I bumped into Sally at Chris McPheat’s stand at La Vie en Bleu. She needed a picture of a Bugatti Veyron to allay her young son’s disappointment at being unable to come to Prescott so I offered to help. Once in the paddock I could tell this lady had taste. Her eyes immediately fell upon Roland Duce’s Bugatti 57 with exotic bodywork designed by Gangloff in the early 1930s. Behind the Bugatti stood the unique 1923 Gérin Aerodyne whereupon the owner Reg Winstone graciously offered a seat for a photograph – but no, it HAD to be a Veyron.
Luckily Ian Patton ( Bugatti Owners’ Club’s General Manager) was at hand and he personally lifted the elegant blue rope which protected the cars from we mere mortals. Admiring her stylish jacket, he ushered Sally into the inner sanctum which housed not one but TWO Bugatti Veyrons. By now our Panhard Princess was beginning to acquire a taste for the Bugatti marque, and across the way was Tim Dutton generously offering a glass of champagne and the chance to linger over two more exquisite cars - ex Earl Howe 1937 Type 57S Atalante and the stylish Bugatti Type 51A / 38A A (I think) whose history escapes me. But I wasn’t going to rest until I got a picture of Sally sitting in a Bugatti, and sure enough Gilly Howard-Orchard came to my rescue and helped my subject into her Brescia which did the trick. Sally came alive and my camera did its work.
(Text and photos by Robin Batchelor)