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Brussels Auto Museum 2010



Brussels Auto Museum 2010 Photos and Stories.

AllCarCentral's Photos Bugatti Display at the Brussels Autoworld Museum 2010, Brussels, Belgium

Photos and story provided by Patrick Wheeler Contact Photographer for Information.


GALLERY 2010 - Bugatti

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GALLERY 2013 - Porsche

GALLERY 2014 - Maserati



Brussels Auto Museum 2010


Of course the Parc is home to Brussels auto museum which in addition to its regular cars is hosting a rather special winter exhibit, the Bugatti 100 year centennial celebrating the history of this rather storied race and luxury brand.

So in wintertime in the middle of one of the colder/whiter winters on recent record it really is a good idea to spend time in heated indoor places


 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Although the snow has failed in its typical Belgian pattern of falling, staying like a houseguest a few days and then melting away, at least it has not gotten too deep around the triumphal arches of the Parc Cinquantenaire ...

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Over the last few weekends there has been an interesting phenomena in the parking lot, lots of old timer and just plain unusual cars mixing it up, here an oldtimer Saab is ready for the Neige & Glace Rally (ice&snow if you were wondering) through the french and swiss alps ... there was one of the earliest Audi Quattro 4wd sedan rally cars and some odd bits and special runs of certain oddments ...

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Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Of course the Parc is home to Brussels auto museum which in addition to its regular cars is hosting a rather special winter exhibit, the Bugatti 100 year centennial celebrating the history of this rather storied race and luxury brand

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Here we have our own Belgian King's car along with the kiddie car for his son, ok, I guess if there is a reason to be born a prince, to grow up with a bugatti pedal car seems a decent reason.

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Mind you when the king was not out tearing up the roads in that manly man's car, something with a cover might have been more appropriate, do not believe this is from the King's collection, but it would look comfortable in front of any palace I can think of, love the colours and especially that flat flat roof swooping to the back, and as a testament to the poor condition of the roads back then you carried not one, but _two_spare tyres if you were headed from Brussels to Nice ...

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Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Now these lines were not generated on any CAD/CAM system, Mssr E. Bugatti was a fellow who likes his curves!

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Yes indeed, and underneath these curves the use of high carbon steel in the chassis components and attention to detail and exposed metal parts really do make these works of art

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

A honey-comb grill with, what is this? A _paper_name badge? Well, it was a while back I guess, wonder which kid got up there and tried to peel it off with a fingernail, not me mr. museum security ossifer sir!

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

The shapes of the cockpits do make you want to hop the little rope and climb in and make vroom-vroom noises and shift the gears like a mad man (or a 6 year old boy which is about my maturity level at this point), an overload of gorgeous things have a long history of reducing a fella to snibbeling rubbish ...

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

OK, now Al Capone and Bonny and Clyde would have been so much better suited to a car like this, look and that aggressive profile and the interior cabin was build with exceedingly solid wood that seems thicker than the tyres ...

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Of course who can resist a roadster? Loved the nacelle for the headlamp, no concept of weight reduction and no wind tunnel computer modeling here ... and it shows ... strong Red, Black and Chrome accents ...

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Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

OK, who needs a roadster when the cabin looks like this, especially if you think of the snow outside and the idea of a nice big in-line eight cylinder engine thumping out some heat and horses up in front ... wait a minute, are those lawn chairs to sit on in there??? I guess it is big enuff

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Awww, how about a little cream and black jobby to hop out to the corner grocers for some milch and eggs? Or maybe to head over the Pyrenees to drop into Barcelona? Get my driving coat, goggles and gloves honey, there is a horizon calling my name ... hmm, they do make very very good replicas of these, one could actually

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Awww, but how about this for your garage and weekend racer-boy aspirations? Take this out on the track and thrash it around and see if you can shave a few seconds off your lap time at the Nurburgring, weee-haaawwwwww ! ! You can see where they keep wiping the engine grease and other race tar off the cowling, the wires acting as a lock for the tyre lug nuts is fresh, this baby drives and _hard_ !! Bent and a bit tatty, but as my friend in Australia might say, "she's a sport!"


Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

And here is one of the rarest and most elusive cars I am likely never again to see in the flesh, the famed T57sc Bugatti Atlantic ... built low and light with aircraft materials, with over 200 hp and capable of over 200 kph in its day this was the fastest and most crazily insane roadcar possible ... in 1938 the roads were not capable of supporting this kind of speed, the car has no seatbelts and donkey carts were as common as cars to buy one of these you had to be ...

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Yeah, what he said, interestingly enough they do not credit the owner ... there are about three of these still believed in existence ... just wow … the seam down the middle was because they were making it out of magnesium for lightness, and magnesium could not be welded because it was flammable ... uh, mr. designer guys? a supercar that would literally burst into flames and the metal itself would burn and could not be extinguished?? can we talk about this?

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

And of course it is not accident that the Atlantic, arguably the world's first 'supercar' (argued by Bugatti at least ;-) is parked right next to the newest offering from the Bugatti company, the Hermes Edition Veyron ... ok, mr ... uh,.. mr ... marketing ... manager ... sir man ... person ... ?? What is the message you are trying to give me by putting the stack of Hermes boxes next to the modern supercar that goes like skink (over 200 mph and the turbos aren't even warmed up) when, uh, there is, umm, sorta, like _NO_ trunk ! ! OK, maybe great engineering but someone tell this marketing fella how to sell a car that will hold the shopping? No heading out to the corner car for milch and eggs in this car ... I suppose we could stack them on top of the engine bay and tie the Hermes boxes down with a bungie cord ... and maybe the air intake from the car will provide enough suction to hold them down and free way speeds ...

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

But is hard to fault the attention to detail, right down to the Hermes 'H' on the wheel replacing the EB that is usually found ...

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Now mind you, downstairs is something worth seeing, the Royal, the biggest supercar of its day, not sure how much Hermes bags it could carry, but the shear size of this beast is hard to describe, is larger than a Ford truck, those tyres are truck sized behemoths and the little gold figure on the radiator is a rearing elephant ... and look at those lines, yummy!

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Like a gentle ocean wave, someone get me my surf-board, I'm taking the Royale out for a spin, too bad the Hawaiian royal family did not have one, that would be the ultimate surf machine! Of course the fact that it needs steps built into the side of the body to get to the rear seats is something ... but at least you could sore the milK and eggs and an Hermes box or two ...

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

Once of the things I love about the Brussels auto museum is they still use these cars, you can see oil stains underneath them and periodically for special events a few cars get fired up and drive down the roads, here we can see they drove it over here and the floor mats are slightly mussed and there is evidence of an oil drip down there, how perfect!

Lad
 Brussels Auto Museum 2010

But no fancy rides for your correspondent today, it is back to the winter snows of Brussels and a small BMW to the office ... here is hoping you are staying warm and dry and that the roads in 2010 are open, the speed traps few, and the curves ... well, lets just say 'swooping' shall we??






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