What could and what could not have happened to the 57453/57222/57454?



We all would like to know what has happened to the car that we know as La Voiture Noire or Belg. Coupé. I have listed the scenarios that I consider probable and the ones that I find impossible.

Possibilities :

  • the car was repaired and then
    • Mr. Duhoux brought the 57453/57222/57454 to the hideout in which he had kept the 57562 (Braine-l’Alleud seems to be the first candidate for a region in which such hideout could exist)
    • Mr. Duhoux drove the Atlantic to the French Riviera
    • Mr. Duhoux brought it to Africa
  • the car has been scrapped by Mr. René Dupont, the owner of the Garage Métro (the showroom in which the car was, most probably, held)
  • Mr. Pierre Joseph Norbert Duhoux (Mr. Gabriel’s brother) did not return the car to Mr. Gabriel after taking over the Garage Métro from Mr. Dupont about 1948
  • Mr. Gabriel Duhoux knew many people from the high society and he could have actually been a proxy for some official person (maybe even for the King). The car has been finally given to that person.

Excluded scenarios:

  • Mr. Jean De Dobbeleer has seen the car and helped Mr. Gabriel Duhoux with selling it. Almost impossible because:
    • Mr. De Dobbeleer would have made a note about it
    • Mr. De Dobbeleer would have commissioned different looking replicas. A replica created by Mr. Jean Bats seems to be a proof that Mr. De Dobbeleer had not seen any of the 57453/57222/57454 and 57473 Atlantics
    • Mr. De Dobbeleer would probably have re-registered the car in Belgium before selling it
  • The car has been sold by Mr. Duhoux in Belgium. Very, very improbable as the car would figure in the Belgian license plates database. The reform of the Belgian license plates (their centralization) has been introduced in 1954. The number 57454 does not figure in the database, therefore the car has not been sold in Belgium after that date
  • The car has been sold by Mr. Duhoux in France. Rather impossible. The blue Bugatti Type 101 would not have been registered by the factory as the 57454

In memory of Mr. Paul Kestler

Andrzej Szczodrak

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