1925 Bugatti Type 13 Brescia rescued from watery grave
The Bugatti Type 13 – Ettore Bugatti's first automobile to speak of – was a revolutionary design for its time and went on to claim innumerable race victories and put the fledgling company on the map until the outbreak of the First World War put everything on hold in Europe. When the war was over, Europe began the task of rebuilding itself and racing resumed.
Bugatti was back in business, and so was the Type 13. In 1921, Bugatti redesigned the engine with one of the first four-valve heads in the industry and fielded a team at the Brescia Grand Prix, where it swept the competition by claiming first, second, third and fourth places. A public looking for something to celebrate was enamored, so Bugatti gave the Type 13 the Brescia nameplate and began selling customer versions.
Four years later, a Swiss dealer placed an order for three Bugatti Brescias, and while the first two were paid up in full, the third customer somehow failed to pay the applicable duties to import the car and it was subsequently abandoned in Lake Maggiore in northern Italy along the Swiss border. There it sank deeper and deeper for decades before being discovered by divers in the 1960's.
Since then, the Brescia remained a sunken treasure until this past Sunday when a diving crew raised the long-lost Bugatti out of the lake. The car had been sitting on the lake bed for so long that once brought back onto dry land, one of the tires burst with a startling bang. The car will now undergo a full restoration and will be auctioned off to benefit the Damiano Tamagni Foundation, which works to prevent youth violence. Thanks for the tip, Andrés!
[Source: Bazonline.ch | Photo: BugattiPage.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shipey 8:14AM (7/14/2009)
Interesting story.
I'm usually all for tackling the hard project, but water does terrible, terrible things to automobiles. This will probably be more like "lets re-create every part of this car using this sunken mess as a guide, then salvage the engine block and framerails and call it restored!"
I wish whomever is attempting it much luck. Take lots of build pics!
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Redline 12:06PM (7/14/2009)
Looks like that will buff right out.
PumaGTO 12:28PM (7/14/2009)
I´m sorry, but restoring a car that is around 80 years submerged is about as simple as sending a man to mars... using only a toolbox, fireworks, a crane and a Chevy... a 1980´s Chevy.
Randy 11:01PM (7/14/2009)
I doubt it will be restored! I believe it will be re-fabricated piece by piece. Maybe, MAYBE 10% of what's there could COULD be salvaged!
IMO that means it will be a clone and have little or no value once completed! Maybe a little more than a kit car.
John P. 8:16AM (7/14/2009)
"a full restoration"
a nice detailing, maybe replace that tire and it'll be good as new!
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Bird 8:23AM (7/14/2009)
Yeah, it seems like it'd be easier to build another one from scratch.
Roadkill 8:39AM (7/14/2009)
They tossed it in a lake because of unpaid customs duties ?
Nice going ...
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Neil Schelly 8:46AM (7/14/2009)
At least it sounds like it was a freshwater lake, rather than an ocean. The first is a hard job, while the second would have just been gone by now.
-N
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mfews6 8:52AM (7/14/2009)
Sounds like an automotive version of the P-38 "Glacier Girl" project.
http://p38assn.org/glacier-girl.htm
It will still be a very interesting project and a very unique automobile when finished.
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Tony 10:42AM (7/14/2009)
I was thinking the same thing!
rockyroad 10:03PM (7/14/2009)
Something like 20 - 25% of "Glacier Girl" had to be fully replaced or recreated. From the picture I'd put the percentage for the Bugatti a little higher than that but I'm not a restoration guy.
Does the % replaced really matter? Probably not much except to Bugatti collectors. Some part of history is preserved. Good enough. Heck, maybe next week they will find a barn full of NOS Bugatti parts and make the restoration easy.
farmer0904 8:55AM (7/14/2009)
Maybe banks can learn a thing or two from this, if the car buyer can't pay the note, just toss the car into the nearest lake , that will teach them dead beat car buyers lol a thing or two.. of cause then 60 years from now in 2069 some divers will find all these dead beats cars and they can auction them off for a good charity and the banks can then write them off at that days current value, see a win win ;) .. we can call it "Late note lake action" lol I am sure this curse of action is what the GOP would love to really do as well had they still been in charge, lol
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Tony 10:40AM (7/14/2009)
Right. Since the GOP is not in charge there will now be a Underwater Car Czar appointed and millions of taxpayer money alloted to find cars in lakes and remove them lest they contribute to loss of habitat for the endangered gooba gooba fish.
Joan of Arc 9:32AM (7/14/2009)
Wow, I feel sorry for the people restoring this thing... it's going to be the biggest pain in the butt ever... I bet the feeling they get when it's complete is unbeatable though. Talk about accomplishment!
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CH 9:57AM (7/14/2009)
Apparently the car was dropped into the lake and from then on began sunking into mud which, according to a swiss newspaper, did help conserve the car in a better state than it would have been just sitting in the water. Imagine if even the tires were whole and full of air and they are made of rubber, not exactly a durable material.
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tomguptill 10:47AM (7/14/2009)
I used to go swimming in that lake. How many of you can say you've been swimming with a Bugatti?
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Avinash machado 10:57AM (7/14/2009)
Maybe Jay Leno should bid on it after it is restored and put up for sale. Would make a nice addition to his amazing collection.
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farmer0904 11:13AM (7/14/2009)
tony lol a car scar huh for pulling out cars from lakes ? yeap i guess the Democrats would have to spend more tax payers money to undo the wrong doings of the banks, lol assuming any thing like this would happen, but i would not put that sort of thing past any of these crooked banks if the GOP was in charge
that has back most of the GOP. your right we would have to have a car scar to undo the banks mistakes. lol of cause this is all what ifs but then again when you look at the banks records for the dumb things they have done while under the GOP watch then i guess it really could happen !
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Dan 11:35AM (7/14/2009)
I just CarFaxed the VIN. Yup... it has a salvage title :)
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sparecr 1:21PM (7/14/2009)
Okay I have been restoring cars for over 15 years professionally. I took a break in that time period and worked with the conservation company that did the conservation work on the Titanic. (I now do auto restoration work for a museum.) I might be a good fit for this job, but then again I don't envey them one bit. It is however amazing how much an artifact is preserved underwater.
I hope to see it when it is done.
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