£4000 FOR CHASSIS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5144, 27 June 1927, Page 2

£4000 FOR CHASSIS.

ONLY TWENTY-FIVE MADE.

THE SUPER MODEL CAR. Herewith details of the world’s most expensive and largest private car—the 300 h.p. straight eight Bugatti. After much talk, seci'»tiF» manufacture, and testing over the last ten years, Mr Ettore Bugatti has at last produced his super model. The bonnet is the longest ever seen.

The track is wider and the wheelbase longer than on any existing car (racing freaks excepted). The body on the car tested by an English expert was q roomy seven-passenger open type, taken from a high-class American car; tyres have been made specially, qnd are a size usually associated with lorries.

The distance iip to the radiator cap does not seem great jvhen sitting either in the front or on the rear seat, and the first idea is that the car will be a difficult one to handle on narrow roads or in traffic. The length of the bonnet will be appreciated when it is stated that the eight cylinders in line have a bore of 125 m.m., with a stroke of 150 m.m., and the block has a length of 4ft 7in, weighing 2cwt 151 b. The crankshaft weighs 2cwt-, and is carried, direct on the cylinder block, with the water-jacket brought down between the cylinders to the main bearings.

There are three valves per cylinder placed vertically in the head, two intakes, and one exhaust.

The total weight of the engine is just under 7cwt., designed to run at a maximum of 200 0.r.p.m., and developing 300 h.p.

One direct drive through spiralbevel gears, the car has a speed of 95 miles an hour, while the geared-up indirect gives 125 m.p.m at the same engine speed. The weight of the car, which has a wheelbase of 15ft 4in and a track if sft 3in, is 2% tons unloaded, of which 17cwt 501 b is on the front axle. Piston displacement is 14,726 c.c. A car of this class can obviously have but a small market, but the manufacturer states he is constructing 25 of them Five hundred thousand francs, or £4000; is the chassis price.