Meadow Brook Concours Preview: 1932 Bucciali TAV

There's a good reason you've probably never heard of the 1932 Bucciali. It's the only one in existence and not only is it crushingly beautiful, but it's V12-powered, French and unbelievably, front wheel drive.

The history behind the Bucciali brand is a one of undaunted ambition wrecked by the Great Depression. The company was run by two brothers, Albert and Angelo who cut their teeth in racing and let their ambition run wild, planning to take the innovative idea Albert had been pondering for years and put it into production. What did this effort produce? A series of prototypes dubbed TAV, short for Traction Avant, yes front wheel drive. Their prototypes received warm praise at all the shows, but they received no orders for cars. Despite upgrading technologies, adding new custom coachwork and touring the America's they only managed to receive one buyer during the 1930 Paris Motor Show, Georges Roure. After fitting the car with a Voison V12 to their patented front wheel drive system, Roure commissioned Saoutchik coachwork and it eventually got a name, the "Fleche d'Or" or Golden Arrow. Unfortunately, it was only trotted out for the media for some reason, so you won't see it at weekend's Meadow Brook Concous d'Elegance.