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Bucciali TAV3

The front-wheel-driven madness

The history of the brothers Angelo and Paul-Albert Bucciali is somewhat convoluted. Between 1912 and 1926, the Frenchmen probably built 18 cars under the name BUC. And from 1926 to 1932, perhaps another eight were added under the Bucciali name. However, the brothers probably used the same chassis more than once, so there are probably four or five examples.

What is important is that the two Frenchmen did not actually want to build cars themselves. They saw their vehicles more as proof of their extraordinary abilities as engineers. And they primarily wanted to sell their technical solutions under licence. It was therefore more of a coincidence that some of the most extreme cars of the pre-war period were built in the process.

This also applies to the example shown here, christened “La Marie”. The story of this car is so complicated that we would have to write a novel here to do it justice. The main point is that the Bucciali brothers wanted to make front-wheel drive palatable to various American manufacturers with the officially named Bucciali TAV 3 Torpédo Sport Type Cannes (chassis number 101, engine number 1147).

“La Marie” travelled to America with the Bucciali brothers at the end of 1929. And drove from New York to Detroit in the middle of winter and in sub-zero temperatures. All the manufacturers to whom the French showed the front-wheel-drive car were impressed – especially Willy’s, where very precise notes were taken (and the system was then copied almost 1:1).

But only Peerless, one of the most important luxury brands in the USA in the 1920s, wanted to order. But the Americans had miscalculated, designed a 16-cylinder engine at the same time – and went bankrupt in 1931. The Bucciali brothers got nothing out of their excursion to America, except a lot of trouble. Paul-Albert Bucciali litigated against Willy’s and the American and French armies until the 1970s, but didn’t stand a chance; he died impoverished and haggard in 1981.

The Bucciali shown here remained in the brothers’ possession until 1960. It passed through many hands, and in 1971 came to the well-known Bugatti collector Uwe Hucke, who gave the car a Saoutchik body that had once been on a Mercedes 680S. After that, the Bucciali stood in the Blackhawk Museum for a long time. In 2021, the car was auctioned by Bonhams in Quail Lodge – and is now going under the hammer again, this time at RM Sotheby’s in Monterey (19/20 August 2022 – there is no estimated price yet, but one can assume that more information will come).

We have more beautiful vehicles in our archive.

2 Comments

  1. Marc Grosjean Marc Grosjean

    Wunderbar dass die Artikel nun auch in englischer Sprache herausgegeben werden. Meine PetrolFriends in England und USA freuen sich sehr darüber.

    Gratulation und ganz herzlichen Dank für dieses Angebot.

    Mit bestem Gruss, Marc Grosjean

    • Peter Ruch Peter Ruch

      naja, an den Übersetzungen können wir noch arbeiten ) – aber ja, in Zukunft kommt alles auch auf english. und wenn wir Zeit finden, dann holen wir das auch für ältere Artikel noch nach. Wünsche? Vorschläge?

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