Breathtaking and fitting. Photo by Bernard Canonne.
Review by Pete Vack
Baby Bugatti, the Art of the Automobile for Children, by Jean-Pascal Viault, is a 456 (the same number as Baby Bugattis listed in company records) page blockbuster, the Baby Bugatti Bible, an effort almost beyond comprehension. The author has attempted to track down as many of the Baby Bugattis as possible, accumulating photos, stories, diagrams and histories from owners and families around the world.
Léo working on Baby Bugatti #52. Photo by Bernard Canonne.
But as much as we’d like to imagine this to be a Baby Bugatti Register, Viault states upfront that this is “…not an exhaustive inventory, nor a numbered register of all existing Baby Bugattis worldwide.” Instead, it is a 10,000 kilometer journey through Europe and beyond to meet people who share a common passion, and an exchange of emails, stories and photos from Brazil, American, Japan and South Africa that resulted in an extremely interesting history of almost 160 of the Baby Bugattis constructed.
Jean-Pascal Viault. Photo by Bernard Canonne.
Jean-Pascal Viault is an artistic directory and stage director, and according to his website, https://jeanpascalviault.com/ “…has created and directed an unusual form of traveling theater in rural areas, writing and directing numerous shows for children and young people.” These productions have been widely presented throughout the world. He is a well-known collector of children’s cars and regularly drives Amilcars and owns a Bugatti Type 37, and is the “children’s car” consultant to the Bugatti Club of France.
Baby Bugatti #207 in a very nice setting indeed. Photo by Bernard Canonne.
Add to that, he owns two Baby Bugattis (#398 and #445) his son Alexandre is currently the Design Manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, and provided artistic direction for his father’s book. Jean-Pascal’s three grandchildren grace the lead photo to this article (and it does not appear in the book itself), with #398, #445 and a Croswaithe replica from left to right. Writes Viault, “In the photo (by Bernard Cononne) are my three grandchildren Achille, Emmie and Edmée. It shows the incredible power of attraction that the Baby Bugatti can have on very young children… of course, they are allowed to sit in the Croswaithe & Gardiner replica so they can be like “grand Père ” in his Type 37.”
The cockpit of one of the Agnelli’s family BABY BUGATTI – #165 from the collection Louwman Museum ( NL). Photo by Bernard Canonne.
There is much more in this opulent, superb, artistic and technical serial number treatise. Before beginning the owner histories and photographs (most by brilliant photographer Bernard Canonne) Viault gives us a history of not only the Baby Bugatti, but puts the children’s electric car in context. Miniature copies of full size cars for children were made almost as soon as cars were made. First the push car variety, then pedal cars, and by the mid 1920s, electric cars such as the Citroënette C6, Tri-ang’s Rolls-Royce, and the Grand Prix by Pierre Guy were and very popular and priced at a fraction of the Baby Bugatti, which was sold at about 5000 francs new..
Viault gives a very good and fairly comprehensive technical description of each of the features incorporated into the Baby Bugs, and clarifies the several different wheelbase lengths. He speculates that Hugh Conway may have named the misleading and unofficial Type 52 based on the wheelbase in inches of the first series Baby Bugattis. We don’t want to forget that Ettore Bugatti’s granddaughter also contributed a short chapter of reminisces and thoughts.
Bugatti factory drawing next to #445. Photo by Bernard Canonne.
He includes a revealing chart which lists where and how many of the Baby Bugattis were sent to distributors and individuals. Almost all were sold to dealer and distributors in South America, Italy and France; very few moved from the factory to an individual.
There is no index but that is a two-sided sword. For example, many readers may recall the Baby Bugatti at the Simeone Foundation, and might wonder if it appears in the book. But unless one already knows the serial number, the search must entail reading through the text until it is found. The upside is that reading the stories of all the other Baby Bugattis along the way is a wonderful adventure. The Simeone car is #219A, and owned by Lex DuPont prior to 2005.
Even more interesting is Baby Bugatti #210A, which has been in the same French family since it was first purchased. It won the first Baby Bugatti Grand Prix at Pau in 1928, and the family has provided a number of historical photos to that effect.
Pau 1928. The first official race for Baby Bugattis, won by Jean-Hubert Delanoue, raising his arm in victory. The Baby…and the cup presented by Ettore Bugatti, remain with the same family.
Our favorite part of the book lies at the very end. Viault has gathered dozens of historical photos…most from the 1930s…of Baby Bugattis being piloted by children. You’ve seen some of them before of course, but one never tires of seeing kids happily driving and racing their miniature Bugattis in the era between the World Wars. They seem to encapsulate what it is all about; the magic, the art, the excitement, the realism and above all Bugatti itself, for unlike any other child’s car, these were Bugattis first and toys second!
#445 is currently owned by the book’s author.
Exclusive: reserved for all book owners, a QR code link can be found on page 46, allowing access to an online update tracking newly discovered Baby Bugattis, along with new stories and additional data published after the book’s release.
