Passed by a Type 37 this morning,

[skuthorp]

two occupants in blue coveralls and bone dome helmets, going like the clappers.

[amish rob]

Damn...

[amish rob]

64DE3241-E15A-423A-9CD1-954A41E2B493.jpg
Pless got me this close to a Bugatti. Love to see one in the wild. Parked at a restaurant. And go all Mr. Toad...

[Paul Pless]

Pless got me this close to a Bugatti. Love to see one in the wild. Parked at a restaurant. And go all Mr. Toad...

that was a really special day

[skuthorp]

I have had a ride round the Phillip Island circuit in one Rob, likely that one seeing it was local more or less. I rescued them from the side of the road with my big trailer and garaged it for a few days.

[TomF]

that was a really special day

A shame you didn't have a better photographer.

[amish rob]

I have had a ride round the Phillip Island circuit in one Rob, likely that one seeing it was local more or less. I rescued them from the side of the road with my big trailer and garaged it for a few days.

Oh, wow. That would be slick.

[amish rob]

that was a really special day

It was one of the best this year, by far!

Birdcage Maserati and a super old Buddha.

Sigh...

[amish rob]

A shame you didn't have a better photographer.

Better? Couldn’t have found one, anywhere!

[Hugh Conway]

They are special, aren’t they?

[Jim Bow]

There’s a company called Pur Sang building replicas including replica engines, for $250K

[skuthorp]

Rob you don't realise how small they are till you stand beside one. With two in the cockpit, I use "in" very loosely, the scoop of the 'door' comes half way up your hip, most of your body is well outside the car, and you can feel why old time racers wore a scarf.
This is Fasio Nuvolari in a Type 51. He was not a big man.

[The Q]

This side of La Manche, a type 37 means something completely different.. Hear those diesels roar..P6074302.jpg

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Looks similar to a Type-35, which I fell in love with as a teen (photo) and never forgot it.

[birlinn]

Types 35, 37, 39 and 51 are all basically the same car, just different engines.

[Stiletto]

Types 35, 37, 39 and 51 are all basically the same car, just different engines.

Were wire wheels common? The metal wheels made the Bugattis easy for me to identify at a glance.

[CK 17]

My brain read that as you passed your 737 type rating this morning....I wondered how I missed that about you

[skuthorp]

I guess that is something military?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I was poodling along at speed limit-ish on the A12 on my BMW K bike when I was overtaken by a Vincent Black Shadow... lugging a sidecar!

[Hugh Conway]

Were wire wheels common? The metal wheels made the Bugattis easy for me to identify at a glance.

The cast aluminum wheels incorporated the brake drum, departure was non standard. The weird wire wheels were the later Type 59 radially spoked wires.

[Mike.Higgins.94301]

A retired hand surgeon, who lived nearby, made a hobby of restoring old equipment. Two of his projects were Bugattis. The first photo shows his Bugatti from 1914.
6378E3DC-724F-4E2D-B046-6ABC5E37E811.jpg
The 4 cylinder engine had 16 valves and an aluminum crankcase.
8FE6C51B-5C42-409E-A204-A522EC2BCA8E.jpg

he said it could reach 60 mph on the track. His other Bugatti was more recent.
B3B35250-1472-4CBC-BCB6-92ACE45E789A.jpg

he had an interesting collection of vehicles.
7EC17F55-7492-4A31-8321-0688DB1A9B0A.jpg

1E84538B-FA05-4F17-9C12-E36B4F78B150.jpg

[birlinn]

The 4 cylinder Type 37 had wire wheels as standard, as did the cheaper plain bearing 8 cylinder type 35A; all the rest of the family (other 35's, 39, 51) had cast alloy wheels.
That 16 valve Type 13 Brescia can not be 1914; more like 1921 or 22. The 1914 cars, apart from 3 factory prototypes, all had 8 valves, and different radiators. The design dates from 1914 admittedly. Should be good for quite a bit more than 60 mph too!
The other car is one of the 1923 Grand Prix Type 32 'tank' cars, a rare beast. Your feet would be at the side of the 8 cylinder engine crammed into that small car.
Here's the 1922 Type 22 Brescia I used to own; a longer wheelbase version of the type 13..

t22.jpg

[Mike.Higgins.94301]

Interesting comment about the older car. I didn’t know the owner well, we only had a few casual conversations when I would see him in his driveway with one of his interesting “toys”. My dad worked for a few years at Bowles Aviation where they built the streamlined trailer shown with the old pickup truck. I don’t believe he meant that 60 mph was the car’s top speed. That was the top speed he was willing to drive it on the track. I expect the old car was fairly valuable and he didn’t want to destroy it in an accident. He was pretty clear about the age (last year before the war started) and the number of valves (explanation for the elaborate overhead cam drive). Maybe it was one of the factory prototypes you mentioned. He has moved away so I can’t ask him for clarification.

