Have a look at photos 1 & 2, the lighter colour around the window area is clearly visible on both, but on photos 3 & 4 the car appears monotone. Photos 2 & 3 is from the 1931 Paris Salon while photo 4 is from Olympia 1932 and because photo 1 shows the car with side-lights already fitted, I assume the photo was taken at Molsheim after it returned from Britain.

But photos 2 & 3 are definitely from 1931, yet on only one can the two-tone treatment be distinguished. In his Royale book Paul Kestler features a drawing depicting the Kellner car as black & yellow, but in Evolution of a Style, a similar drawing features what looks like two tone green.

Does anyone have more information?


(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)
Thanks
Johan

PS. Photo 1 is courtesy of Uwe

I think that the window mouldings alwys had been light blue. cunnigham
was one of the few american collectors , who did`nt restore his cars in the usual manners, and as I know, the royal always had been original in all
ways, f.e. the pale window glasses.
paul kestler sometimes has a little too much fantasy in his colors. see the small book" pocket history of bugatti".

regards
mike

Hi Johan,
thanks for the forum. Here 2 photos of Kestler and Heco.

<a href="http://www.bugattibuilder.com/photo/albums/userpics/10107/41141-4.jpg"><img src="http://www.bugattibuilder.com/photo/albums/userpics/10107/normal_41141-4.jpg" alt="Type 41 - by Paul Kestler"></a>

Thanks Mike & Uwe.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Heco does have a tendency to do their homework before they bring a model to market, true? I know I have read somewhere about this black & yellow colour scheme, but for the life of me I cannot remember where.

One last thing, Uwe, looking at the drawing you posted those colours look like green and blue! It doesn't look too bad actually.

Regards
Johan

My opinion is that the green/blue combo looks horrible. I like the black with whatever colour goes on it.

On the yellow/black or blue black Royale: Unfortunately one really should find someone who has seen the car in those days, and still remember. (do you remember the colour of the car you parked next to this morning?...)

Perhaps there is some mentioning in a book. Perhaps Bradley, or some book about Bugatti mechanics.

_________________
Vive la Marque !!

I can categorically say that the kellner was originally black and yellow, as Cunningham stated in the booklet accompanying the sale of the car in 1987, when the it arrived in the US he had the yellow painted blue and the moth eaten headlining replaced. nothing else was touched. When the car sold at auction at the royal Albert Hall in 1987, I had a very close look at the car (even sat in it) and I remember noticing that the yellow was showing through the blue, through years of polishing.

If you go to the photos under type 41, 41141, there is a picture taken from an Automobile Quarterly feature about Bugattis written in the late 60's, where the Kellner appears to be in the colour scheme painted by Kestler.
It was however a colour separation error in the print that made the car appear to be green and blue.
I was talking to Lucas Huni, the apparent present owner of the Kellner (personally I think the car is actually owned by Gonzales), at the Festival of Speed and asked him if he had thought about changing the colour back to yellow as Bugatti intended and he told me in a lofty manner that it was actually painted in blue during Ettores lifetime. I began to tell him that he was mistaken, but gradually came to the realisation that a wealthy collector will allways know more than a lifetime obsessive...
One thing that was interesting is that since the sale of this car from Japan it has been fitted with a genuine Breguet stopwatch in the centre of the steering wheel- all the other ones fitted to some of the Royales have disappeared over the years. this stopwatch that allegedly cost £85 in 1930 had come from a recent auction of Roland Bugatti possesions.

Thanks Greg! Mystery solved. By the way, that photo with the colour separation problems you mentioned (also in Wiki) confused the heck out of me. No longer - I'm in your debt.

Quote : "I began to tell him that he was mistaken, but gradually came to the realisation that a wealthy collector will allways know more than a lifetime obsessive... "

True, quite sad really, but true all the same.

Kind Regards
Johan

All great info, Greg.

You say Roland had one of those watches. Would it be possible that this watch was removed from a Royale some day? (before the sale of them). Also, which Royales had one, and which did not? Do you know?

_________________
Vive la Marque !!

I rember reading somewhere that it was Lebe who kept the watch from the Kellner car. Never been able to confirm this. And didn't Borgeson mention the one owned by Roland?

Question : Was this watch a special issue for the Royale only, in other words, were only 6 made?

Johan

Sorry, forgot to include this.

J

I have only found evidence of two chassis being fitted with a Breguet stopwatch. These are 41121 and 41131.
When Charles Chayne aquired this car he mentions that it had been fitted, but removed- presumably by Fuchs.
I have a faded old photograph taken in the early 50's showing the stopwatch on 41131 while in the ownership of J L Burton, but again this is no longer fitted.
Currently 41150 has a similar style clock mounted in the steering wheel centre, but this is not genuine.
If these stopwatches truly cost £85, at a time when an average house in Great Britain was just over £550, then I think Bugatti would be wary about buying them without good reason - a sale perhaps.
In the same way that 41141 and 41150 were not fitted with the elephant mascot, I personally doubt if they were kitted out with a fancy clock.
I contacted the Breguet museum in Paris to try and find out some more info a while back and got no answers.
I have just downloaded a photo I took of the genuine article mounted in the Kellner- Johan work your magic!

<a href="http://www.bugattibuilder.com/photo/albums/userpics/10189/121-2139_IMG.JPG"><img src="http://www.bugattibuilder.com/photo/albums/userpics/10189/normal_121-2139_IMG.JPG" alt="Breguet stopwatch "></a>

Done!

Looking at the photographs in 'Bugatti Royale, Le Rêve Magnifique' by Paul Kestler, I conclude the following.
On p. 67 a photo shows a clock in the middle of the 41150 Berline de Voyage steering wheel. The caption says the Brèguet has gone. Somewhere I have photos of this interior (with a very young myself at the wheel, but that is another story) but of course I cannot find them now that I need them.
The well known period pictures of the 41111 Esders roadster (p.73) also show a clock in the middle of the wheel. The clock and its mount seems missing when the Binder body is fitted.
On the 41121 Weinberger Royale, the clock is not visible, but I guess it originally was there. At least Gerald Wingrove had a reason to install one in his model of the car. In his own book (on the miniature - nice toy!) he writes that he used a 1937 interior photo. Unfortunately, he doesn't show it.
On p.115 we can clearly see the clock mount in the 41141 Kellner, at the time still without clock.

But Patrick, on the Carabin photo on page 73, whilst the clock mount is fitted, it is blanked off in the same manner as the Kellner on page 115- I believe that the clock was not fitted to the Esders because the car was essentially an open top roadster and the clock was too conspicuous for a thief. If you look at the close up of the binder steering wheel on page 80 you will notice that the steering column has been extended with a large flanged piece and the clock mount removed to make it a simpler job.
Going back to the photo on page 73 it is also evident that the car was not yet completed because there are no windscreen wipers, front bumpers or rear lights and liscense plates, so maybe the clock was installed later. Sadly I do not know of any shots of the esders interiour taken later on so whilst I suspect the clock was given to M. Esders, I cannot say for sure if it was ever fitted. Photos of this body in later life are very rare, but from the ones I have, it can be seen that it went back to Molshiem later on for modification because a small door was added just in front of the doors and the spare wheel inclined at 45 degrees (see page 267 of the Eaglesford book).