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What exactly happened to this Bucciali roadster?
Not all cars are equal and some marques are more mesmerizing than others. Take the enigmatic Bucciali, shrouded in mystery and intrigue, because there is so little left of the wonderful cars themselves.
Angelo and Paul-Albert Bucciali were the sons of a Corsican organist and composer but felt more for motorcars themselves. They started to build them in a Paris suburb of the 1920s. These were extravagant cars in every respect, most notably with big eight-in-line and even sixteen cylinder engines, transversely mounted gearboxes, all-wheel independent suspension, front wheel drive and bodies by Labourdette and Saoutchik. How many they made is not fully sure. Different sources name different figures, which is no surprise as the show cars were constantly updated and brought from one show to another. And then it is also believed the Bucciali’s greatly exaggerated things. But fact is there were very few. Most likely is that between 1926 and 1932 just six chassis’ were built, with three surviving today.
Now. We hadn’t seen this particular photograph of a Bucciali before and were eager to find out more. We weren’t disappointed. A little search provided us with the necessary load of information. The car supposedly is a TAV8-32 after winning the prix d’honneur at the 1931 Concours d’Elegance of Nice in southern France. The body with its unusual door design is said to be attributed to coachbuilder Emile Guillet and commissioned for the owner, a mister Georges Roure of Nice. One reader of coachbuild.com even mentioned that the lady is an actress named Florence Moréno and showed another photo (added here also)...
But still, that leaves us with several more questions. First of all: which of the Bucciali’s is this particular car then and what was – or is – its fate? This excellent article here states that the six chassis' built in some detail. It also mentions: “At the Paris Salon in 1932 Buccialli exhibited both of the Saoutchik, the immobile convertible TAV30 and closed the Golden Arrow TAV 8-32. The then owner and finance provider of the company Roure, apparently from the Côte d’Azur came by its own and with a big relief, he sold the car to the banker De Rivaud. In October 1932 Bucciali went bankrupt, soon after the coachbuilder Guillet ended too and the cabriolet from the Saoutchik headed to the scrap.”
Although that may brighten up a thing or two, it doesn’t really explain all too much either. Was it really scrapped? Or perhaps rebodied? So over to you, dear reader.
Words by Jeroen Booij. Picture via Anthony King and coachbuild.com.
Published:
Friday October 25th, 2019
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Comments
Hubertus Hansmann
25 October 2019, 11:46
@ Marc Fellmann: The little B6-C24 racer in the Mullin Museum is a recreation, built around an original engine by Uwe Hucke. According to Bucciali-expert Christian Huet, the only original parts are the engine (a spare engine never used before) and the race-exhaust. Everything else was built new by Uwe Hucke, by using the original plans for the car. But he did a fantastic job and the result is really nice!
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Pierre Alain
25 October 2019, 10:20
There is not much information on this car. It is confirmed to be a Bucciali TAV8-32 roadster by Emile Guillet 1931 on the Caradisiac web-site where - in addition to that attached - you can find quite a number of pictures and information.
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Hubertus Hansmann
25 October 2019, 09:03
And here you can see the Bucciali in comparsion to the Bugatti Type 46 with the TAV8-32 body.
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Hubertus Hansmann
25 October 2019, 08:50
Bucciali at the 1932 Paris-Salon. The final Saoutchik body on the TAV8-32 and the TAV-30 roadster also by Saoutchik.
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Hubertus Hansmann
25 October 2019, 08:30
In the background the black/white TAV8-32 with it´s second body, the four-door saloon by Emile Guillet behind the fantastic, but non-functional TAV-30 Saoutchik-roadster.
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Hubertus Hansmann
25 October 2019, 08:27
The mystique Bucciali!
