{"id":2124,"date":"2022-09-06T10:27:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T08:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.comlhistoire-dun-reve\/"},"modified":"2024-10-23T18:11:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T16:11:17","slug":"the-story-of-a-dream","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/the-story-of-a-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of a dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I turned a childhood dream into a project… and a tribute into an ambition.<\/p>\nPierre-Henri Raphanel<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Discover the Bugatti Baby T52<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n
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A career guided by passion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pierre-Henri Raphanel’s career has been a lifelong pursuit of his passion for cars. Starting with karting, he became the French Champion in 1981, and then transitioned to automobile racing. In 1985, he won the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix and became the French Formula 3 Champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His success continued with his entry into Formula 1, where he competed in 17 Grand Prix races during the 1989 season. Over the course of his career, he participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 14 times and finished on the podium three times, including winning the GT category in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2005, Pierre-Henri fulfilled his childhood dream by joining Bugatti as an official driver. He went on to conduct over 10,000 road tests worldwide to share his passion and enthusiasm for the brand’s different models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2010, he achieved a world speed record of 431.072 km\/h with a production car, the Bugatti Veyron SuperSport, earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Pierre-Henri offers collectors and enthusiasts a true work of automotive art in the Baby T52. Designed from the original plans, this treasure is as close to the initial mechanical production as it was in 1927, providing a truly authentic experience for those in search of automotive excellence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A child’s dream come true<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An ambitious project, 100 years later<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was while rummaging through my grandfather’s garage, among his old cars, tools, spare parts and dusty books, that I first caught glimpse…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not of the little girl praying to Santa Claus, but of the object of her dreams: <\/strong>the iconic BABY.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dream now become a reality through this audacious and exclusive undertaking: bringing the Baby T52 back to life in its original form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins in 1927<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Through the Bugatti Baby T52<\/em> project, our aim was to revive this little avant-garde treasure. After extensive research \u2013 studying the original plans, identifying the modifications and improvements that were made without being listed, gathering the existing photos, and scrutinizing the few surviving models of the time, we gained a precise vision of what Ettore had envisioned. We noticed that over time, the specificities of each worker, either from ignorance or cost-cutting measures, resulted in deviation from Ettore’s original design. Our goal was to faithfully reproduce by hand and to the last detail what he had in his extraordinary mind.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rewriting history through the rebirth of an icon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The story of the Bugatti Baby T52<\/strong> began in 1926 when Ettore Bugatti built the little electric car for his youngest son’s birthday. In the following year, over 100 plans were drawn up for the production of the car, which became a huge success and a bestseller at the time. The Baby T52 made further headlines through its participation in races from 1927 to 1936.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, only about 20 Short Wheel Base versions of the 500 cars produced remain in existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Honouring the heritage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An ambitious project that must honour the original construction.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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A family heritage<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Bugatti Baby Type 52 <\/strong>is not just an exceptional car, it is a family heritage and a testament to the love a father had for his son and his profession. The ambition of this project is therefore significant:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to reproduce this monument with finesse and precision, and to preserve its place in automotive history. To achieve this, the challenge is not simply to recreate the car’s original construction, but to honour the spirit of its original design.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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When Ettore decided to build this small car for his son’s birthday, he did so not as a businessman, not as the Da Vinci of the automobile, nor as a marketing genius. He did it as a father, wanting to enchant his son with a gift from the heart. And so he created a unique half-scale model of the famous Type 35, which had dominated and won all the car races in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As his son rode the Baby<\/em> through the workshop, customers were charmed by the little car. From 1927 to 1936, Bugatti produced 500 of these cars to meet demand, cementing the BABY’s place in automotive history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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An elite reimagining<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Bugatti Baby T52<\/strong> is for car and art enthusiasts who seek perfection and precision. It is a symbol of uncompromising craftsmanship and attention to detail, where the journey is as important as the destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every element of the Bugatti Baby T52<\/strong> is a masterpiece in itself, from the steel frame rails to the hand-formed aluminum bodywork, the aluminum rims, the sand-molded castings, the bronze spindles, the brass radiators, the copper rivets, the wooden drum brake linings, and the horsehair-upholstered leather seats, leather bonnet and spare wheel straps with formers and rounded edges\u2026 all meticulously and authentically crafted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u00ab The French craftsmen I chose all possess a unique savoir-faire that is essential to the construction of an automotive marvel like this one. \u00bb<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The best of French craftsmanship<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u00ab In search of disappearing savoir-faire , I traveled across France to assemble a team of passionate artisans and artists including a sheet metal worker, modeler, foundrymen, turners, saddler, and painter. Each of them is dedicated to honouring this testament to the past by uniting to create an automotive masterpiece. <\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A limited production run of 99<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Produced in a series of only 99 cars, the Bugatti Baby T52<\/strong> is a collector’s item reserved enthusiasts and aesthetes, true lovers of Art and Automobiles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Contact us<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I turned a childhood dream into a project… and a tribute into an ambition. A career guided by passion Pierre-Henri Raphanel’s career has been a lifelong pursuit of his passion for cars. Starting with karting, he became the French Champion in 1981, and then transitioned to automobile racing. In 1985, he won the prestigious Monaco […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Pierre-Henri Raphanel's Pursuit of Bugatti Excellence","_seopress_titles_desc":"Through the Bugatti Baby T52 project, Pierre-Henri Raphanel aimed to bring this luxurious small car back to life. After extensive research, he gained a clear understanding of what Ettore Bugatti intended to create. His goal was to reproduce this unique work of art through artisanal craftsmanship and human skill.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2124","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2779,"href":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2124\/revisions\/2779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bugatti-type52.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}