The Bugatti Video

The Bugatti Video H G Conway. Wychwood Video Publishing Limited, 27 Cranky Mews, London, SW7 3BY. Running time — vol. 1: 49 mins, vol. 2: 48 mins. £40.00

omplete with a 61 page reference and data book, the late Hugh Conway and Wychwood have produced a superb work on the life and work of Ettore Bugatti.

Following a brief introduction by Anna Ford, Hugh Conway takes up the story and begins tracing the background to the great man’s early years. This is as a prelude to the main theme of the videos, which is the development of the Bugatti marque.

There are many points which make the production outstanding. Old film footage can often be ruined by a banal or condescending voice-over, but in this case, it is decidedly enhanced by Hugh Conway’s careful and considered commentary. Even when dealing with complex engineering facts, the explanation is wonderfully illuminating. The inter-cuts of modern film footage are carefully done so as never to swamp the other material.

Although this is basically a model-bymodel rundown of the marque, the format allows Conway to go off on tangents every so often ensuring that the viewer is continually bombarded with little known gems of interest. At £40.00 the collection is expensive, but it is worth every penny. One can only hope that Wychwood are encouraged enough to extend this idea to other makes of car. WPK