A moment of your time please .............

Johan Buchner · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:51 pm

On the whole, last week was a bit roller-coaster. First my finances went up in an internal combustion conflagration of epic proportions, consequently shooting my European holiday straight to Kingdom Come, and then the editor of Bugantics, John Staveley, approached me to write something for the official B.O.C. journal! Me, write for Bugantics? Of course I said yes, and last night I submitted an expanded version of my Corsica article to John. Did you know that no less than 15 T57S' went to Britain? Yep, it's true, 5 with works bodies (2 Atlantics & 3 Atalante's), 2 bodied by Vanden Plas and 8 by Corsica. I went with the title of : "Ettore, The Brits and Fifteen T57 Sports." Both irreverent and pretentious, a bit like me in other words.

At first I thought about toning things down a bit, you know? Try and be a gentleman about it and all that, but I swear I just can't help myself. It just erupted into the same vituperative spilling of bile and character assassinations as per my usual charming self. Oh God, I really hope Peter Agg isn't a member of the B.O.C. - he killed a Vanden Plas you know?

Now spare a thought for poor Mr. John Staveley, upon his overworked and non-remunerated shoulders rests the task of editing my poison into an article fit for a journal of Bugantics' standing. And prevent the B.O.C. from being up to its collective tits in lawsuits. Poor John Staveley.

I don't care if he edits the whole damn thing down to a single paragraph, just think about : I, Johan, shall now follow in the footsteps of Hugh Conway, Geoffrey St John, David Sewell and Terry Cardy. And I don't own a Bugatti. And I am a working class South African. And I make Oscar Wilde look normal. Poor, poor John Staveley.

Sincerely Yours
Johan Buchner
Bugantics Contributor. :twisted:

J.J.Horst · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:20 pm

Congratulations Johan!

Of course there was one more difference with Oscar Wilde; he was modest..

Johan Buchner · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:15 pm

Thanks Jaap.

Compared to me most people are modest. :shock:

Johan

Gap05 · **Joined:** Fri Nov 28, 2008 11:58 am **Posts:** 40

I went with the title of : "Ettore, The Brits and Fifteen T57 Sports." Both irreverent and pretentious, a bit like me in other words.
Euuhhh... S = Sports ? Perharps you are also false ? A lot of French people think : Surbaissée.... :roll:

Felicitations ! A working class hero is something to be.... !

Lazarus · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:42 pm

Johan Buchner wrote:

On the whole, last week was a bit roller-coaster. First my finances went up in an internal combustion conflagration of epic proportions, consequently shooting my European holiday straight to Kingdom Come, and then the editor of Bugantics, John Staveley, approached me to write something for the official B.O.C. journal! Me, write for Bugantics? Of course I said yes, and last night I submitted an expanded version of my Corsica article to John. Did you know that no less than 15 T57S' went to Britain? Yep, it's true, 5 with works bodies (2 Atlantics & 3 Atalante's), 2 bodied by Vanden Plas and 8 by Corsica. I went with the title of : "Ettore, The Brits and Fifteen T57 Sports." Both irreverent and pretentious, a bit like me in other words.

At first I thought about toning things down a bit, you know? Try and be a gentleman about it and all that, but I swear I just can't help myself. It just erupted into the same vituperative spilling of bile and character assassinations as per my usual charming self. Oh God, I really hope Peter Agg isn't a member of the B.O.C. - he killed a Vanden Plas you know?

Now spare a thought for poor Mr. John Staveley, upon his overworked and non-remunerated shoulders rests the task of editing my poison into an article fit for a journal of Bugantics' standing. And prevent the B.O.C. from being up to its collective tits in lawsuits. Poor John Staveley.

I don't care if he edits the whole damn thing down to a single paragraph, just think about : I, Johan, shall now follow in the footsteps of Hugh Conway, Geoffrey St John, David Sewell and Terry Cardy. And I don't own a Bugatti. And I am a working class South African. And I make Oscar Wilde look normal. Poor, poor John Staveley.

Sincerely Yours
Johan Buchner
Bugantics Contributor. :twisted:

and just to bring you right down to earth I also wrote articles for Bugantics.my articles on the postwar Bugattis may have hastened dear hughs demise.

Johan Buchner · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:10 pm

Lazarus, you went and killed Hugh Conway!?! Sir you are a bounder! Maybe even a cad.

To Gap05 : I believe you are right, the "S" stands for "Surbaissée", But the title of Pierre-Yves Laugier's work is "Bugatti 57 Sport", which is where I took the word "Sport" from. If it's good enough for Laugier, it's good enough for me.

Johan.

J.J.Horst · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:57 pm

Well, I know from somebody who knew him personally, that Hugh Sr. was "not always a pleasant person" .

So, maybe you should have written more about the Post-war Bugattis. Maybe even about the fact that in the post-war years it was very hard to run a car-factory in an economically sound fashion. Simply: industrial productions (and especially war-production) showed considerably higher margins!

Lazarus · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:17 pm

J.J.Horst wrote:

Well, I know from somebody who knew him personally, that Hugh Sr. was "not always a pleasant person" .

So, maybe you should have written more about the Post-war Bugattis. Maybe even about the fact that in the post-war years it was very hard to run a car-factory in an economically sound fashion. Simply: industrial productions (and especially war-production) showed considerably higher margins!

Yes If Ettore had really been interested in making money he would have kept his equipment at Molsheim and started work for the Germans.There is really little doubt just where Ettores feelings lay.

J.J.Horst · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:27 pm

Well, I was referring to the products that were made for the French war in "Indochine".

Already in WW1 he showed where his loyalty was. Though his factory continued production (even economically sound) in Germany!

Johan Buchner · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:43 pm

It has now been fairly well established that Hugh Conway had very specific eras of interest ; to me he is the ultimate exponent of the "a single-cam and 8 cylinders - anything else just isn't a proper Bugatti" school of thought. And yes, he cared for the post-1939 era not. But at least he was a man of passionate conviction, and I love him for it.

By the same token, I am enormously grateful to Lazarus who shares his great passion for the post-Conway Bugattis with the rest of us. Before he joined Bugattibuilder I, like many I suspect, believed Bugatti's glory years ended with the death of Jean in '39, and that it was all over when Le Patron snuffed it shortly after the war. This is simply not true, and thanks to Lazarus' efforts Bugatti's final era might shortly be seen in a whole new light.

So was Hugh Conway wrong? Yes. Does it matter? No. Show me a man who's never made a mistake, and I'll show you a man who's never done anything. Hugh Conway's near obsession with Bugatti produced some seminal books on the subject, and he practically invented the single marque history. He taught me all the Bugatti he knew, and he made me curious about all the Bugatti he didn't know.

While I yield to no-one in my admiration for this man, I'm no zealot. Hugh Conway was fallible. Who's not?

As to Ettore Bugatti's conduct and loyalties during WWII, I again reiterate my position on this matter. For me the merciless slaughter of the war remain an open wound, I cannot be objective. So if it is all the same to you, I prefer to stay away from the subject all together. But I will gladly die defending your right to speak your mind. A precious right this - 40 million people sacrificed their lives for it.

Respectfully
Johan Buchner

LANOS · **Joined:** Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:56 pm **Posts:** 102

Congratulations, Johan. You deserve it. Enjoy this moment!!!

A moment of your time please .............

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