Order information below
Baby Bugatti
English edition
https://www.editionsodyssee.com/babybugattieng
http://www.jeanpascalviault.com
Bureau (Paris)
258 Rue Marcadet, 75018 Paris
contact@editionsodyssee.com
+33 1 44 85 37 77
Imprimerie (Graulhet)
43 route de Lavaur, 81304 Graulhet
ISBN : 978-2-494767-50-8
Photographs : Bernard Canonne and other sources.
Author : Jean-Pascal Viault
Editorial director : Gilles Cargueray, Camille Gallet
Artistic direction : Alexandre Viault
With written contributions from Caroline Bugatti (granddaughter of Ettore Bugatti), Marc Newson (Designer), Pierre-Yves Laugier and Goy Feltes (Historians), Mark Morris (Expert), and Pierre-Henri Raphanel (Official Bugatti Driver).
Proofreading: Catherine Guichardon
English Translation : Maren Baudet-Lacker
Original edition : 160€
Limited édition : 1000€
Box set created by the Vianney Deschatrette workshop
Limited to 30 numbered copies
Contemporary handcrafted creation in the spirit of the Baby Bugatti
Made from the same materials as the car (aluminum and leather)
Entirely handmade in the Vianney Auto workshop
Including a Baby Bugatti book in French or English
Following the limited run of 30 cases in the first series, we will continue numbering this painted case from number 31 to number 40, with the numbers hand-painted across the entire back.
Only 10 copies will be available at a price of €3,000 each (including VAT) (book in French or English, your choice).
However, The limited edition of the 30 aluminum box design at 1000 euros is SOLD OUT!
The limited edition with the 10 painted aluminum box at 3000 euros: ONLY one is now available.
Could a musty old barn still be hiding one ? I had a small metal grand prix car similar in looks to a Silver Arrow Mercedes. I cherished it but it slipped away while i relocated from my family home. Only memories now. Can you just imagine the look on a child’s face seeing one if these on Christmas morning ?
Dear John Shea,
“Christmas tales do exist…
and here’s the proof!
One day at the end of November, grey and rainy, while France was soaking under a colorless sky, my phone rang: it was my son, far away, on the other side of the Atlantic.
— Did you see? Someone wrote to you on Facebook a week ago. He sent you some old photo…
I search, I open, and I discover five black-and-white images, memories from the 1930s and 1950s: children at the wheel of a Baby Bugatti, their smiles as wide as a promise.
Nothing very surprising for me, the freshly finished author of a book devoted to authentic Baby Bugattis around the world. For years, I have hunted for images, stories, precious anecdotes and traces of these magical toys born in the Bugatti workshops.
I examine the photos and immediately write to the stranger who sent them to me: his name is Christian.
I thank him, sincerely and enthusiastically, then share my sadness that I cannot include his photos in the book — it is already at the printer’s. They would have been perfect to further illustrate the joy of children driving this little racing car.
I get in touch with him and ask:
— Do you know anything about this Baby?
The reply comes, gentle and unbelievable:
— Yes. It was my father’s. He won it at Christmas 1929 in a lottery at “Wery”, a large toy store in Strasbourg.
— And do you know what became of it?
— Yes, of course, sir. I still have it. It has been sleeping in my basement for eleven years, since we sold the big family home.
I can’t believe my ears. I ask for photos, number, condition. He sends everything immediately. In the images: the wheels, the bodywork, proudly bearing the same number, 398.
Christian explains that his brother had tried to restore it, but the tires — impossible to find — had stopped the project. Time passed. His brother passed away. The Baby returned to him.
Among the photos is the father — Robert — in front of the big house in the 1930s. Then Christian and his brother Jacky in the 1960s, each at the wheel of the little marvel, repainted green in 1960. “The only available color — my godfather was a painter at the sewing-machine factory in Schiltigheim (FR).”
— I drove miles with it, he says. We crossed Strasbourg to visit our cousins…
We had to recharge the battery to get back!
Then came the question that took my breath away:
— And today, Christian… what do you want to do with this Baby?
— Nothing. I will probably part with it. If you’re interested… I would sell it to you.
Thus, always cherished by the same family since its arrival 96 years ago, delivered on October 1929 to the major Strasbourg store, the Baby Bugatti suddenly came back to life before my eyes, as if emerging from a forgotten treasure box.
And even though the book was finished, two photos of number 398 quickly found their place at the heart of the work, as a reminder that a survivor always deserves to be seen, honored, told, and respected.
The car has joined my collection, and my son from America is arriving for Christmas with my granddaughter. Together we will spend hours examining it, cleaning it, bringing it back to life — but one thing is certain: it will keep that “sewing-machine green” that marks its history, its memories, its traces of life…
Now its memory is preserved… elsewhere!
Yes.
Dreams do exist.
I’ve met one.”
Jean Pascal VIAULT ( for bugattipage.com – december 2025)