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Sort of like in the 1920`s Colonial antiques boom . Dealers would take one real , original Colonial four-poster bed , and " restore " it into FOUR " Restored Original Colonial " four poster beds , each having ONE ORIGINAL POST from the real bed . They would then sell the four beds as " Real , Truely Original Restorations " of Colonial antiques , and quadruple their money . Some fun , Huh ??

editor- maybe we missunderstood your comment:
"the Bugatti is basically T51A chassis. This car was built on the basis of the car that was campaigned by Anne Cecile Itier. However the T51 chassi was restored back to a GP car. And the body has been restored making use of a new chassis"
I assume the GP Type 51a Bugatti chassis 51142 raced by Anne Cecile Itier was later re-bodied as a road car. Was this with a Bugatti body or a reproduction body on chassis 51142
The GP Chassis 51142 was changed back to a type 51a Bugatti with another reproduction body?
The Bugatti or reproduction road car body was then fitted to a reproduction? chassis?
Have I got this right - sorry to be so long winded.

editor: the history is slightly more complicated. The T51A of Anne Cecile Itier was delivered as a T35 in 1926. In 1931 it was returned to Molsheim who converted the car into a cheap T51A for Mrs. Itier. She raced the car extensively and it also became known for the race against an aeroplane at Montlhéry. Prior to the war the car presumbaly lost its engine and re-appeared with a T38 engine, pre-series T57 gearbox and a one off roadster body of an up to this day unknown coachbuilder. The full history including the GP background only came out when Henrik Schou-Nielsen started the restoration; all this was confirmed by Bugatti expert Pierre Yves Laugier. Henrik decided to rebuild the GP car and found an original GP body (at PreWarCar). The GP engine is a reconstruction based on an original engine for which a new twin cam head was made. After all this Henrik remained with the T38 engine, the T57 gearbox, the spoke wheels and the wonderfull yet unidentified body. He decided to rebuild the roadster based on these components and a new chassis. Up to you all to judge. I also like to refer to the Newsletter we sent out before Retromobile. See: http://www.prewarcar.com/index2.php?option=com_yanc&act=archive&task=view&cid=110&Itemid=88&no_html=1

Joris Bergsma

Tony,

I completely agree with you that it doesn't feel right and it might be the first step into fraud. But in this case the owner is very open about what he did. So in my humble opinion he is merely a barbarian, perhaps a fool but not a criminal. Owning a knife doesn't make you a murderer.

P.S. I hope in the future someone will reunite body and chassis and engine. But that goes for a lot of cars. a couple of years ago i visited a warehouse in northern germany filled with prewar mercedes saloon body's. which they had scalped to make roadsters

editor: it is most intersting what some of you write. For instance the above. I wonder if you really understand what the case is when you were judging. Pieter writes about 'reuniting chassis, engine and body'. Now I wonder which body he likes to reunite with which chassis and which engine? What is against restoring a wellknown GP and making good use of the remaining non original parts? It is my feeling that some of you not really have given good thought about the whole idea of what's presented here.

Re fakery (or not), the problem usually arises with a subsequent owner who feels the car is not famous enough (or who paid too much...)

on all sites about the retromobile, you see pictures of the MB`s green Prince Henry Benz from 1910, but nowhere one of the Louwmann collection one.
maybe you can do it, editor ?

regards
mike