There have been many articles about the day John Shakespeare loaded up 30 Bugattis to have them shipped to the Fritz Schlumpf in 1964. But none like our exclusive story below, told by David Gulick, the photographer who took the amazing photos of that memorable day. VeloceToday will present a series of those photographs in several parts. We also asked artist Paul Chenard to create a poster commemorating the sale. We’ll offer a free poster to anyone who subscribes to VeloceToday. For those who don’t want to subscribe for $5 a month, we will offer PDFs of this story for $10 via our Donate Button.
Bye-bye Bugattis. One of thirty Bugattis is put on railroad cars. “The railroad workers were very ingenious and methodical in the loading process. Almost as if they loaded Bugattis every week.” – David Gulick. Photo used with permission of David Gulick. Copyright David Gulick
By Pete Vack and David Gulick
David Gulick was not particularly easy to find, but it was imperative that we contacted him or his family. I had wondered who Gulick was since I first saw his photos of the Shakespeare Bugatti sale in the December 1964 issue of Sports Car Graphic. In fact that 52 year-old original issue had somehow avoided the trash dump that doomed so many old magazines over the years was sitting next to me. But could the photographer who took those photos be found?
Photographer David Gulick was on hand to capture the sight of the Bugattis in storage. “The mind-boggling scene that slowly appeared as the garage doors slid open, allowing the light to spill in.” – David Gulick. Photo used with permission of David Gulick. Copyright David Gulick
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The search for David Gulick
There wasn’t much to go on in the short article, and I doubted anyone from the magazine would still be around. Google turned up no obit but mentioned that Gulick had worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a paper still very much in business. Contacting the paper was a three week process; ‘Yes, we can help and here it is the extension for our photo editor”, but no answer and no return call and no email. Finally we got a live wire who conducted a two week search for the Gulick files which eventually could not be found. At least they knew who he was.
Search and ye shall find…an Alfa owner. David Gulick with his Alfa at the Flaming Fall Rally in 1959. Left to Right: “Mac Giblin my navigator, me, (our 1st place trophies on the car) and Mr. and Mrs. Don Doll with their Speedster. I believe that their trophies were for 2nd place.” – David Gulick. Photo used with permission of David Gulick. Copyright David Gulick
I tried another ploy. Finding that one of Gulick’s famed photos had been published in the excellent Hemi in the Barn by Tom Cotter, I emailed Cotter and asked if he could help. Tom said Don Sherman was writing an article on the Shakespeare sale as well and might be able to come up with the copyright holder. Don Sherman, as many of our readers may know, is a long time journalist who wrote for Car and Driver in its heyday and was still contributing to the magazine. It was a pleasure talking to Sherman, who was most helpful.
And Sherman knew where David Gulick was. The files were not with the newspaper because Gulick, now 85, was alive and well and kept his own files, thank you. This led to an email correspondence with Gulick. I found out that he was not only on the scene of the Bugatti transfer, but was a member of the Southern Illinois Region of the SCCA and an Alfa owner as well. Gulick wrote, “I actually owned two Alfas, an MGTF 1500, two MGAs, an AH Sprite that was only for racing and a John Fitch modified Corvair. The Alfa in the photo was my second one, because I tore up the other at the Great Florida Orange Blossom Rally in 1959.”
Such are the happier moments of doing research.
I asked Gulick to recall as much as he could about the Bugatti rail loading, which took place on March 30, 1964. “You must understand that this was not a big event in March 1964. No other photographers were present and it didn’t make a ripple in the auto world until sometime quite later when all the Schlumpf antics became known. These dust-covered old cars were a fascination for the locals that day and nothing more. At the time, my friend David Biggs was a member of the St.Louis sports car club actually racing a Type 37 (Chassis 37141) in nearby events. Now, everyone wishes they could buy one Bugatti for the price that the whole collection was sold for.”
The total sale price was not released back then, but it averaged out to be about $2000 per car. And this included a Bugatti Royale!
Gulick also took this photo for cover of the SCCA Sports Car magazine. The mechanic attending to the Biggs’ T37 Bugatti is Ben Chesney and behind him is David Biggs. “Both were great friends of mine and of the caliber that they just don’t make any longer”, said Gulick. But that Bugatti shoot would be eclipsed by the Shakespeare transfer. Biggs is also remembered as the unfortunate owner of a barn full of cars near St. Louis that was burned to the ground with remains that have been disputed for years.
Being there
“The feeling of nonchalance that Shakespeare exhibited is evident here. He is on the left in the Jeep.” – David Gulick. Photo used with permission of David Gulick. Copyright David Gulick
The story of the sale of 30 Bugattis to the brothers Schlumpf has been told on many occasions, but only Gulick was there with a camera. Recalls Gulick, “John Shakespeare was a member of our Southern Illinois Region sports car club and somehow I heard about the car sale thru the grapevine …I don’t remember exactly. I thought it sounded interesting and took a day-off from work (weather good), called my girlfriend & together we headed over toward Centralia, Illinois.”
“The cars had varying amounts of clearance, so loading each Bugatti was a very slow and careful process.” – David Gulick. Photo used with permission of David Gulick. Copyright David Gulick.
