1930 Bucciali TAV 3

Angelo and Paul-Albert Bucciali were brothers from France who would build approximately eighteen automobiles under the name BUC from 1912 to 1926, and approximately another eight under the name, Bucciali, from 1926 to 1932. The 'Buc' vehicles were equipped with a two-cylinder two-stroke engine with a 1,340cc displacement, and in 1926, a 1,600cc S.C.A.P.-engined model was offered in two versions, the 'Tourisme' and the 'Quatre Special' supercharged.

The Bucciali TAV-6 was introduced in October 1928 at the 22nd Paris Motor Show featuring front-wheel drive. This was six years before the Citroen Traction and over two years before the introduction of the DKW F1. All of the Bucciali vehicles were finished to extraordinary mechanical standards and each example was essentially a prototype, built to showcase numerous innovative patents that the brothers had taken out. Between 1923 to 1962, there were no less than 53 patents filed, greatly outnumbering the cars built.

The brother's business plan was equally unorthodox, as they were not interested in vehicle production but rather hoped to entice other makers into licensing Bucciali front-wheel-drive solutions for use on their mass-market automobiles. An American manufacturer was interested after hearing rumors of a new Cord automobile that was about to be introduced with front-wheel drive technology. That company was Peerless, and they were impressed by the TAV 3. In late December of 1929, the brothers brought a Bucciali to the United States and to the offices of Mercer, Willys, and Duesenberg. More meetings were later held with Chrysler, Graham-Paige, Hupmobile, and Ruxton. As winter wore on, even more meetings were held with Du Pont Motors in Massachusetts, Studebaker in South Bend, Indiana, Willys-Overland in Toledo, Ohio, and then General Motors in Detroit. None of these manufacturers agreed to license the technology. Peerless was the final stop on February 8th, and a licensing agreement was established for the manufacture of a Peerless traction avant. Bucciali was to become a Peerless concessionary for France. By the summer of 1930, the demonstration model was back in France and soon received roadster coachwork by Labourdette. It was shown at the Paris Salon in October and then sent to America in December. It was shown at the first motor show in New York and then Chicago, and was with Peerless in Cleveland by January 17th, 1931. The final contract between Bucciali and Peerless was to be finalized, but this never transpired. The Great Depression had been detrimental to the economy, Peerless had overspent on the development of their V-16 prototype, and by June of 1931, they were out of business.

Each new innovation was quickly incorporated into the latest available chassis which was then given a new model designation. Development chassis TAV 3, where TAV stands for Traction Avant, or front-wheel drive, eventually became the TAV 8 and was given model designation TAV 30, where '30' stands for 1930. It wore convertible coachwork created by Saoutchik and was first mounted on a Mercedes 680S chassis.

The Bucciali vehicles were powered by various engines, including a Continental side-valve 2.4-liter unit. Later versions were equipped with 6- or 8-cylinder power. One example used a pair of Continental straight-eight engines mounted side by side, and the final prototype used a Voisin 12-cylinder engine.

The first prototype was TAV 1 of 1926, followed by TAV 2 built in 1927 and later used in 1930 to showcase a full-size wooden model of a projected sixteen-cylinder engine that was never constructed. TAV 2 rested on a long-wheelbase chassis with a faux cabriolet body by Labourdette.

The third chassis - TAV2 which eventually became the TAV 8 - was constructed in 1927 on a short wheelbase and powered by a four-cylinder Cime engine backed by a Sensaud de Lavaud gearbox. In late 1928, it received a six-cylinder Continental engine, and the newly developed Bucciali TAV 3 transverse gearbox that was placed ahead of the front axle. It had a new independently sprung front-wheel-drive system that used spheres running in ball bearings at the hubs of the driving wheels.

In 1929, TAV 3 was given an eight-cylinder COntinental engine and was consecutively renumbered TAV 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 across the next two years as the front-wheel-drive system was continuously developed. During this time, TAV 3 received no fewer than six different bodies, including the final two in 1931.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2021