Quiz Archive

About Quiz # 261: Bugatti Type 56

One answer concluded: “This is an easy one”. Easy yes, if you know what you are looking at, as all the answers we received were correct. It was certainly not pre-WWI, but an electric vehicle, the Type 56, made by Ettore Bugatti for his personal use on the grounds of the factory. Later he was persuaded to produce several more for friends and relatives. Power came from a single 28 amp electric motor producing 1Hp, energy was stored in six 6volt accumulators. The numbers produced are uncertain, they vary from 6 to 10, but only four seem to remain today. With so many correct answers, we had to be strict in judging. Except for jurymember Fried Stol, nobody mentioned the years it was produced (from 1931 until 1936). We narrowed it down to four contenders: Christophe van de Burie, Ronald Beckers, Josef Kubista and Thomas Rudolf, who all came very close, but in the end we singled out Josef Kubista who in just under a hundred words summed up what we were talking about. Congratulations Josef with your first win! See you all next week with a new quiz. The winning answer by Josef Kubista: “This electric vehicle is known as Bugatti T56 built from 1931 on. The first was used as Ettore’s personal runabout at the Molsheim factory. Approx 6-10 of them have been built. Powered by single 28A 36V motor producing 1 HP. Energy is stored in six 6 volt accumulators in series. The motor was mounted directly to the frame and drove the rear wheels through gears. Electric braking was allowed, hand- and footbrakes operated on rear wheel drums. Four forward speeds could accelerate vehicle to 28 km/h. Steering was by tiller.”

Other answers came from:
Jean-Frederic Frot
Christian Fritz
Georges van Zeijl
Michael Buller
Gerard Lansink
Jeroen Vossen
Bruno ESTIBALS
jacques jean-pol
Patrick Jacob
Van den Burie Christophe
Ronald Beckers
michael hortig
jean Claude Poisson
Thomas Rudolf
Brian Noik
lars legaard
Anders Svenfelt
Ted Wilmarth
Gerrit Bus

And jurymembers:
Nicolas Boissier
Fried Stol
Lars-Göran Lindgren
Kit Foster
Paul B.Linster

Friday, 23 October 2009