Vroom! Vroom!
Bugatti remains perhaps the most consistently fascinating and rich name in automotive history and it attracts all sorts of people. This new book features the photographs of Koto Bolofo who is a highly respected fashion photographer; it’s a beautifully produced book in large format (29 cm x 37 cm) with 84 high quality black and white plates.
Koto took these photographs at Ivan Dutton's workshops in Buckinghamshire and he has produced a collection that probably won’t appeal to the hardened petrol head but they do offer an alternative view on the strange artisan world of pre-war car maintenance. Every component on a pre-war Bugatti is a work of art, but if you’re after a book to revel in that beauty then this isn’t the one to go for. To get to know Bugatti inside out then try the superb ‘From Milan To Molsheim’.
So what happens if you mix high fashion and greasy old car parts? Strangely where this book succeeds is that it doesn’t put the cars centre stage. It focuses on the workshops and the craftsmen and women working there. As anyone who runs old cars will know it is in workshops like these all around the country where the skills of a bygone age are kept alive. The photographs show the casting and machining of engine components by hand, the fettling of cylinder heads, and drilling suspension components, all done by eye and without a computer in sight.
In the fashion world style over substance is only natural. In the old car game it tends to be quite the opposite. I found this book quite refreshing because of that alternative view and the photographs are quite stunning too.





