Austin Bugatti special

[John Gould]

Anyone else noticed the Austin 7 based Bugatti T37 on eBay?
Type in ‘replica Bugatti t37.’

[sparkeysprite]

Well it's interesting.. Some of it looks well made, other parts are bit strange - oddest of all is the "box" that's been constructed around the engine to try and hide the fact it's an Austin and make it look like a Bugatti!

[Michael D]

Indeed it looks like a lot of work has already gone into that...However I'd rather remove al that fake Bugatti parafernalia (including the engine 'shroud') and finish it as a Seven 'special' . By now the reserve is not met.... but I'm having a hard time figuring out what a realistic value would be at this stage. Keep us posted....

[Duncan Grimmond]

There seems to be quite a number of well made parts but I have to ask "Why?"

[Nick Salmon]

Direct link to the listing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224539417333

[Mike Costigan]

To which I would respond "Why not?" 

But seriously, why has he not finished it? Has he encountered problems that he can't resolve? After all that ingenuity and hard work, what's happened ...

[Malcolm Parker]

There is a very nice Austin 7 special based on a Bugatti Brescia, it used to take part in VSCC trials a few years ago.   Why anyone would want to create a T35 Bugatti Austin 7 is beyond me when the Ulster was effectively a T35 shaped body specifically designed for the Austin 7.
I think the cost of finishing the project to the standard achieved so far would be eye-watering.

[JonE]

perhaps fear over a Q plates...? There is another thread that mentions the side rails are used (see the video) but not much else?

[Martin Prior]

I suspect that Jon E is quite right. This has been talked about on the A7 Facebook group and it appears that the only remaining parts of the "un-modified pre-war chassis" are the side rails. There's a rather casual cast-off line suggesting that it should be simple to re-claim the original registration.

The quality of the work done looks superb. Someone has put a huge amount of time and money into this, with a lot more still needed, but I suspect has realised that it's going to be almost impossible to put it on the road.

[Ivor Hawkins]

It seems strange that the builder has put such a lot of hard work and planning into the build, yet doesn’t appear to have done his homework to ensure he can establish an identity for the car.

I’m sure Hedd will chip in on this one...