classic cars

WELCOME @ CHB PETROLHEADS!

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The content of CRANKHANDLEBLOG (CHB) will mainly consist of unique and often unknown stories about historic/classic cars. This makes it a blog that can be interesting for everybody, both for real car- enthusiasts as well as anybody else who is not yet an enthusiast.

I want to increase my knowledge about these cars, so I also plan to publish articles about the origin of well-known brands, extravagant coachbuilders and the mechanical aspects. CRANKHANDLEBLOG aims, inter alia, to raise the enthusiasm about these special cars as much as possible.

The Dutch version is available on crankhandleblog.nl

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LE YACHT DE LA ROUTE AND BIKINIGIRLS

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In the summer of 2007 my dad discovered by chance in France this unique Réard in the garage of a widow. This particular car was the advertising vehicle of Louis Réard, the inventor of the bikini.

Réard commissioned coachbuilder Henri Chapron to design a ship-like car. It is a nice story to tell, because we own two Delahayes with Henri Chapron coachwork.

http://crankhandleblog.comOriginally this very special coachwork of Henri Chapron was built on the chassis of a 866 Hotchkiss, but the engine was not strong enough for the heavy car. Therefore the chassis was later replaced by that of a Packard Super Eight from 1937. Thereby the steering wheel was moved from the right to the left.

Louis Réard was an automobile engineer from Paris … Continue reading

LA CLINIQUE DES CHOCS AND THE RUSSIAN PRINCESS

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I would like to introduce my blog with a great story written by my father, a year after I was born. The English version of the story was first published in Bugantics (1992), the magazine of the Bugatti Owner ‘s Club.

It was some time the mid-seventies when I met a Mr Wartelle in northern France who told me, among lots of other interesting things, about a Bugatti in the cellar of a house belonging to an old lady.

http://crankhandleblog.comAt the time he refused to give me any further details, so I decided a few years later to try again.

This time I got the full story. The car was a ‘Petite Royale’ drophead… Continue reading