Automobile Memorabilia Dept: The Aerolithe was the prototype of one of the rarest and most beautiful sports cars ever made by the fabled French car maker, Bugatti. Introduced in the middle of the Great Depression, its curvy sexy lines and low stance captivated the enthusiasts who strolled through the 1935 Paris Auto Show. It was named after a meteor – aptly, as it turned out, because after a brief test drive in the United Kingdom, it disappeared, according to Globe And Mail. Mr. Grainger, a blunt and often scrappy man who sits in an office stuffed with automobile memorabilia, agrees: The Aerolithe is “a stunning piece of art,” he says. When his Aerolithe makes its debut at the auto shows, probably next summer, it will be the first to accurately reproduce one of the most beautiful cars ever made. “It’s pretty devout,” he said and now, after working his way from restoring muscle cars to the original horseless carriages, Mr. Grainger is on the verge of accomplishing a decade-old mission – to reproduce one of the greatest and most elusive icons of automobile history. Richard Day, the curator of the Bugatti Trust, based in Gloucestershire, England, calls the car an artistic achievement, the 20th-century answer to a Gothic cathedral or a Greek temple: It’s “an important part of western civilization wrapped up in engineering design.” Since then, no one has convincingly reproduced the Aerolithe, although some have tried. The stakes are high: An accurate reproduction of the Aerolithe could be worth millions of dollars and could earn the restorer a moment in the spotlight at the most exclusive of auto shows, the Concours d’Elegance, in Pebble Beach, Calif. “It’s a very, very significant piece of Bugatti history,” says Mr. Day. As
reported in the news.
Related Webpage
@t globe and mail, restoring muscle cars
2.7.10
