Are these the Bugattis we’ve been looking for?

• 
• 
• 

Last November we published ‘Filming a Bugatti in action’, which showed a Bugatti Type 43 with camera equipment mounted on the front of the car. The French registration plate 1178-RE5 was clearly visible and we looked for more information about the car and another Bugatti in the same article.

It was Nicolas Brondel who told us that “the Parisian plate 1178-RE5 was given to Bugatti #43308 in November 1930”. Ruud Leenman noted that the driver, both actor and cameraman, is Fernand Gravey according to Buggatists. The picture shows him in action during the filming of the 1932 film ‘Passionnément’ by Louis Mercanton and René Guissart for Paramount Pictures.

Fantômas

Another comment came in from Bart. He wrote: “In December 1931 film director Paul Fejos recorded (one of many remakes of) the French film ‘Fantômas’ for a firm called Braunberger Richebé. Several racing Bugattis featured in this film, racing scenes were shot at the Linas Montlhéry circuit. It could well be that the racing Bugatti photo is from the time this film was recorded.”

This made us curious … In the video you can see ‘Fantômas’. From 55:43 the excitement at the autodrome starts. We begin the film at the scene where the cars are lined up just before the start of the race. It is amazing footage of great racing cars! But do we see (one or both) Bugattis we were looking for?

Make a comment, ask a question, give your opinion, share additional information or start a discussion by filling in the fields below.