What do you do when you have a craving for a classic Bugatti or Delahaye but can neither afford one, nor would you want to cut one up to make it into your fantasy dream car? The answer Terry Cook came up with was to build such a car from scratch. Starting with one of his composite Generation II Boattail Speedster bodies, which are manufactured by his company DECO RIDES of Long Valley, NJ, he radically modified the design incorporating styling ideas from a number of different cars. The body itself was designed eight years ago for Cook by top hot rod builder/designer Chip Foose of Huntington Beach, CA. It is a cut down and streamlined version, inspired by the early Al Leamy and later Gordon Buehrig styled Auburn Boattail Speedsters. Relatively unknown clay modeler Vince Gardner contributed a lot to the styling of the second generation Auburn Boattail.
The fully enclosed "pontoon" fenders were strongly influenced by several mid 30's Delahayes designed and built in Paris by famed coachbuilders Figoni & Falaschi. The front tires steer lock to lock inside the somewhat bulbous front fenders that look like a Chipmunk with its cheeks stuffed with acorns. The grille shell is a faithful copy of a Bugatti Type 57 that has been chopped about 4 inches to fit the car. DECO RIDES also remanufactures dimensionally correct brass duplicates of the Bugatti shell with reproduction steel shutters in the grille. The radiator shell was capped off with a replica Hispano Suiza stork from American Arrow of Clawson, MI. Put it all together and you have BUGNOTTI, a car that does not pretend to be a Bugatti, but pays homage to this great marque as well as the incredible styling of Figoni, Leamy, Gardner and Buehrig. That explains the FIGONI personalized license plate.
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