6 ms·

Home-built Bugatti replica [video]

146 points by jnord 5y ago

hindsightbias 5y ago
Disappointed they did not forge their own engine like those foundry shops in India. /s Made a disk wheel for a Bugatti, but the brakes look like they’re from a Corolla.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
camillomiller 5y ago
Amazing ingenuity, but I’m scared by the amount of chemicals they’ve collectively inhaled.
- blamazon 5y ago
  The skill displayed with the "eyes closed while the arc is hot" welding technique is both impressive and concerning.
  - jcims 5y ago
    aka safety squints
megraf 5y ago
Very impressed by the tolerances achieved, it's inspirational. The headlamps also look exceptional. Given that these guys are working with pretty primitive means of fabrication, this is a great attempt!
- netsharc 5y ago
  The video shows them unboxing the pair of headlights out of a box with Chinese characters on it[1]. It made me look on AliExpress to see if they sell knock-off Bugatti headlights. Actually they sell look-alikes for other cars, e.g. a Honda Civic [2], so I guess these guys looked hard to find shapes that match the original. [1] https://youtu.be/bwUnIN5RLm0?t=1379 https://youtu.be/bwUnIN5RLm0?t=1379 [2] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003214053321.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003214053321.html
petermcneeley 5y ago
- plasticsoprano 5y ago
  What is sad and pathetic exactly?
  - elliottkember 5y ago
    They think the car's body is made of clay, not fibreglass, because they only watched the first minute.
    - petermcneeley 5y ago
      I was aware they used fiberglass. I was not aware that they removed the clay from under the fiberglass. This makes the car far lighter than it would be as I imagined. However unless a Bugatti is made out of fiberglass this is still just a Facade. Even if they made the body out of the proper material, does this have a Bugatti engine? What about it makes it a Bugatti?
      - renewiltord 5y ago
        Damn, I think you’ve cracked the case. Now I’m pretty sure this would lose in any race against a Bugatti. Also, now that you’ve mentioned it, I think they don’t have original Bugatti windscreen wipers. Every car aficionado knows that these distinctive elements reveal a real replica from a fake.
      - nwsm 5y ago
        What is it you want? Should they have gone to a Bugatti factory and asked Bugatti engineers to make them one? What would be the point?
- jggonz 5y ago
  I'm going to engage because there's nothing pathetic about these guys. I bet many people said people like "Thomas Edison", "The Wright brothers", and "Steve Wozniak" were "sad and pathetic" like you say as they tinkered on their projects.
dncornholio 5y ago
Something tells me this wouldn't survive much rain. Lack of close-ups makes me suspicious how good this build really is.
- Hamuko 5y ago
  There's some close-ups, but it doesn't really look that great in the far shots either. Uncanny valley territory.
- kingkawn 5y ago
  Are you kidding they did this from nearly nothing
- netsharc 5y ago
  The last 2 minutes has a "walkaround". You can see some cracks near the door handle, guy opens the fuel filler cap and it's hilarously unpainted on the inside, and it's held closed using a cabinet door magnet.
orliesaurus 5y ago
Very creative, but quality control of a Tesla model 3. /s
jacquesm 5y ago
Nothing short of amazing, an extremely small budget made up for a very large dose of ingenuity and craftsmanship, what's not to like?
samwillis 5y ago
About 15 min into the video and its giving be strong memories of a book I was given as a kid: "Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250" by Ron Champion https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Sports-Little-£250/dp/0854299769 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Sports-Little-£250/dp/08... It includes all plans and instructions on how to build a Lotus 7 style car from scratch using a Ford Escort Mk 3 as the donor car. Always dreamt of one day doing it. I believe it created a whole mini industry of workshops manufacturing components for amateurs to buy if they wanted to skip a step. There was/is a racing series for them too.
- jermaustin1 5y ago
  The Lotus 7 is one of my favorite sports car designs. Caterham has done a great job of making these modern and bringing them to America.
  - samwillis 5y ago
    Love the Caterham 7, one day when the kids have left home the plan is to convince the wife building one is a good way to keep me out of the house. Amazingly our house has an inspection pit in the garage crying out to be used.
baltimore 5y ago
Obviously, legislation to prohibit these untraceable and dangerous ghost automatic super-cars is called for!
jcims 5y ago
Really great series on making fiberglass molds from a live pattern/part to crank out laminate (carbon fiber or fiberglass) copies. Seems like they could do that with this pretty easily, not sure if there is a market but it's a great start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKvDw1E60E&list=PL-DQ6gqgQvCm_Al2OH9_JRWyOMG5KsjMT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKvDw1E60E&list=PL-DQ6gqgQv... (The channel is fantastic if you have any interest in making carbon fiber parts. The guy does great and very practical demos and they have some very good products for small batch/hobbyist projects. I just wish they would sign with a distributor in the US)
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
olivermarks 5y ago
I'm a big fan of people building vehicles - I do - but there's a hot rodding expression 'beautiful deathtrap'. People build aesthetically attractive vehicles, often with very powerful engines, spend a fortune on paint and visuals but there are lots of potentially deadly mechanical single points of failure. Some of these vehicles are mostly trailer queen show cars, but the ones that are driven a lot often need some safety work. I know of a socal shop that fixes high end customs designed by TV show car personalities so they are actually driveable Uncle Tony's garage showing some scary hacks video: https://youtu.be/a-DfxrEnDsI https://youtu.be/a-DfxrEnDsI
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  For every genuine safety hazard there's dozens of people complaining about stuff that just isn't. Seems like safety is just the trojan horse that the "you shouldn't have modified anything it was perfect the way the factory built it" people use to get past the gate these days (not saying you're one of those people). I skimmed the video. I didn't see anything particularly out of line. Their metal fabrication wasn't great but it's fine for what they're building and frankly where they're building it (don't get me wrong, that suspension is a kludge but they probably don't have enough car to break it). I like to see stuff attached to fiberglass anchored better and over more area but I'm no expert on fiberglass so I don't have a good feel for what you can get away with and what they did was as good as what you see on boats.
  - olivermarks 5y ago
    I think you missed my broader point. I wasn't particularly criticizing this Bugatti emulation, I was making a broader point about people building aesthetically pleasing vehicle, because looks are everything to most people, and skimping on the mechanicals. This emulation looks like a film prop vehicle and they were very clever in how they created it. I did a metal bashing workshop with Gene Winfield (now 94 years old and going strong) last fall, a famous car customizer and builder of a lot of Hollywood vehicles including the Bladerunner vehicles. He was very clear on what was for visuals and what had to actually work and go down the road.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
marban 5y ago
Slightly cooler, this guy lived next to me and I saw him riding around his Duct Tape 911 all the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5vlqWln7do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5vlqWln7do
- mysterydip 5y ago
  Saw videos of that car at the time and would love to know more details and some experiences!
kingkawn 5y ago
Brilliant work
bityard 5y ago
I only watched part of it because it reminded me more of those cake-decorating videos than actually engineering and building a car. If you actually want to see someone (re)build a car from (nearly) scratch, check out Bad Obsession Motorsport. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get the funk out.
ynorzinum 5y ago
throwawayffffas 5y ago
Good for them, I was hoping for something more akin to the guy that build an iphone from parts he bought in Shenzhen.
- mcast 5y ago
  Strange Parts?
Gravityloss 5y ago
Great work. Why not wear gloves? Fiberglass gets in your skin and if epoxy is used, you might get sensitized to it. They might have used some other glue. At least they were wearing masks.
DocTomoe 5y ago
This is very similar to how car body design prototypes were built until the mid-1980s, when CAD become the master of prototyping. A quick photo search for "car body design clay" yields fascinating pictures. https://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2014/07/Opel-Russelsheim-Design-Studio-04-720x540.jpg https://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2014/07/Opel-Russelsheim...
lariati 5y ago
nixass 5y ago
This still has better build quality and panel gaps than Tesla cars.
alamortsubite 5y ago
Equal parts terrifying and impressive. If I worked in PR at Bugatti I'd ship these guys a case of eye protection and respirators.
flal_ 5y ago
This french dude has been building a GT40, documenting everything along the way on its youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/c/BenjaminWorkshop https://www.youtube.com/c/BenjaminWorkshop ( in french )
acmdas 5y ago
Wrong type of Bugatti - I was hoping that it would be a Type 35 or something of that ilk. Too bad.

