Tag Archive for 'clasicar'

What do you do when you have a craving for a classic Bugatti or Delahaye but can neither afford one, nor would you want to cut one up to make it into your fantasy dream car? The answer Terry Cook came up with was to build such a car from scratch. Starting with one of his composite Generation II Boattail Speedster bodies, which are manufactured by his company DECO RIDES of Long Valley, NJ, he radically modified the design incorporating styling ideas from a number of different cars. The body itself was designed eight years ago for Cook by top hot rod builder/designer Chip Foose of Huntington Beach, CA. It is a cut down and streamlined version, inspired by the early Al Leamy and later Gordon Buehrig styled Auburn Boattail Speedsters. Relatively unknown clay modeler Vince Gardner contributed a lot to the styling of the second generation Auburn Boattail.

The fully enclosed “pontoon” fenders were strongly influenced by several mid 30’s Delahayes designed and built in Paris by famed coachbuilders Figoni & Falaschi. The front tires steer lock to lock inside the somewhat bulbous front fenders that look like a Chipmunk with it’s cheeks stuffed with acorns. The grille shell is a faithful copy of a Bugatti Type 57 that has been chopped about 4 inches to fit the car. DECO RIDES also remanufactures dimensionally correct brass duplicates of the Bugatti shell with reproduction steel shutters in the grille. The radiator shell was capped off with a replica Hispano Suiza stork from American Arrow of Clawson, MI. Put it all together and you have BUGNOTTI, a car that does not pretend to be a Bugatti, but pays homage to this great marque as well as the incredible styling of Figoni, Leamy, Gardner and Buehrig. That explains the FIGONI personalized license plate.

Using a Fat Man Fabrications boattail frame made for these bodies, Gary Brown of BROWN’S METAL MODS in Indianapolis started the project, mounting the body and hanging the fenders, making the car into a “roller”. Because Cook pulled Brown off the BUGNOTTI Project to have him concentrate on building the DECO LINER Zephyr delivery, the project was moved to Delaware. Ramsey Mosher of RAM’s ROD SHOP in Dover, DE was given the impossible challenge of completing the car by a mid July 2008 deadline for a major show. Ram had previously built Terry’s SCRAPE steel ‘39 Zephyr, his 1956 Lincoln “TITANIC” and had worked on an assortment of Cook’s other toys. Because of the wiring complexities of the BMW V-12 engine and automatic transmission and the deadline, the V-12 was snatched out of the car and replaced with a trusty LS-1 small block Chevy V8 and 4L60E automatic transmission.

The careful rubbing and loving of the body surfaces to make it mirror smooth was turned over to Brian Butler ot Greenwood, DE. His EAST COAST RESTORATION & COLLISION team did the paint and bodywork using RM black and 5335 Glamour clear. The resulting superb finish shows that classic “black is back”. If you wondered how the car manages to have trademark Bugatti-style louvers in the rocker panels of a composite body, Ram stamped them in a piece of steel and bonded it in place. He also fabricates the sculptured eight stainless megaphone exhaust stacks that smack of a pipe organ. The subtly curved windshield was designed by famed sculptor Stanley Wanlass and is manufactured by RODWARE of Salt Lake City.

via seriouswheels.com