Bugatti Type 57 Aerolythe (1935)

Bugatti Type 57 Aerolythe Prototype (1935). Made in France.

The Bugatti Type 57 Aerolythe was built and shown in the 1935 Earl's Court Motor Show in the UK. After going on display in only one auto show and having undergone just one test drive, the car mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again. It is believed that the car was disassembled with the material and parts used WWII.

The Guild of Automotive Restorers out of Bradford Ontario Canada were commissioned to recreate the car. The effort was based off of black and white photographs and some rough blueprints. An original Type 57 chassis with running gear and motor was located. The controversy amongst the team during the build was whether the original motor was supercharged or naturally aspirated. After extensive research, they concluded that the motor must have been naturally aspirated. The team used the same type of material (known as Elekton) which was used on the original car to build the bodywork. Elekton is an alloy which is made up of 93% magnesium and 7% aluminum. Elekton is very light and allowed the car to weight about 2100 lbs. Unfortunately, Elekton is also brittle and very flammable which made it very difficult to shape the body panels and then weld those panels together. Just like on the original, rivets used to join the major sections of bodywork together. A spine like centre rib divides the two halves of the bodywork. The was paint chosen using by looking carefully at the black and white photographs of the original car and knowledge of the colours of paint that Bugatti was using a the time. Even the tires had to be custom made as they were no longer available.
The five year build was completed in 2013.

The car has a 3.3L, 16 valve, in-line 8 cylinder motor capable of 135HP with a top speed of 115 MPH.