OTish:One for Lionheart
- Thread starter stiz
- Start date
He is coming along nicely. Good to see. That front transmission looks like it weighs a ton. I 'think' on the original that the wing roots were all balsa and other kinds of wood, but I could be wrong. These guys know whats best. Pro builders. Should be one awesome performing bird when its all done.
I'd like to get one of those little planes (scale model). I wonder what they sell for?
Bill
I'd like to get one of those little planes (scale model). I wonder what they sell for?
Bill
I doubt that car is. They are holding values of either 3 or 12 million USD. Eve Saint Lauren has one. There are either 1 or 2 more in existence running, one being that silver above.
The airplane had a sad story. Don't read past here if you don't want to hear.
It wound up in a barn or storage place and bought by a Bugatti parts dealer. He took it and removed the magnesium engines (2) (Formula 1 specially cast for this plane) out and sold those, then removed most of the gauges and sold those as well. It ended up in Florida where said parts dealer lived(s). It was finally donated to the EAA and they restored the bird to a beautiful condition which you see today, but you will note that the real plane has no engines and most of the gauges are gone. Some are believed to be Jaeger gauges. Some we have no idea what they did or were, only holes in the cockpit where they went.
The plane was so advanced, it had automatics for deceleration, gear retraction, etc. The cooling system was ram air based in the wing roots and rudder faces. The engines were two Formula 1 Grand Prix engines (they were winning races for years), both engines super-charged, with their drive shafts fed through the cockpit from behind midships, into a gear box located up in the nose, which allows the props to spin in opposing directions.
Its all engine and wings and a space for a pilot. It is like something from Buck Rogers, a bullet shape like that. If it had run, which I doubt it ever did, as WWII and the invasion of France occurred during its construction, the engines together at high RPM would have sounded like banshees....! Ear pearcing banshees....!
It was found out that the air racing authorities had already denied its entry into air racing as it would have had 'no contest' in winning against anyone, especially the Messerschmitt air racers which were cleaning up the races back then over in Europe. But alas, the war.
Bill
The airplane had a sad story. Don't read past here if you don't want to hear.
It wound up in a barn or storage place and bought by a Bugatti parts dealer. He took it and removed the magnesium engines (2) (Formula 1 specially cast for this plane) out and sold those, then removed most of the gauges and sold those as well. It ended up in Florida where said parts dealer lived(s). It was finally donated to the EAA and they restored the bird to a beautiful condition which you see today, but you will note that the real plane has no engines and most of the gauges are gone. Some are believed to be Jaeger gauges. Some we have no idea what they did or were, only holes in the cockpit where they went.
The plane was so advanced, it had automatics for deceleration, gear retraction, etc. The cooling system was ram air based in the wing roots and rudder faces. The engines were two Formula 1 Grand Prix engines (they were winning races for years), both engines super-charged, with their drive shafts fed through the cockpit from behind midships, into a gear box located up in the nose, which allows the props to spin in opposing directions.
Its all engine and wings and a space for a pilot. It is like something from Buck Rogers, a bullet shape like that. If it had run, which I doubt it ever did, as WWII and the invasion of France occurred during its construction, the engines together at high RPM would have sounded like banshees....! Ear pearcing banshees....!
It was found out that the air racing authorities had already denied its entry into air racing as it would have had 'no contest' in winning against anyone, especially the Messerschmitt air racers which were cleaning up the races back then over in Europe. But alas, the war.
Bill
Bomber_12th
SOH-CM-2025
It's such a great looking design, and incredible, at least to me, for that era. Thanks Stiz for the heads-up about the project's Facebook page - I had heard about the project, but hadn't seen any photos since very early on. It's exciting to see it in such an advanced stage.
Marvin Carter
Charter Member 2015
I think it is a 1928 Bugatti Type 37A, but not sure????
Bill,
I spent parts of two days at the museum coming up on three years ago. If I remember right, it was up against a wall so I couldn't see around the back. I have one photo of it. Most of the time, when I'm someplace like that, I'm in photographer mode and don't pay a lot of attention to anything that doesn't have wings on it so I miss a lot of the background. I'm almost positive there was a car with the airplane but it might have been just a photo.
Glenn
I spent parts of two days at the museum coming up on three years ago. If I remember right, it was up against a wall so I couldn't see around the back. I have one photo of it. Most of the time, when I'm someplace like that, I'm in photographer mode and don't pay a lot of attention to anything that doesn't have wings on it so I miss a lot of the background. I'm almost positive there was a car with the airplane but it might have been just a photo.
Glenn
Hey Glenn,
Roger that. Im sure they did.
The silver model in the painting is the 57SC Altlantique Coupe. (Atlantic or Atlantique', I cant remember, sigh.... ) There were two versions. The riveted model like this was the coolest, and another model which was a notch back, with a different name, no riveted ribbings on the outside.
An incredible engine. They were able to get 10,000 RPM out of it due to extreme craftsmanship and balancing. Nothing in the world could come close to its RPM limits. If you didn't know, back then, RPMs were very low because they didn't have the technologies yet for balancing out the parts (pistons and things).
Bugatti was years ahead of the rest. When his Type 35 came out (Grand Prix F1 model), it could have won the first 20 or 40 races 1 thru 6 places, but his cars were literally eating up the tires as they weren't designed to run that fast. Ettore said 'I will have to make my own tires now!' (said out of anger and astonishment, but tires immediately improved after that).
Roger that. Im sure they did.
The silver model in the painting is the 57SC Altlantique Coupe. (Atlantic or Atlantique', I cant remember, sigh.... ) There were two versions. The riveted model like this was the coolest, and another model which was a notch back, with a different name, no riveted ribbings on the outside.
An incredible engine. They were able to get 10,000 RPM out of it due to extreme craftsmanship and balancing. Nothing in the world could come close to its RPM limits. If you didn't know, back then, RPMs were very low because they didn't have the technologies yet for balancing out the parts (pistons and things).
Bugatti was years ahead of the rest. When his Type 35 came out (Grand Prix F1 model), it could have won the first 20 or 40 races 1 thru 6 places, but his cars were literally eating up the tires as they weren't designed to run that fast. Ettore said 'I will have to make my own tires now!' (said out of anger and astonishment, but tires immediately improved after that).
You're right Lionheart, this one is an "Atlantic", the other coupe is called "Atalante".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Type_57
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Type_57
