Rayney's Special
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
Sir,
I was a close friend of the late Colin Rayney, and read with interest your story about his Bugatti Type 35A (Motor Sport, May 1989).
I was with Colin when he bought LXV 332 for £200 in Slough in 1950. The car had belonged to an RAF officer who had stored it in 1938. He had gone missing during the war, but his mother had left the car untouched and when we removed the grease we found it was beautifully preserved. The officer had owned the car since 1936. There was no mention of Malcolm Campbell as a previous owner, but the log-book may have been a duplicate.
To take advantage of the £10 road tax, Colin re-registered the Bugatti as a Rayney Special. He sold it in 1954, as you describe but with the original Type 35A engine (which we believed to be a two-litre). Presumably a later owner blew up this engine. If the present owner would like more detail, I should be very pleased to help.
John F Dudmesh, Cublington, Bedfordshire