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Bucciali · 1931–present

Bucciali TAV 12

Bucciali TAV 12
Photo: Simon Davison from Los Gatos, United Statesfaces blurred by uploader User:Mr.choppers · CC BY 2.0 · source ↗

The Bucciali TAV 12 (alternatively also 8-32 or Type 7) is the last model from the French car manufacturer Bucciali. Introduced in 1931, the TAV 12's history and characteristics are not fully understood. Unusual for the time, it had front-wheel drive and sensational bodywork, the flat and long limousine version of which was also known as la flèche d'or ("the golden arrow"). The vehicle, of which only one is known, was dismantled into its individual parts before the outbreak of the Second World War. A collector had it rebuilt 40 years later. Since the early 1990s, the TAV 12 has been ready to drive again and is shown at exhibitions from time to time.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Background

The Bucciali brand can be traced back to Angelo ("Buc"; 1889–1981) and Paul-Albert Bucciali (1887–1946). The Bucciali brothers, from a Corsican family, were born in Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France and worked as piano and organ builders in their hometown. After World War I, they founded Société Bucciali Frères, based in Courbevoie near Paris, which produced a series of small, conventionally styled sports cars from 1922. Some of the cars initially marketed under the Buc badge were one-offs, but some models were produced in small series of up to 100 units (Buc AB 4–5). Occasionally, Buc cars appeared at French motorsport events. Depending on the source, the company produced 120, 150 or 200 cars in 1926. This was not enough to make the business economically viable. As a result, the Bucciali brothers stopped producing conventionally designed automobiles at the end of 1925. Beginning in 1926, Société Bucciali Frères became an automotive engineering design firm. The Bucciali brothers were now primarily involved in the development of front-wheel-drive designs. This was a new drive concept for automobiles that had attracted some attention since 1925 when a front-wheel-drive racing car (Miller 122) designed by the American engineer Harry Miller had been surprisingly successful in the "Indianapolis 500". The Buccialis often used the preliminary work of other engineers in their designs. The first front-wheel-drive car, the Bucciali TAV 1, incorporated ideas from Brazilian engineer Robert Dimitri Sensaud de Lavaud, while later developments resembled the technology of the 1929 US Cord L-29, the first mass-produced front-wheel-drive passenger car. Beginning in 1926, the company, now explicitly known as Bucciali, presented a new design at each of the annual Paris Motor Shows held i

Nomenclature

As is often the case with Bucciali models, the name of the vehicle is confusing. Several different designations were used over the years. At the factory, the car was initially called the Bucciali 8-32, with the first digit representing the originally intended eight-cylinder engine and the last two digits indicating the year 1932, when it was to be presented to the public. However, this designation became obsolete when the customer opted for a V12 engine. Automobile historians then introduced the designation TAV 12. TAV stood for Traction Avant (= front-wheel drive), while the 12 denoted the tax class or the number of cylinders, depending on the source. Alternatively, the TAV 12 is also known as Type 7, Bucciali's seventh model.

History of the TAV 12

=== Production in response to changing customer requirements === The TAV 12 was the last of the Bucciali brothers' seven front-wheel-drive cars, and the only one that was not built primarily for show, but for a client. The client was Georges Roure, a businessman who had seen the front-wheel-drive Bucciali Double Huit (Double Eight) with a 16-cylinder engine at the 1930 Paris Motor Show. During production, the car underwent numerous conceptual changes. Roure's original order was for a replica of a 1930 convertible with a V16 engine. However, the Bucciali brothers were unable to deliver a working V16 engine at short notice, as such a design did not exist: The V16 engine block on display at the 1930 show was merely a prototype, with no internal workings. Roure initially ordered an American 8-cylinder engine from Continental instead but changed his order a second time before installation and finally had a 12-cylinder engine from French manufacturer Aéroplanes G. Voisin installed. The first version, introduced in the fall of 1931, was a two-door convertible. Unlike some earlier Bucciali designs, the convertible was unquestionably road-worthy. There are reports of a promotional drive by Paul-Albert Bucciali in November 1931, when Bucciali took the car to Nice, where it participated in an exhibition and was awarded an honorary prize for its sophisticated engineering. Despite this, the customer soon gave up on the convertible as he did not agree with the lines of the body. In the early months of 1932, Bucciali was commissioned by Roures to produce a large four-door Limousine (French: Berline) nicknamed la flèche d'or. La flèche d'or was completed in April 1932. In the same month, the client Georges Roure took delivery of the car. Bucciali charged 130,000 French francs for the c

Design and technical details

=== Car bodies === At first, it was a convertible, but later it was given a four-door limousine body. Convertible. The first version, which appeared in the fall of 1931, was a two-door convertible. The car had a steel chassis with a 3734 mm wheelbase, which had already been used for a TAV 30 the previous year. Unlike the other TAV models, the body was not designed by the Bucciali brothers, but by Émile Guillet, the owner of a coachwork factory who was sometimes a partner of Bucciali. It was considered stylistically unsuccessful. Berline: „la flèche d’or“. In the early months of 1932, Bucciali produced a large four-door limousine (French: Berline) for Roures, nicknamed la flèche d'or. The body was of mixed construction, consisting of sheet steel shells nailed to a wooden frame. The limousine's wheelbase was 4089 mm, only a few millimeters shorter than that of the Bugatti T41 "Royale". With a length of 6360 mm, the car was exceptionally long, while the body height was only 1480 mm. This made the Bucciali TAV 12 Berline the lowest car of its time. The wheels had a diameter of 24 inches. The body was designed by Paul-Albert Bucciali; the sheet metal parts were allegedly made to Bucciali's specifications at Saoutchik in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The hood was also low. Its top line was below the highest point of the fenders so that the hood was partially hidden by the wheels and fenders when viewed from the side. As on the earlier TAV Buccialis models, a stylized stork was mounted on the side vents of the hood. It was a reference to the Escadrille des Cigognes (Stork Squadron) in which Paul-Albert Bucciali had participated during the First World War. The absence of running boards was another stylistic feature. The big headlamps were positioned in front of the grille, directly on th

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name
Bucciali TAV 12
Class
Luxury car
Body style
2-door convertible (before being rebodied), 4-door sedan
Layout
Front-mid-engine, front-wheel-drive layout
Length
6360 mm
Height
1480 mm
Wheelbase
3734–4089 mm
Production
1931 – 1932
aka
Bucciali TAV 8-32
Engine
4.9 liter V12 (88 or 132 kW)

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Bucciali TAV 12
Bill Abbott · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source ↗
Bucciali TAV 12
Wikiwal · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source ↗
Bucciali TAV 12
MarcelBuehner · CC BY 4.0 · source ↗
Bucciali TAV 12
Matthias v.d. Elbe · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source ↗
Bucciali TAV 12
Rama · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr · source ↗

Sources