerospace company specializing in titanium and stainless steel honeycomb, agreed to give me a piece that would fit inside the shell if I agreed to pay USD $300 for them to cut it using their waterjet cutting machine. I have also decided to have the chrome plating stripped off the shell and replated with nickel.

The car has sucessfully broken the 100 MPH (160 KPH) barrier. Actually, it feels quite good at speed -- much better than I expected. It just seems to "want" to go fast. The bottom panel has not been made yet but still it is quite "clean" aerodynamically.

I am getting ready to take the entire car apart again for the last time. I am going to have the frame stripped and power coated after small mistakes are corrected. All the small parts than will be plated will be done at that time. Also, there are a number of small issues that I would like to address such as some rough edges on the upper right of the transmission that rubs against my leg whenthe clutch is depressed. Mechanically the car is near complete and need little to finish. Cosmetically there is much to do. My hope is to have the entire project done by next Easter.

Great to hear. 100 MPH in your own car. Must be really exciting! Also great to hear you found some honeycomb material. Must be good looking!

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Vive la Marque !!

Hi William,

I really appreciate the work you did and I want to try me in a similar project. I'd have so many questions to you. I'd be happy if you could help me in that things for that you've already found the answers. Thanks in advance!