The Bucciali was a French

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

manufactured from 1922 until 1933. Built by the brothers Angelo and Paul-Albert Bucciali, the company's first vehicle, produced at

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is a suburb of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the ci ...

, was a

cyclecar A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive motorized car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the c ...

, sold under the name Buc. Initial offerings were powered by 1,340 cc two-cylinder

two-stroke engine A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a f ...

s. In 1925, a 1,600 cc

S.C.A.P. S.C.A.P. (Société de Construction Automobile Parisienne) was a French manufacturer of cars and proprietary engines, existing between 1912 and 1929. Products S.C.A.P mainly manufactured small four-cylinder engines, with capacities from 894 ...

-engined model appeared, available in two versions: the "''Tourisme''" and the

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"''Quatre Speciale''". A six-cylinder variant of 1,500 cc displacement was also offered. In October 1928, the Bucciali TAV-6 proved a sensation at the 22nd Paris Motor Show. Six years before the appearance of the Citroën Traction and more than two years before the launch of the

DKW F1 The DKW F1 was a small car mass produced by DKW (part of the Auto Union) between 1931 and 1932. It was launched at the Berlin Motor Show in February 1931. The F1 was the first of a series of front wheel drive cars, assembled at DKW's Zwickau pla ...

, the Bucciali TAV-6 featured

front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of internal combustion engine, engine and transmission (mechanics), transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature ...

(FWD). Another innovative concept, which would only become familiar to most auto industry observers several decades later, was provided by the Sensaud de Lavaud infinitely variable automatic transmission. The car was exhibited on the Bucciali show stand in bare chassis form, enabling visitors to study the front-wheel drive powertrain with its enormous transversely mounted transmission, as well as the all-round independent suspension. Almost as eye-catching in their own terms were the wheels, which were elaborately sculpted from Alpax castings.Alpax was a Eutectic

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

alloy used by several of the more innovative French auto-makers, but little known outside France. The car at the show sat on a wheelbase and was powered by a

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side-valve 2.4-litre engine. Later versions of the car would be offered with 6- or 8-cylinder engines. In the 1930s, the company produced the ''Double Huit'', also a front-wheel drive model, which was powered by a pair of

straight-eight engine The straight-eight engine or inline-eight engine (often abbreviated as I8) is an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine with all eight cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase. The type has been produced in side-valve, IO ...

s mounted side by side. The last of the

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

s took a

Voisin Voisin (French for "neighbour") may refer to: Companies *Avions Voisin, the French automobile company :* Voisin Laboratoire, a car manufactured by Avions Voisin * Voisin (aircraft), the French aircraft manufacturer * Voisin, a Lyon-based chocol ...

12-cylinder engine. Very few of the front-wheel-drive Buccialis ever reached the road. While it is not known exactly how many of the TAV 12 models were produced, only three are known by automotive enthusiasts to still exist: one in the USA, one in France, and one in Canada. The one in the photos is on display at the Nationales Auto Museum in Germany. The black Bucciali that still exists was rebuilt by Bruce Kelly with the help of Robert LeMire at Lake Country Classics in Saint Paul Minnesota.

Notes

References

* David Burgess Wise, ''The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles''.

External links

Company history at RitzSite

Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Front-wheel-drive vehicles Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Cars introduced in 1922 Cars discontinued in 1933 {{classicprw-auto-stub