September 1947 article in the French magazine "Images"
The issue from 2 September 1947 in the magazine "Images" showed not just the text on what Ettore Bugatti, who had died on August 21 that year, had achieved in his lifetime, but also various photographs. As would be logical for a magazine with the name "Images du monde".
Top image description:
The guard of honor of Bugatti racers salutes one last time the mortal remains of the man who was the most prestigious manufacturer "Patron" in the history of the automobile.
From right to left: Divo, Goux and Trintignant. Behind on the right, Sommer. Together responsible for many
great results at the Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France.
Further down the text from the article, translated to English. Also on this page the same text in French. There are various errors, in descriptions and especially in the years mentioned. But then, in those days there was no Internet to quickly check some facts on Wikipedia....
On the right the cover of the, rather big (27 x 36 cm), magazine the Swedish / American actress Viveca Lindfors, who had only just the year before made the move to the USA, to start a very successful career in the movies and theatres!
Above: overview of the (almost) two-page article.
Below: The original text. Note that in the image the year 1927 is wrong.
Caption of the image: Trio of champions in Montlhéry: VEYRON, SOMMER and Robert BENOIST who was to die hanged, after deportation to Buchenwald.
Above: Part of the "Family Album". Again, the years are wrong, should be 1901, 1902 and 1937. "la Lorraine" should be "De Dietrich".
Below: The Mont Ventoux hill climb was 1912. I'm not sure if it is really Jean in the Niniette. That photo was mirrorred by the way.
1,077 PATENTS, 2,200 VICTORIES ETTORE BUGATTI DIED IN HIS BED!
From a family of artists, Bugatti was traditionally destined for sculpture. But at the age of fifteen, seized by the demon of mechanics, he began making tricycles with two engines. At 17, he built his first car, with a four-cylinder engine. At the age of 20, Baron Dietrich bought him a manufacturing license; Bugatti, a minor, had to ask his father to sign the contract and came to Alsace. At the age of 27, he set up shop in Molsheim on his own, created racing cars that he drove himself and this was the beginning of his triumphs. For almost forty years, the greatest runners in Europe -- often
trained by Bugatti himself -- go from victory to victory. They are called Friedrich, former personal mechanic of Bugatti, Sommer, Robert Benoist, Chiron, Etancelin, Wimille, Divo, Trintignant, Goux, Nuvolari, Varzi, Lord Howe, Helle-Nice or Mme Itier. The name of Ettore Bugatti fills the world racing list with his two thousand two hundred victories!
He himself has become a Parisian character: his eternal gray melon is as popular as the Aga Khan's top hat. His distraction is proverbial: always in search of some invention -- there are 1,077 Bugatti patents he often forgets to shift gears... and stays in third while the engine hums like a Pekingese with a cold; he abandons his car on the road and calls his son "to come and fix this pan...".
Very greedy, he leaves the confectioner's drawing sketches on the bags of sweets. Special sign: never travel without having two compasses and a slide rule in your pocket.
But his activity is not limited to automobile mechanics. He manufactured boats, motorcycles, railcars, and even a plane which, on the eve of the war, piloted by Arnoux and equipped with a twin engine with two propellers rotating in opposite directions, was to reach 800 per hour.
He also invented sewing needles, a mechanical razor, an articulated seat, a bobsleigh, a tractor, a device for correcting the advance or delay of pendulums, an improved glove for precision manipulation, a fishing reel, a torpedo launcher, etc.
In its castle in Molsheim, near the model factory and the town where more than a thousand workers live, in conditions of comfort found nowhere else, Bugatti had created a veritable automobile museum and the most complete room of optical instruments available.
Today, at a time when, with the help of his son Roland, he is focusing all his work power and his inventive genius on the effort of reconstruction and industrial production, death strikes him down in his bed.
1.077 BREVETS, 2.200 VICTOIRES ETTORE BUGATTI EST MORT DANS SON LIT!
D'Une famille d'artistes, Bugatti se destinait par tradition à la sculpture. Mais dès l'âge de quinze ans, saisi par le démon de la mécanique, il commença à fabriquer des tricycles à deux moteurs. A 17 ans, il construit sa première voiture, avec moteur de quatre cylindres. A 20 ans, le baron Dietrich lui achète une licence de fabrication; Bugatti, mineur, doit demander à son père d'apposer sa signature sur le contrat et vient en Alsace. A 27 ans, il s'installe à Molsheim à son propre compte, crée des voitures de course qu'il pilote lui-même et c'est le début de ses triomphes. Depuis près de quarante ans, les plus grands coureurs d'Europe -- souvent
formés par Bugatti lui-même -- vont de victoire en victoire. On les appelle Friedrichs ancien mécano personnel de Bugatti, Sommer, Robert Benoist, Chiron, Etancelin, Wimille, Divo, Trintignant, Goux, Nuvolari, Varzi, Lord Howe, Helle-Nice ou Mme Itier. Le nom de Ettore Bugatti remplit le palmarès mondial des courses de ses deux mille deux cents victoires!
Lui-même est devenu un personnage parisien: son éternel melon gris est aussi populaire que le haut de forme de l'Aga Khan. Sa distraction est proverbiale: toujours à la recherche d'une invention quelconque -- il existe 1.077 brevets Bugatti il oublie souvent de passer ses vitesses... et reste en troisième pendant que le moteur ronfle comme pékinois enrhumé; il abandonne sa voiture sur la voie et téléphone à son fils << de venir dépanner cette casserole... >>.
Très gourmand, il sort de chez le confiseur en traçant des croquis sur les sachets de bon- bons. Signe particulier : ne se déplace jamais sans avoir dans sa poche deux compas et une règle à calcul.
Mais son activité ne se borne pas à la mécanique automobile. Il fabrique des bateaux,des motos, des autorails, et même un avion qui, à la veille de la guerre, piloté par Arnoux et muni d'un bimoteur à deux hélices tournant en sens inverse, devait atteindre le 800 à l'heure.
Il invente aussi des aiguilles à coudre, un rasoir mécanique, un siège articulé, un bobsleigh, un tracteur, un dispositif permettant de corriger l'avance ou le retard des pendules, un gant perfectionné pour manipulations de précision, moulinet pour la pêche, un lance-torpille, etc...
Dans son château de Molsheim, près de l'usine-modèle et de la cité où vivent, dans des conditions de confort que l'on ne trouve nulle part ailleurs, plus de mille ouvriers, Bugatti avait créé un véritable musée de l'automobile et une salle d'instruments d'optique la plus complète qui soit.
Aujourd'hui, au moment où aidé de son fils Roland, il axe toute sa puissance de travail et son génie inventif sur l'effort de reconstruction et de production industrielle, la mort le terrasse dans son lit.
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