146 points by jnord 5y ago

Disappointed they did not forge their own engine like those foundry shops in India. /s Made a disk wheel for a Bugatti, but the brakes look like they’re from a Corolla.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

camillomiller 5y ago

Amazing ingenuity, but I’m scared by the amount of chemicals they’ve collectively inhaled.

blamazon 5y ago
The skill displayed with the "eyes closed while the arc is hot" welding technique is both impressive and concerning.
- jcims 5y ago
  aka safety squints

megraf 5y ago

Very impressed by the tolerances achieved, it's inspirational. The headlamps also look exceptional. Given that these guys are working with pretty primitive means of fabrication, this is a great attempt!

netsharc 5y ago
The video shows them unboxing the pair of headlights out of a box with Chinese characters on it[1]. It made me look on AliExpress to see if they sell knock-off Bugatti headlights. Actually they sell look-alikes for other cars, e.g. a Honda Civic [2], so I guess these guys looked hard to find shapes that match the original. [1] https://youtu.be/bwUnIN5RLm0?t=1379 https://youtu.be/bwUnIN5RLm0?t=1379 [2] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003214053321.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003214053321.html

petermcneeley 5y ago

plasticsoprano 5y ago
What is sad and pathetic exactly?
- elliottkember 5y ago
  They think the car's body is made of clay, not fibreglass, because they only watched the first minute.
  - petermcneeley 5y ago
    I was aware they used fiberglass. I was not aware that they removed the clay from under the fiberglass. This makes the car far lighter than it would be as I imagined. However unless a Bugatti is made out of fiberglass this is still just a Facade. Even if they made the body out of the proper material, does this have a Bugatti engine? What about it makes it a Bugatti?
    - renewiltord 5y ago
      Damn, I think you’ve cracked the case. Now I’m pretty sure this would lose in any race against a Bugatti. Also, now that you’ve mentioned it, I think they don’t have original Bugatti windscreen wipers. Every car aficionado knows that these distinctive elements reveal a real replica from a fake.
    - nwsm 5y ago
      What is it you want? Should they have gone to a Bugatti factory and asked Bugatti engineers to make them one? What would be the point?
jggonz 5y ago
I'm going to engage because there's nothing pathetic about these guys. I bet many people said people like "Thomas Edison", "The Wright brothers", and "Steve Wozniak" were "sad and pathetic" like you say as they tinkered on their projects.

