Buchet C2 - 1923
Ghislain Mahy had a number of scouts who kept their eyes peeled for possible new ‘finds’ in the dusty garages and old barns that are such a typical part of the French landscape. One of these scouts was Henri Malartre from Lyon, a renowned buyer and seller of cars in his own right. In many ways he was like Mahy, being a man of often eccentric behaviour and tastes. For example, he wanted nothing to do with German cars, even the more superior models. In spite of this, over the years he built up a fine collection of non-German cars that he displayed on the first floor of his draughty chateau at Rochetaillée- sur-Saône. How did he get them to the first floor? He took them to pieces, carried them up the stairs, and put them back together again! In 1960, he turned his display into a museum, which still exists.
At the end of the 1950s, Malartre tracked down this Buchet C2 for Mahy. The Buchet dated from the Roaring Twenties and had to compete with the Bébé designed by Bugatti for Peugeot. The revolutionary and racy C2 ran on Michelin tyres and was one of the first cars with two doors. Until then, the passenger climbed in alongside the driver only after he had cranked the engine into action, which meant that only one door was necessary. The front of the Buchet was made completely from metal. The cockpit was chestnut, largely because there were many chestnut trees in and around Paris, where the Buchet factory was located. A thin metal plate was then carefully hammered over the wood. During the 1920s, it also became the custom for cars to be brightly coloured through the addition of a thick layer of oil paint – hence the turquoise craquelé, which resembles a dancer’s dress as it might have been painted by Degas! Before the First World War, Elie-Victor Buchet had earned a reputation as a daring and innovative engineer. After the war, this fire was gone. Now, he was prepared to live on his past successes, as a result of which he came to be seen as too conservative. Not surprisingly, production and sales began to fall, eventually leading to the closure of the company in 1929.
With its copper-carbon headlights and S.A.M. radiator grille from the Avenue Montbarbon, the Buchet was much sought after in the 1950s by French scrap metal dealers. Copper was urgently needed to make weapons for the war in Indo-China and therefore fetched a good price. As a result, only a very few Buchets were saved from the car press. Ghislain Mahy paid Malartre 3,000 Belgian francs for this 1923 model : marginally more than its scrap value.
1.551 cc
4 In-line
Mahy - a Family of Cars
09/09/2021 - 31/10/2021
Vynckier Site
Nieuwevaart 51-53
Gent
Belgium
Buchet C2 - 1923
Ghislain Mahy had a number of scouts who kept their eyes peeled for possible new ‘finds’ in the dusty garages and old barns that are such a typical part of the French landscape. One of these scouts was Henri Malartre from Lyon, a renowned buyer and seller of cars in his own right. In many ways he was like Mahy, being a man of often eccentric behaviour and tastes. For example, he wanted nothing to do with German cars, even the more superior models. In spite of this, over the years he built up a fine collection of non-German cars that he displayed on the first floor of his draughty chateau at Rochetaillée- sur-Saône. How did he get them to the first floor? He took them to pieces, carried them up the stairs, and put them back together again! In 1960, he turned his display into a museum, which still exists.
At the end of the 1950s, Malartre tracked down this Buchet C2 for Mahy. The Buchet dated from the Roaring Twenties and had to compete with the Bébé designed by Bugatti for Peugeot. The revolutionary and racy C2 ran on Michelin tyres and was one of the first cars with two doors. Until then, the passenger climbed in alongside the driver only after he had cranked the engine into action, which meant that only one door was necessary. The front of the Buchet was made completely from metal. The cockpit was chestnut, largely because there were many chestnut trees in and around Paris, where the Buchet factory was located. A thin metal plate was then carefully hammered over the wood. During the 1920s, it also became the custom for cars to be brightly coloured through the addition of a thick layer of oil paint – hence the turquoise craquelé, which resembles a dancer’s dress as it might have been painted by Degas! Before the First World War, Elie-Victor Buchet had earned a reputation as a daring and innovative engineer. After the war, this fire was gone. Now, he was prepared to live on his past successes, as a result of which he came to be seen as too conservative. Not surprisingly, production and sales began to fall, eventually leading to the closure of the company in 1929.
With its copper-carbon headlights and S.A.M. radiator grille from the Avenue Montbarbon, the Buchet was much sought after in the 1950s by French scrap metal dealers. Copper was urgently needed to make weapons for the war in Indo-China and therefore fetched a good price. As a result, only a very few Buchets were saved from the car press. Ghislain Mahy paid Malartre 3,000 Belgian francs for this 1923 model : marginally more than its scrap value.
1.551 cc
4 In-line
Mahy - a Family of Cars
09/09/2021 - 31/10/2021
Vynckier Site
Nieuwevaart 51-53
Gent
Belgium