Rescuing the beautiful cars born in France

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We could not believe what we saw when we received these pictures from a Danish reader who now lives in Sweden. And it got even better when he provided us with a wealth of information about them.

Here is an amazing story told by Jakob Bonfils about his late brother Bo Bonfils:

The 1935 Riley Sprite was filled to the brim with all their belongings, and the adventure was about to begin. In 1961 Bo Bonfils and his then-girlfriend Dola (who would later become his wife) moved from Copenhagen to Amsterdam. Dola studied art history and Bo was an artist and painter. They were young and free and enjoyed life on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam.

By driving the Riley through Amsterdam, Bo made many contacts, some of which continued throughout his life. He was a very loyal Riley enthusiast and had many Rileys during his life including a Brooklands, a 12/4 special, an MPH, a 12/4 Kestrel, a Lynx, a Pathfinder and finally a Nine, which was built on a Brooklands chassis.

In Amsterdam, Bo met a young guy called Jan Cohen who had a predilection for Bugatti and used his Bugatti T40 Roadster for daily transport. He bought and sold cars, probably to buy another Bugatti or two.

Not long after he arrived in the capital, Bo accompanied Jan on a trip to Lyon to pick up a Talbot Lago T26. Both their girlfriends came along.

Germain Lambert

On their way back to Amsterdam, they visited Germain Lambert in the small town of Giromagny in the Vosges region of Alsace. Germain Lambert was born in 1903 and built his first car at the age of 23. He was an engineer and later built front-wheel-drive cars with independent suspension on all 4 wheels. Some of the cars in the photos are his.

The text on the side of Germain Lambert's truck and on the edge of the roof reads: Pour le sauvetage des belles l'automobiles est née en France. For the rescue of beautiful cars born in France. Did Germain see it as his task to collect as many French PreWarCars as possible in order to save them? In those days they were not worth much, and certainly not as valuable as they are today.

Luckily, Bo had his Rolleiflex with him and he shot 3 rolls of film of what was under the roofs and in the rest of the workshop. Some of the cars in the photos survive. The low truck and the pair next to it plus two others were exhibited at Retromobile in 2013 and are on display in the Mullhouse Museum. The Bugatti T44 with the rally plate is still running and in good shape. But what about all those other treasures (did you also see the Bucciali engine)?

We are told that Guy, one of Germain’s sons, was the driving force behind Lambert's cars being exhibited at Retromobile. Hopefully, the photos can help to find out more about this interesting man and what happened to those beautiful cars.

We would like to thank Jakob for sharing this wonderful story and valuable pieces of automotive history with us and other classic car enthusiasts around the world.

Originally published: Monday June 21st, 2021

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