The Petersen Museum has this beautiful black Bugatti Typ 57 Van Vooren bodied car but if you go to their website for a second they show the same car faded red paint, hood panels loose, no grille but then that teaster photo disappears and they show you the finished car. I was wondering if that shows the car as the Shah sold it in 1959 (reportedly for $250 USD).
Also what engine was in it then, a GM engine, a Packard or what???
And is it true it was sold to a Dutchman who sold it to a playboy who roamed the Cote d'Azur in it for years.
Does it have the correct SN engine now? I can't figure out why the Shah sold it so cheap. Maybe because he got it for free or he had unpleasant memories from it.
And I recently read that when the restorers in the UK took it in for restoration, it had incorrect parts from various years of Bugatti. I was wondering what parts they had to make over again?
Is there a story on this in a British magazine or website?
One design commentary is the headlight frames have a teardrop shape at the bottom, I wonder it it is true they are inspired by '37 Ford headlights? Also does anyone want to comment on the uncanny resemblance between this car and a certain 165 Delahaye? Were the Van Vooren boys peeking into the windows of Figoni et Falaschi as they built the Delahaye?
Shah of Iran Bugatti Typ 57 van vooren cabriolet
Started by
HistoryBuff
, May 07 2013 23:04
5 replies to this topic
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#2
fivestar
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Posted 09 May 2013 - 07:42
There is an article on this car in the October 1986 issue of Road and Track. I will see if I can scan it and post.
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#4
HistoryBuff
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Posted 09 May 2013 - 23:41
[The scan worked. I could read it. But one thing I have to figure out is what missing Royale they refer to? I would have thought by 1959 all the six Bugatti Royale Typ 41s were accounted for, unless something is thinking of the Esders car, wasn't that finished in a later decade on a chassis that never had a body? (I have seen it, in green, magnificant car).
Going back to the Bugatt 57Ci, it is such a direct steal of the Delahaye ty 165, I would have thought F & F would have sued Van vooren except that in 1939 Frenchmen were a little concerned over a German invasion...
The article mentions a spare body for a 165 was possibly used for the Bugatti, but that's hard to believe, there were only two 165 Delahayes I believe. At any rate I'd have to park the two --the Delahaye 165 and the Bugatti typ 57C van Vooren side by side, I think they have been in the Petersen Museum on the same floor at the same time but I didn't thnk to take measurements at the time.
Anyway aside from the body mystery I can't believe the Shah sold the Bugatti in 1959 for $275 USD but hey, maybe he lost interest in the car.
Going back to the Bugatt 57Ci, it is such a direct steal of the Delahaye ty 165, I would have thought F & F would have sued Van vooren except that in 1939 Frenchmen were a little concerned over a German invasion...
The article mentions a spare body for a 165 was possibly used for the Bugatti, but that's hard to believe, there were only two 165 Delahayes I believe. At any rate I'd have to park the two --the Delahaye 165 and the Bugatti typ 57C van Vooren side by side, I think they have been in the Petersen Museum on the same floor at the same time but I didn't thnk to take measurements at the time.
Anyway aside from the body mystery I can't believe the Shah sold the Bugatti in 1959 for $275 USD but hey, maybe he lost interest in the car.
#5
Sebastian Tombs
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Posted 14 May 2013 - 20:13
I should check your History, Buff...the Shah left Iran (Persia) on Jan 17th 1979. The car, T57C # 57808, was sold by the ayatollahs later in the year after he was in exile. It was in poor condition when it was sold and nothing like the vehicle that was given by the French government to Prince Reza Pahlavia as a wedding present in 1939. The entire story is easily found by Google if you can spare the time and effort. The design is F&F but executed, with permission, by VanVooren to get the present ready in time for the wedding, F&F not having capacity. There is a small F&F logo on the car in deference to the designers. As you say it is almost identical to the F&F Delahaye, which is hardly surprising since they are actually both the same design! The Prince had seen the Delahaye shortly before and expressed interest. The car was not sold directly to the US but to Holland, sight unseen by the purchasers (well-known Bugatti enthusiasts) who hoped it might be the 'missing' (NOT!) T41 Royale after it had been described as being 'huge with a long bonnet'. Yes it was used by a larger-than-life character around the South of France for a time before being sold to a US purchaser (not the current owners!). The present body was constructed by Rod Jolley in the UK to original F&F/VV drawings and is as near as dammit authentic in appearance.
Hope that whets your appetite to do a bit of research yourself, it's all out there!
ST
Hope that whets your appetite to do a bit of research yourself, it's all out there!
ST
#6
Sebastian Tombs
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Posted 14 May 2013 - 23:09
Hmm, I'd not read that R&T post until just now. Pretty much agrees with my comments except the 'permission' bit regarding F&F and VV. My post was entirely from memory but I was certainly under the impression that there was some colusion and it was not a clandestine copy by VV. The car was front page news in French papers at the time and F&F would have seen it, it's hardly a bog-standard cabrio. I don't buy the comments of Claude Figoni (any more than I buy some of the (rare) comments of Patrick Delage come to that.) I have spoken and corresponded with some of the parties concerned and their comments don't entirely bear out the R&T article. I was well aware of Dollfus' article in Automobiles Classiques which I have just re-read. Haven't got the time or inclination to go poking around Bugattis ATM, too much Delage stuff!
ST
ST
