field bike

Stuff in Barns

More: Bugatti Type 22 Brescia

You might remember a story from last summer about the recovery of a vintage Bugatti from a lake in Italy. The story was both fascinating and sad, and definitely one worth recounting.

The tale begins, or so we're told, in Paris in 1934 when a Swiss man acquired the car from legendary racecar driver Rene Dreyfus in a game of poker. The man headed home in his new car, but when he arrived at the Swiss border, he was required to pay customs on the car. Not having enough money, the man left the car at Lake Maggiore. By law, the Swiss officials were supposed to destroy the car, and they apparently did so by pushing it into the lake.

A little more than thirty years later, the Bugatti was discovered by a local diving club in the summer of 1967. The car became a local attraction for divers who would plunge more than 170 feet to see the remains at the bottom of the lake. It would seem that the Bugatti would forever remain there until a tragedy changed its fate. A young local man, Damiano Tamagni was brutally beaten and killed, and the diving club decided that they would try and retrieve the car and sell it to benefit the foundation created in his name to combat youth violence. It took more than thirty volunteers and nine months, but the Bugatti was finally lifted from the lake on July 12, 2009.



From there the Bugatti was put up for auction for the highest bidder. At Bonham's Retromobile sale in Paris earlier this year, the Type 22 Brescia brought a top bid of £228,000 – around $350,000 USD – much higher than the pre-auction estimate. The winning bidder? None other than the Mullin Museum in Oxnard, CA. The museum has decided to not restore the Bugatti and display it in its current condition.

We were overjoyed to see the Type 22 Brescia in person at the museum's grand opening last week, and were fascinated with the different parts of the car that survived three-quarters of a century submerged underwater. The right side of the body is completely gone, but other items like the tires and some of the gauges are perfectly intact.

$$$$

Money is always tight around the holidays, got to get the family something, (by the way my family is huge, 14 direct members to buy gifts for)... And with me paying double rent on two shops, utilities, gas, dog food, those little fun emergency expenses that pop up when you dont need em like ants in your kitchen... its hard to have any money left over for 'yours truly'. But i scrounged around today, found a few bucks i had stowed away for a rainy day and got myself my born free 3 ticket. Now i dont think i believe in karma the way that most people do, but i do believe that the intentions behind something kinda help you out or hold you back to a smaller extent. for example the guy who won the panhead last year just happened to buy one of the last few tickets the day of the show, ironic. I wouldn't say i have a good chance of winning, but i would say i have a better chance then last year. Hey im on my way up!

.

I need a trailer...

Monday

Now ive just got to fight through till friday...

Maybe even a lake find...

Bout time for another barn find...

Makin' Somthin' outta Nuthin'

My buddy Zack just finished up this bike for his buddy, not too shabby.

Jared is in need, keep an eye out...

Picked up this story on an unfortunate fellow in my area. His 69 Bonnie was stolen under his nose from his home in Sacramento last Saturday. It had been bought new at the dealer by his father and was on its way to being a third generation family legacy. It makes me sick to see this kind of thing happen to such a prized possession. I just wanted to let you all know so you can keep an eye out for it, if it comes up for sale somewhere. I don't care about rewards, I just want to see this pair reunited. If you have any leads or information that could be useful please let me know.


http://sacramento.craigslist.org/mcy/2089366910.html


This is a small and rather tight community, I'd love to see us be able to pull together and filter these thieves out of our midst. Keep the faith!

Jared
"Troop"

Throwbacks
Old bikes, old souls.
Greasy denim and pitted chrome.
http://throwbacksmc.blogspot.com/

Note to self...

When the short mexican girl who works in the records department asks where the office camera is, and you tell her in your glovebox... offer to go get it, and not just give her the key. The .45 in the glove box will freak her out.