Bugatti T57 Van Vooren (Shah of Iran)
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This was one of our earliest jobs. It was commissioned by the French government and given as a wedding present to the Shah of Iran. When discovered in the mid USA in the late 60s or early 70s it had been fitted with an American v8 engine and been very badly butchered bodily.
The car was shipped to us in England where we entrusted the rebuild of the engine and chassis to the late Louis Giron, a great friend and Bugatti expert having worked at Molsheim in the late 20s and early 30s.
Whilst he meticulously attended to the engine we started work on the body. The main body section was quite good requiring only some timber replacement to the rear of the body and the front door pillars. The rear panel had to be re-made and welded into the tail but apart from that all the original body panels were repaired and saved.
The original wings were also largely saved but required new sides as these had been crudely cut off, together with the wheel spats and all the chrome, at some time in the past.