! have for some time been in contact with the Bugatti engineer who worked for three years with Columbo on the T251.This gentleman designed the five speed gearbox and differential for the car.This morning I received the drawings from him for this extraordinary device.It is the most exquisite design,and by far the most complex Bugatti componant ever made.I will on my next trip to Poitiers have these drawings reduced to a more reasonable size and maybe we can put them on the site for everyone to see.The syncromesh hubs were bought in from porsche and the differential is a ZF componant.The speeds in gears at revs chart gives 318 KPH at 8000 RPM in 5th. I also received drawings for the disc brakes,clutch,and gearchange mechanism.

Great! I'm looking forward to these drawings!

For long, the post-war Bugatti history has been almost completely neglected!

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Images posted on behalf of Lazarus.

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Well you have heard about them and here are some photos to whet your appetite.this is [in ascending order]the Bugatti patent disc brake,supercharger end cover,a lorry load,

and some more,T73 cylinder head

T251 gearbox,T252 diffcase,and strangely an odd bit of T49 block pattern.sadly not enough to make some T40a or T49 blocks.But nice for the mantlepiece !

It is interesting to note that some of the T252 patterns are on aluminium and are proper production patterns.A comment perhaps on the designers confidence in the future success of the project.The very very expensive and high quality patterns for the T251 were to make only three motors.[ until now ]

Truly amazing.

This stock will keep you warm a couple of weeks for sure!

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Vive la Marque !!

only if i burn them

could this be part of the T451 V12 engine patterns?

Many years ago a friend and I discovered a Los Angeles aftermarket parts manufacturer with all the old wooden casting forms laying about ala these ones. They were used to hold doors open and other assorted duties. The facility was sold decades before and nobody currently there knew the importance (or history) of the wooden forms. I guess some had tried to bring a few home and burn -- but they didn't burn very well fortunately for us! (we left with the truck packed full!)

I bet you are having a LOT of fun going through these forms and what you can do with them!

So what is the story behind the acquisition thereof? And what are the plans for the future with them?

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me: Mark - home: Gilbert, Arizona now

sadly i was not the first to get to see them.Any good prewar patterns went before i got a look in.However there are some fun items.Bugatti did not have access to his patterns during the war so he had to make new patterns in paris.There is for example a pattern for the lovely racing filler cap where the drawing shows both the original prewar number and also the new T73c number.The cap however is identical to the T35b/51 item.My interest of course is to make an engine for the [ my ]T251.A monumental task has become very possible.My T252 and T253 can now get proper blocks......The T73c patterns are nice but a little late as we have already made every single part from new patterns.Expensive.The patterns for the disc brakes mean that we can do what Roland was afraid to do and use them on my car.They were tested on the prototype and they were very successful,only Rolands fear of failure and something new required their removal before Reims.The patterns for the replacement drum brakes for the T251 show their T101 origines.All in all there is so much that we have learnt even today whilst sorting them out.There are a very few odd patterns for T64/68/75/78.Nothing of any great significance sadly.The patterns made in Paris were made in the La Licorne factory and some have La Licorne on them.The quality of the T251/2/3 patterns is remarkable.They would have been very costly.During the patterns long sleep at Malmaspach many were stolen [ as were parts from the cars and even complete cars ] I did see the T41/50b/101/102 patterns but they have been sold separately to I know not whom.I did ask whether we could order castings from them but got the impression that the new owner wanted to keep them to himself.

So you do not sweat when moving the massive wooden blocks?

Remember normally, wood keeps you warm at least 3 times:

-cutting and cleaving the wood
-piling the wood
-buring the wood

Anyhow, a remarkable amount of patterns. The mystery part indeed could be part of a V shaped engine. There is no stampings on them?

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Vive la Marque !!

here are more pictures of the patterns for the Bugatti disc brakes .These were succesfull and had a vented disc,years before other manufacturers thought of it.

This disc-brake is very interesting. Was a patent applied for? Do you have any patent numbers??

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