Bugatti--'Le Pur-Sang des Automobiles'

It must be very good news for those who have not previously heard of it, or have been unable to obtain a copy, that Bugatti — ‘Le Pur-Sang des Automobiles’ by Hugh Conway CBE, has gone into a fourth edition, and is currently available from Haynes of Yeovil for £24.95. This may seem an excessive price, but not after one has seen the remarkably complete Bugatti coverage and the innumerable, quite irresistible, pictures.

The new edition, running to 408 pages measuring 101/4 8, has been suitably updated, with some racing and other information available elsewhere omitted. There are chapters not only about all the different types of Bugattis from T13 to T73A, and the earlier Ettore designs, but on every aspect of Bugatti one can think of the family, the factory, products such as steam-engines, rail-cars, boats and coachwork, and much microscopic data such as numbers of cars built, top speeds, photographs of data-plates, and so on.

There is also intriguing correspondence from old motor papers and facts about the five main Bugatti clubs, the British concessionaire Colonel Sorel, the Molsheim spares and Schlumpf. This book, which would be one of those I would certainly want if I were isolated on some desert island, deservedly ran to three previous editions, the first appearing in 1963. Here is a fresh chance for some inimitable enjoyment and learning! WB