[amish rob]

The 4 cylinder Type 37 had wire wheels as standard, as did the cheaper plain bearing 8 cylinder type 35A; all the rest of the family (other 35's, 39, 51) had cast alloy wheels.
That 16 valve Type 13 Brescia can not be 1914; more like 1921 or 22. The 1914 cars, apart from 3 factory prototypes, all had 8 valves, and different radiators. The design dates from 1914 admittedly. Should be good for quite a bit more than 60 mph too!
The other car is one of the 1923 Grand Prix Type 32 'tank' cars, a rare beast. Your feet would be at the side of the 8 cylinder engine crammed into that small car.
Here's the 1922 Type 22 Brescia I used to own; a longer wheelbase version of the type 13..

t22.jpg

Oh, sweet merciful dogstar...

[birlinn]

Sorry, Robert!
I sold the car when I retired- I could no longer afford to run it. So these days, it's a 2CV.

[amish rob]

Sorry, Robert!
I sold the car when I retired- I could no longer afford to run it. So these days, it's a 2CV.

Don’t be sorry! It wonderful to see such a car! Those old jobs really knock me out. I think it’s the accessibility, as it were, of the technology. Maybe. There is something about many prewar cars I simply adore, and I have you all to thank.

[birlinn]

Interesting comment about the older car. I didn’t know the owner well, we only had a few casual conversations when I would see him in his driveway with one of his interesting “toys”. My dad worked for a few years at Bowles Aviation where they built the streamlined trailer shown with the old pickup truck. I don’t believe he meant that 60 mph was the car’s top speed. That was the top speed he was willing to drive it on the track. I expect the old car was fairly valuable and he didn’t want to destroy it in an accident. He was pretty clear about the age (last year before the war started) and the number of valves (explanation for the elaborate overhead cam drive). Maybe it was one of the factory prototypes you mentioned. He has moved away so I can’t ask him for clarification.

Having now done research, I am 100% certain that the black Type 13 is car chassis no. 981, engine no. 538, which was owned in 2008 by Leo A Keoshian. He bought it from Rick Rawlins in California in 1998.
The car started out as a long chassis Type 23, delivered in August 1920 to Bugatti agent Pabenel, and was shortened to Type 13 length in the UK on the 1960's. The body was built for Keoshian by John Budenbaum; the engine was overhauled by David Wallace at Phil Reilly and Company.
Pics and history are on pages 108 and 109 of Bob King's 'Brescia Bugatti'

[Mike.Higgins.94301]

Interesting. I never knew Leo’s last name.

[Garret]

I want this setup:

[birlinn]

Another pic of a Type 32.
The little car alongside is, I think, the one that was designed and partly made by me as the Bugatti Owners Club's entry for the Goodwood Festival of Speed's downhill 'gravity' race.
We came 3rd.

tank.jpg

[Jim Bow]

Higgins,

That’s Bowlus Aviation that your dad worked for. Hawley Bowlus was the manager at Ryan who supervised the construction of the Spirit Of St Louis. He later formed Bowlus Aviation to build beautiful wooden gliders, and provide gliding instruction. During the same period, they built the RV trailers. His chief salesman went on to re-design and create Airstream.

C263C74E-0827-443A-BDE2-D3807F60E9FD.jpg

[Mike.Higgins.94301]

Since you live in the Northwest, perhaps you saw the Baby Bowlus that once hung in the air museum in Seattle. I helped my dad rebuild that glider after he broke the pod landing it on a grass field out near Enumclaw. The boom, wings and tail surfaces broke away leaving my Dad rolling down the grass field in the pod. Nothing was damaged except the pod. That project was my introduction to wood working. The attachment shows Dad after the test flight of the rebuilt glider. It probably was the last time the glider flew. Apparently it was difficult to control. One of my childhood recollections was at an airport used by glider pilots in Winfield Kansas (Dad worked for Boeing so we moved between Seattle and Wichita). That afternoon a friend of my Dad's was killed landing a Dragonfly, which was the powered version of the Baby Bowlus.

Baby Bowlus.jpg

By the way, I have almost exactly the same photo as you of the Baby Bowlus in the air museum out at Dulles.

[Figmental]

[Mike.Higgins.94301]

Wow! Do you know the year that photo was taken?

[Figmental]

Says "GP de Lyon" The comments mention 1924 but also the comments speak of a 1974 get together

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1124...ghts&ref=notif

Scroll down quite a bit to see the original post with comments in French that the translator does well with.