Solved - YP 08 : 1958 Bugatti 252

[yves]

Please identify this car for one point

[Maxmotor]

Bugatti 251

[yves]

Not a Bugatti 251.

[fyreline]

So close . . . I believe this is in fact the Bugatti 252.

[yves]

Yes !  One point for you.

[fyreline]

That's also a very nice "at speed" shot I had not seen before - very evocative of Bugattis in general.

[barrett]

Looks very different to how it looks today, unless more than one was built?

[yves]

No. Actually it's a recent picture of the only one built.

Here is the original color picture from a magazine :

[ftg3plus4]

Hmmm. I always thought Bugatti ended in 1956.

[barrett]

i think it's actually from 1954? Dord thid one look different to you? (different valance, different bonnet)

[yves]

The design of the Model 252 began in 1954, but the final prototype was completed in 1958.
Bugatti ended in 1963 when the company was taken over by Messier-Hispano-Suiza. The former Bugatti factory was reconverted to make aircraft landing gears.


Here is a rear view of the one and only original Buagtti 252. It looks it's not the same car. The other must be a replica. 

[barrett]

I seem to have attatched to wrong image, here is a front view of the other car. I wonder if anyone knows the story behind this?