Bucciali Part 3: The Greatest Automobile Inspiration Ever?

Almost as remarkable as the Bucciali itself is the strange fact that while William Tishman was building his passion in a shop in California, 5,550 miles away in Holland, almost at exactly the same time, an artist, not an industrialist, was also creating an automobile inspired by the Bucciali. His name was Bart de Vries.
“I was not aware of the Tishman Bucciali when I built my car,” says de Vries. He finished his in 1985, Tishman in 1983. Both were inspired by the Saouctchik convertible, and both were based on a GM frame. The two never met. Tishman stayed in California, de Vries in Holland. Even more remarkable, de Vries created his dream car, fabricating almost every item in his garage by himself. But read on…

Tishman had been inspired by an old photo of the Bucciali. In 1962, when he was about eight years old, de Vries found a card drawn by Piet Olyslager of the original Bucciali. “On the back of the card was the text ‘Bucciali type V16 four persons coupe traction avant.’ It was a very neo-realistic painting.”
The drawing was an inspiration in many respects. De Vries explains. “The Olsylager drawing, made for the ‘full speed’ album for Virginia cigarettes, I later used on my notepaper and envelopes in 1977 when I started my small advertisement business,called ‘Art direction,’ which I later renamed ‘Bart Reklame,’ the name that I still use today for my commercial activities. The name Bartvrijevormgeving stands for my private artistic activities.”’

De Vrie’s car is spectacular, with better proportions, more detail and it has a real soft top that the Tishman car lacks. It was almost totally constructed by hand, by de Vries himself – an incredible achievement. But he had practice; the big white Buc was the third attempt in trying to construct the car of his dreams.
His first creation was on a Citroen deux chevaux in 1974. “When I was 22 in 1976 I remembered the Bucciali card again and started to build a second car on a 280 cm wheelbase Toyota Crown chassis.” De Vries drove it to Athens and to Olympia, and visited the temple of Poseidon with his wife Diana. “In those days my business as an artist and designer was doing well, and it was always possible to make both the time and the money for my Bucciali related project”, said de Vries.
“After a couple of years, I met the painter of the card, Piet Olyslager. He told me that the real Bucciali had a wheel-base of 375 cm. He gave me some copies of articles about the Bucciali with some photos of several Bucciali’s, and I again became inspired to create the white Bucciali 2 door cabriolet in the exact sizes.”

One man, two hands, multiple talents

Make no mistake, Bart de Vries is an artist, and no starving artist he. Not an engineer, not particularly a car enthusiast, not a mechanic, but a truly gifted artist who can create elephants and paintings and sculptures and completely functional automobiles. In the early 1980s he began to create his ultimate Bucciali-inspired car, beginning with a self-designed GM chassis with a 375 cm wheelbase, some ten inches longer than the Tishman creation at only 350 cms.

He also shunned front wheel drive as being unnecessarily complex, but crafted the frame to make the under slung look that’s so typical for the Bucciali. The front suspension is GM based double wishbone with coil springs (he had to experiment with various springs as he changed the wheels and improved the car); the brakes are front discs, drums in the rear, and the rear end is GM as is the power steering.

He decided to use a straight six GM engine with a four speed gearbox. In 1992 he replaced the six with a 1950 Buick straight eight with hydraulic valve lifters and 172 horsepower, enough to get the car to 100 miles per hour. The total weight of my Bucciali-inspired special is only 2000 kg., 700 kg less than the original Fleche d’0re,” says de Vries, “because I have a special light but strong iron construction design as framework.”

Another difference is that while the Tishman effort used 20 inch tires, (as did de Vries at first). In 1997 de Vries had 24 inch diameter aluminum wheels hand cast using 4 ply Michelin tires which had just become available again in 24 inch rim sizes (due to the Bugatti Royale customers!), converted to a triple stud rubber design like the Dunlops on the Tishman has car. These wheels were designed by de Vries and resulted in a happy combination of Bucciali and de Vries art. The increased size also meant that the rear fenders and trunk had to be raised by 3 cm, and the springs and steering had to be modified. But despite the cost and time, the effort was worth it, for the magnificent new wheels stunningly crown the de Vries creation. De Vries says that due to shrinkage, he cast a wheel in iron first, then in number 225 aluminum, complete with 48 drop off ring bolts per wheel.

With the chassis almost completed, de Vries began making drawings and sketches of constructions for the new chassis and doors and window frames and grilles, dashboard, body bottom, spare wheels, hood design and house styling. “The recreation of the Bucciali TAV2-30 is also a hand-molded steel body, were all made by myself.”

Now think of this. All of these items require expert fabrication in iron, steel or aluminum, proper engineering and all must be made to fit and function perfectly and reliably. And all this done in less than five years. Passion, precision, perfection in pursuit of a very domineering vision.

With the car finished, it attracted a great deal of attention, primarily in the European press. And of course others wanted de Vries to make them a Bucciali Inspiration as well. About ten years ago, Belgian Glaudio Thiry asked de Vries to make another cabriolet, but this time on the front wheel drive Cord chassis. Instead, de Vries found others in France who make Thiry’s dream come true and he showed his creation on the Cord 29 chassis (wheelbase 355 cm)at the last Retromobile.

The measurements, in particular the wheelbase, are critical to the getting the proportions and therefore the stunning, low slung and sleek looks correct. “The wheelbase on my car is 375 cm vs 350 for the Tishman and Thiry cars, and that’s the same as the Bucciali Saoutchik cabriolet that was presented in the Paris Grand Palais in 1930.”

The total height is 145 cm, the total length of 560 cm and that’s 10 cm lower than the Tishman and Thiry automobiles. “That’s why my Bucciali-inspired special is also comfortable to drive.” The decision to go with a conventional rear drive also meant fewer chassis problems and overall, easier to drive.

While you or I may call these creations replicars, the builders are very specific. Says de Vries, “My creation is not a recreation or a replica, but it’s an automobile inspired by the body Saoutchik of Paris made for the brothers Bucciali in the beginning of the thirties.” Bucciali Inspiration seems like the handiest description. Like Tishman, the de Vries car was created not for resale, but for personal use. Incredibly, de Vries still owns his car and drives it regularly, putting on over 120,000 km in trips through Europe.

Next: What does one do with one of the most beautiful fascinating, outrageous, and eye-catching cars ever built?