So many secrets and question marks about this fantastic cars. But the sixth and last Bucciali, the TAV8-32 is (for a Bucciali) well documented. The roadster-body we see on the Nice pictures with indeed actress Florence Moréno, is already the third body on this Chassis. The first body was a rather rudimental roadster, followed by a four door saloon coachwork by Emile Guillet. During this time it is powered by a continental straight eight engine. George Roure was originally interested in the mystique Bucciali Double-Huit, the V- (or U-?) 16 cylinder car. As the beautiful looking engine was just a mock-up, the Bucciali brothers mounted a Voisin V-12 engine and a new roadster-body, the one we see on the Nizza photos was built, again by Emile Guillet. Mr. Roure still was waveringly, as he didn´t trust the new techniques of the front-wheel-drive and the handling of this enormous 2.900 kg car and so P.A. Bucciali invited him to the trip from Paris to Nizza and told him, he would only use the fourth gear to show the predominant flexibility of the Voisin engine and the resulting convenience driving. After about one thousand troublefree kilometers, Mr. Roure bought the car, but as he wasn´t satisfied with the lines of the Guillet body, he ordered the fourth body, fantastic Saoutchik saloon bodywork, the car is wearing again today. The car was then shown at the 1932 Paris-Salon. Shortly after, Mr. Roure sells the “Fléche dÓr”, as the TAV8-32 is also called to banker Comte de Rivaud. In 1934 he has troubles with the engine and the Saoutchik body is detached and mounted to Rivauds new Bugatti T46. Not a good idea, as the look is a totally different one with the much smaller wheels and the shorter chassis. But what a luck, the BUC-chassis is not scrapped and in 1955 Serge Pozzoli is able to buy TAV8-32´s remains, selling them to the USA in 1969, where collector Mr. Ray Jones buys the parts one year later. Sadly, some of the chassis-parts got scrapped, but are reconstructed. Mr. Jones is also able to buy the Bugatti T46, still wearing the Saoutchik body and with rebuilt fenders and other parts, the TAV8-32 slowly got back its former beauty. Jones sells the not finished car to Mr. Lee Gohlike, who removes the (rebuilt) grille and fenders for a planned TAV-30 recreation and the car itself is sold to Mr. Clarence Johnson. Mr. Johnson finally finishes the long rebuilding Odyssey and with the help of Bucciali specialist Christian Huet, the car shows its former glory again in 1996.
The fate of TAV-30 is not a one with a happy-ending: Emile Guillet bought the (never running) car in 1931 as an eye-catcher for his showroom. Two years later, the wonderful roadster was scrapped.
Enjoy the weekend,
Hubertus
Read more
So many secrets and question marks about this fantastic cars. But the sixth and last Bucciali, the TAV8-32 is (for a Bucciali) well documented. The roadster-body we see on the Nice pictures with indeed actress Florence Moréno, is already the third body on this Chassis. The first body was a rather rudimental roadster, followed by a four door saloon coachwork by Emile Guillet. During this time it is powered by a continental straight eight engine. George Roure was originally interested in the mystique Bucciali Double-Huit, the V- (or U-?) 16 cylinder car. As the beautiful looking engine was just a mock-up, the Bucciali brothers mounted a Voisin V-12 engine and a new roadster-body, the one we see on the Nizza photos was built, again by Emile Guillet. Mr. Roure still was waveringly, as he didn´t trust the new techniques of the front-wheel-drive and the handling of this enormous 2.900 kg car and so P.A. Bucciali invited him to the trip from Paris to Nizza and told him, he would only use the fourth gear to show the predominant flexibility of the Voisin engine and the resulting convenience driving. After about one thousand troublefree kilometers, Mr. Roure bought the car, but as he wasn´t satisfied with the lines of the Guillet body, he ordered the fourth body, fantastic Saoutchik saloon bodywork, the car is wearing again today. The car was then shown at the 1932 Paris-Salon. Shortly after, Mr. Roure sells the “Fléche dÓr”, as the TAV8-32 is also called to banker Comte de Rivaud. In 1934 he has troubles with the engine and the Saoutchik body is detached and mounted to Rivauds new Bugatti T46. Not a good idea, as the look is a totally different one with the much smaller wheels and the shorter chassis. But what a luck, the BUC-chassis is not scrapped and in 1955 Serge Pozzoli is able to buy TAV8-32´s remains, selling them to the USA in 1969, where collector Mr. Ray Jones buys the parts one year later. Sadly, some of the chassis-parts got scrapped, but are reconstructed. Mr. Jones is also able to buy the Bugatti T46, still wearing the Saoutchik body and with rebuilt fenders and other parts, the TAV8-32 slowly got back its former beauty. Jones sells the not finished car to Mr. Lee Gohlike, who removes the (rebuilt) grille and fenders for a planned TAV-30 recreation and the car itself is sold to Mr. Clarence Johnson. Mr. Johnson finally finishes the long rebuilding Odyssey and with the help of Bucciali specialist Christian Huet, the car shows its former glory again in 1996.
The fate of TAV-30 is not a one with a happy-ending: Emile Guillet bought the (never running) car in 1931 as an eye-catcher for his showroom. Two years later, the wonderful roadster was scrapped.
Enjoy the weekend,
Hubertus