Majorette Bugatti 55

[Snake45]

Spotted this at the local Toy show. I’d never heard of this car (or the modelmaker), but it looked cool, the box said 1/24 scale and it looked like it could be, and the price was right ($5). Sold!

Here’s what Wikipedia says about the Bugatti 55: “It was available starting in 1932 and was produced until 1935, with the last car being delivered on July 30th of that year. 38 cars were produced in total. The majority of Type 55s had factory bodywork designed by Jean Bugatti, with 16 of the 38 wearing 2-seater roadster bodies and another 7 wearing coupe bodies, both of his design. Of the other 15, 11 were bodied by outside coachbuilders and the other four are unidentified. None of the factory bodied cars had doors which made them far less practical than the cars bodied by external coachbuilders, most of which did have doors.”

The Majorette body has doors, so it must represent one of the 11 “others.” Whatever, it’s pretty and I like it. I think this is the lightest diecast in my collection. Only the body (and hood) seems to be metal (and it’s small); the fenders and everything else are plastic. The fenders are molded in black (and the interior in brown). The paint on the body isn’t particularly good. It’s pretty pebbly, not very shiny, and the demarcation between the red and the black doesn’t follow the body contours 100%. I might have a fit of industry and repaint it someday. Both halves (sides) of the hood hinge up in the middle to reveal some engine-y shaped chromed plastic. I have no idea if any of it is remotely accurate.

ALL the minor trim parts on this model (the “chrome”) are toylike and simplistic looking. Every single one of them had a visible sprue stub, where it had been broken or twisted off the sprues. I spent a certain amount of time going over the whole model with a sharp Xacto, carefully removing these unsightly nubs, and then touching them up with Silver Sharpie and Molotow. Heck, I basically rechromed the whole thing. I also painted the taillights, and that’s about it.

So I managed to make it look more like a cheap (Maisto, Motormax, lesser Welly) diecast and less like a cheap toy. It isn’t my highest quality diecast. But I like it anyway and think it looks pretty cool. It even displays pretty well next to my Franklin Mint Jaguar SS100 (which currently needs it headlights fixed, sorry ‘bout that). Thanks for looking and as always, comments welcome.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Snake45

[randyc]

That might be the best Majorette I've ever seen.  Most look too toylike to consider.  Also, not sure I've ever seen a 1/24 Majorette.  Mostly 1/64 class, Or I should probably say 3" class, where a camaro and full size pickup are same length.  And the dashboard sticker is as good as the Mint car.  I've often wondered why the Mints went to such great lengths at times, then put a flat sticker on for the dash.  

[Gramps46]

Well done indeed.  Looks good and the comparison with the FM Jaguar is appreciated.

When you first mentioned the Bugatti I thought you had gotten the BBurago Bugatti T55.  It is patterned off the same 1:1 Bugatti body style but is a different molding.  Here is the BBurago with the Jaguar complete with their offensive wide ovals on a classic 1930s car.

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Gramps46 said:

Here is the BBurago with the...offensive wide ovals on a classic 1930s car.

Now, see, I kinda dig those tires on that car, historically correct or not. A while back I bought two Heller 1/24 Alfa Romeo Zagatos--one to build stock and one to build as a modern street rod. Owning this Bugatti 55 is kinda putting me in the mood to dig out and build that stock Zagato. And then display it with my diecast Bugatti and Jag, and the Tamiya Lotus 7 I built 20 years ago. And then go looking for a 1/24 MG/TD. 

[Gramps46]

I just noticed the Majorette is LHD and the BBurago is RHD.  I also found that the BBurago has no tail lights.

Would love to see your build of the Zagato.  Speaking of the Alfa here is a bit of a anomaly.  The Alfa Zagato 2 seater is pictured on the Union box and inside is the 4 seater Grand Sport as pictured below. which I built in the early '90s.  I do need to go back and paint the wheels black though. 

[DukeE]

Is that tool the same as the Heller, or a different body? It looks like a 2 seat could be made out of it by shortening the frame between axles and the rear seat removal. I'm surprised the rear is so similar. Never have seen a built-up before. The Bentley in that series always made me wonder. 

The Monogram Cord and Lincoln tires will fit the Burago 55 and Atlantique, look less like pro-touring Bug. 

[Gramps46]

19 hours ago, DukeE said:

Is that tool the same as the Heller, or a different body? It looks like a 2 seat could be made out of it by shortening the frame between axles and the rear seat removal. I'm surprised the rear is so similar. Never have seen a built-up before. The Bentley in that series always made me wonder. 

The Monogram Cord and Lincoln tires will fit the Burago 55 and Atlantique, look less like pro-touring Bug. 

The Alfa pictured was originally a Frog kit and then reissued by Union.  It is a simple kit but does have poseable front wheels.  One of the problems with these classics is the lack of period color photos.  Current photos of restored examples have a variety of wheel colors, red, black, and dark red.  From photos at Le Mans the wheels appear to be very dark so yesterday I went ahead and painted mine black.  I wanted to do aluminum colored brake drums but the drums are molded with the wire wheel backs and trying to paint them would have been a real chore.  The knock offs were firmly glued on so I used Anglia 105's trick of coating them with Vaseline before painting and then just rubbing the paint and Vaseline off.  

 

Edited October 5, 2019 by Gramps46