Gulick continued with his story. “Shakespeare’s collection was actually nearby in the small town of Hoffman. I arrived to witness an amazing sight, so I began shooting like crazy. (At that time, I was working with Leica cameras for the B &W, and a Rolleiflex for the color, with the standard emulsions of the day = Kodak Tri X & Ektachrome.) In those days, there were railroad spurs in small towns and the storage buildings holding the Bugattis were not far from the tracks and the three rail cars.
“After the day was over, I realized that it was a rather newsworthy event and I decided to show the pictures, with an explanation, to my editor …. that’s how they ended up in the St. Louis paper. As far as offering the story to Sports Car Graphic – why not, I thought? That’s what a photographer does when he becomes aware that he possesses something of interest to all the auto enthusiasts out there.”
I had been under the impression that given the sale, Shakespeare might have been a bit unhappy. The story in Sports Car Graphic, at least bylined by Gulick, ends with and anecdote that had Shakespeare asking Schlumpf if he could keep just one of the Bugattis for his collection but the answer was “No- all or nothing”. This may have been an editor’s attempt to create more human interest. But Gulick remembers it otherwise.
John Shakespeare gets one of the Bugattis ready to take to the railroad spur. “Half of the cars were stored in a garage with dirt floors, as shown here.” – David Gulick. Photo used with permission of David Gulick. Copyright David Gulick
“I know nothing about the story that he was not able to keep one of the Bugattis for himself. John was hopping around preparing the cars and helping the railroad workers remove them from the mostly dark and dusty buildings. He did not seem the least bit sad and it almost seemed that he was happy to see them go, so that he could move on to his next project. He had a variety of interests and also the money to pursue them.”
“When the Bugattis began to fill the second level of the railroad cars, it became almost a surreal scene in the open countryside.” – David Gulick. Photo used with permission of David Gulick. Copyright David Gulick
Bugatti doyen Hugh Conway’s experiences also seems to have supported the theory that Shakespeare was glad to see them go. The negotiations were endless and difficult. Conway was asked by Schumpf to help negotiate the sale of the 30 Bugattis. “I hope that neither of the Mr. Ss think I made anything out of this business – it seemed to me the friendly thing to put a buyer and seller in touch. At one point I wished I hadn’t and started thinking of seeking legal advice myself!”
Part 2 Going going gone…
A relatively insignificant correction…David Biggs GP Bugatti was a T37, not a T35. Chassis 37141, it is now supercharged and back in the US after a relatively long stint in Japan.
Virtually all of these photos appeared in “Bugantics” shortly following the purchase of the Shakespear colledction. I may be incorrect but some also featured in an article in “Road & Track”, around the same date.
Obviously there had to be many other photos of the movement of these cars.
There is a great deal more to the John Shakespeare story than is generally known. After Shakespeare’s murder in 1975, still unsolved, there were several theories as to the motive. It seems that robbery was not likely as there were bags of gold found nearby. Some have suggested this gold was from the Schlumpfs in payment for the Bugattis. JWS was said to have been “keen on young men”, but this too was dismissed as a motive. I suppose that we’ll know someday, but it’s still a mystery. It seems the Bugattis found a more sympathetic home with the Schlumpfs.
Harry C. Reynolds
Thanks Grahame! Yes, we are aware of all the previous uses and abuses. However, VeloceToday used the scans directly from the original prints with full cooperation of the photographer who is also the copyright holder. We also paid for the use of the Gulick photos. Gulick was the only photographer on hand for the actual train loading. In addition, Gulick was interviewed and gave us an exclusive first hand report of the day. Part 2 with more coming up.
Editor
I too had occasion to search for Dave Gulick in 2011. While researching the history of the many Alfa Romeo GTAs that raced in the Trans Am series in 1966 in aid of the book “Alleggerita”, I came across a Gulick photo published in 1966 in the SCCA “Sports Car” showing a GTA racing at the Mid America Trans Am event. That GTA was still wearing its Italian license plate and that plate could be related to an Auto Club Italia document that would give the GTA’s serial number; if I could be sure of the plate number. I hoped to find a clearer picture of that license plate and perhaps more photos from that event.
An internet search for Dave Gulick lead to similar unresponsive possibilities but reminded me that I too had seen Gulick’s work years before in one of the USA sports car magazines, the Bugatti story. Finally I recalled knowing an Alfisti in St. Louis who knew someone from the newspaper who knew of Dave and located a contact for him.
Once contacted, the then 81 year old Dave, graciously searched his files for those 1966 Mid America Trans Am photos, but to no avail. He assumed that they were amongst those lost to water damage years before.
Dave’s published picture of the GTA in Sports Car was sufficiently crisp that one could to be quite sure of the license number and that consequently lead to the reveal of it’s serial number, adding to the history of that GTA.
Ken Geiger
Hello mr. Vack,
I hope you can help me with the following issue.
Currently my father and I are busy writing a book about the Schlumpf
collection and the true story behind it.
An important part of this story is the purchase of the 30 Shakespeare
Bugatti’s
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/automobiles/collectibles/23BUGATTI.html
) in 1962.
We would love to have some pictures (Made in 1962 by David Gullick) in our
new book, but we would like to have approval for that.
Your help will be highly appreciated.
Thanks and best regards from Holland,
Arnoud op de Weegh
http://www.extraordinarycarcollections.co