0:00
This couldn't just be a looks-like the Aerolith
0:05
It had to be an absolute recreation of the Aerolith. If somebody found the original car, it's worth $100 million, $150 million
0:14
And it is one of the great mysteries in the automotive world. The Aerolith, Bugatti's long-lost magnesium masterpiece
0:27
Only one was ever built. And it was panned by critics after its appearance at the 1936 Paris Motor Show
0:37
Shortly after, it disappeared from the public eye. What happened next remains a mystery
0:44
With almost no chance of the original ever being found, for one car fanatic, there was only one option
0:53
Build one from scratch. And that would be no mean feat. This is the Bugatti Aerolith. It's a Type 57, chassis number 57104
1:03
It's probably one of the most famous cars around right now. The original car was made from magnesium
1:10
Well, we've made this car from magnesium. And what is with the unusual choice of material
1:15
Why magnesium? Well, the reason for that was it's very light. It very durable but it has some very bad habits It cracks You can weld it The entire car had to be riveted together In order to work this material you have to heat it to 850 900 degrees to make it malibu
1:34
Unfortunately, at 1140 degrees, it bursts into flames. We did have fires while we were working it. It was just a part of it
1:42
So you heat it to a plastic state just before it starts to melt. Unfortunately, that state is like 850 or 900 degrees
1:49
which when you're using a rosebud is not very far away from 1140 degrees
1:54
It became a very practiced thing. The guys who were working it learned to just watch the magnesium
2:01
and see the color alterations in it when it got to the right temperature
2:04
and be warned just before it started to get to a point where it was going to ignite
2:09
It was a very dicey, quite a skill to acquire, one that's not going to be very useful for the rest of your life
2:14
But in this case, it worked for us quite well. And as if this build wasn't hard enough already
2:19
in a quest for authenticity, the team decided not to use any tools
2:24
Invented after 1936... This couldn't just be a looks-like the Aerolith. It had to be an absolute recreation of the Aerolith
2:33
Was it a happy build? Sometimes I hated this thing. I'd like to have torched it
2:38
What we had was about 11 photographs. There was two blueprints. One was of the brake pedal and the other was of the radiator There was virtually nothing With the photograph overlaying it we indexed the exact centre of every single rivet on the spine
2:54
Every rivet on that car is exactly where the rivets were on the original. With painstaking attention to detail
3:00
recreating this masterpiece took ten years. The doors are magnificent. They're very large and very heavy
3:07
The seats are very simple. The only thing from the Bugatti factory you see in here
3:12
is the steering wheel. Everything else we had to hand make. Every single one of these had to be cut
3:18
out by hand and then placed and then it was all vulcanized on. The wheels of course are all brand
3:24
new. The center spinners those are original. When you look at this motor you can see that it's just
3:31
not an ordinary engine. Like a work of art. Again beautiful to look at. The front of the car is
3:37
interesting and very pretty, but the back of the car is my favorite part of almost any car I've
3:43
ever had anything to do with. I mean, I think that the back of this car is just so beautiful
3:46
and so futuristic for its period. Something that very few people have ever seen is this
3:53
but it makes complete sense when you see it. And again, everything you're seeing here
3:58
we had to make. Now we consider this just the ultimate in style and sophistication and beauty because it is absolutely stunning Stunning indeed But what it like to drive
4:24
A lot of people say, oh, they don't build them like they used to. And they're absolutely right
4:29
They don't. Like, there's no windows that wind up and down. There's no ventilation
4:33
There's no windshield wipers. When you're in there, you're sealed in. As cars go, this isn't the most usable car in the world, but as art goes, it's an absolute masterpiece
4:43
You don't want to go rocking and rolling too much with a car that's worth in excess of $5 million
4:48
So it's top dollar, but what about top speed? Fast as this particular car has gone, probably 40 miles an hour
5:00
While this beauty is not going to break any speed records, if the original was to be found
5:05
it would break the bank it's been lost since 1936 or 1937
5:12
if somebody found the original car now it's worth $100 million $150 million
5:20
I mean it is one of the great mysteries in the automotive world what happened to the Bugatti Air release