dncornholio 5y ago

Something tells me this wouldn't survive much rain. Lack of close-ups makes me suspicious how good this build really is.

Hamuko 5y ago
There's some close-ups, but it doesn't really look that great in the far shots either. Uncanny valley territory.
kingkawn 5y ago
Are you kidding they did this from nearly nothing
netsharc 5y ago
The last 2 minutes has a "walkaround". You can see some cracks near the door handle, guy opens the fuel filler cap and it's hilarously unpainted on the inside, and it's held closed using a cabinet door magnet.

orliesaurus 5y ago

Very creative, but quality control of a Tesla model 3. /s

jacquesm 5y ago

Nothing short of amazing, an extremely small budget made up for a very large dose of ingenuity and craftsmanship, what's not to like?

samwillis 5y ago

About 15 min into the video and its giving be strong memories of a book I was given as a kid: "Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250" by Ron Champion https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Sports-Little-£250/dp/0854299769 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Sports-Little-£250/dp/08... It includes all plans and instructions on how to build a Lotus 7 style car from scratch using a Ford Escort Mk 3 as the donor car. Always dreamt of one day doing it. I believe it created a whole mini industry of workshops manufacturing components for amateurs to buy if they wanted to skip a step. There was/is a racing series for them too.

jermaustin1 5y ago
The Lotus 7 is one of my favorite sports car designs. Caterham has done a great job of making these modern and bringing them to America.
- samwillis 5y ago
  Love the Caterham 7, one day when the kids have left home the plan is to convince the wife building one is a good way to keep me out of the house. Amazingly our house has an inspection pit in the garage crying out to be used.

baltimore 5y ago

Obviously, legislation to prohibit these untraceable and dangerous ghost automatic super-cars is called for!

jcims 5y ago

Really great series on making fiberglass molds from a live pattern/part to crank out laminate (carbon fiber or fiberglass) copies. Seems like they could do that with this pretty easily, not sure if there is a market but it's a great start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKvDw1E60E&list=PL-DQ6gqgQvCm_Al2OH9_JRWyOMG5KsjMT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgKvDw1E60E&list=PL-DQ6gqgQv... (The channel is fantastic if you have any interest in making carbon fiber parts. The guy does great and very practical demos and they have some very good products for small batch/hobbyist projects. I just wish they would sign with a distributor in the US)

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

olivermarks 5y ago

I'm a big fan of people building vehicles - I do - but there's a hot rodding expression 'beautiful deathtrap'. People build aesthetically attractive vehicles, often with very powerful engines, spend a fortune on paint and visuals but there are lots of potentially deadly mechanical single points of failure. Some of these vehicles are mostly trailer queen show cars, but the ones that are driven a lot often need some safety work. I know of a socal shop that fixes high end customs designed by TV show car personalities so they are actually driveable Uncle Tony's garage showing some scary hacks video: https://youtu.be/a-DfxrEnDsI https://youtu.be/a-DfxrEnDsI

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
For every genuine safety hazard there's dozens of people complaining about stuff that just isn't. Seems like safety is just the trojan horse that the "you shouldn't have modified anything it was perfect the way the factory built it" people use to get past the gate these days (not saying you're one of those people). I skimmed the video. I didn't see anything particularly out of line. Their metal fabrication wasn't great but it's fine for what they're building and frankly where they're building it (don't get me wrong, that suspension is a kludge but they probably don't have enough car to break it). I like to see stuff attached to fiberglass anchored better and over more area but I'm no expert on fiberglass so I don't have a good feel for what you can get away with and what they did was as good as what you see on boats.
- olivermarks 5y ago
  I think you missed my broader point. I wasn't particularly criticizing this Bugatti emulation, I was making a broader point about people building aesthetically pleasing vehicle, because looks are everything to most people, and skimping on the mechanicals. This emulation looks like a film prop vehicle and they were very clever in how they created it. I did a metal bashing workshop with Gene Winfield (now 94 years old and going strong) last fall, a famous car customizer and builder of a lot of Hollywood vehicles including the Bladerunner vehicles. He was very clear on what was for visuals and what had to actually work and go down the road.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

marban 5y ago

Slightly cooler, this guy lived next to me and I saw him riding around his Duct Tape 911 all the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5vlqWln7do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5vlqWln7do

mysterydip 5y ago
Saw videos of that car at the time and would love to know more details and some experiences!

kingkawn 5y ago

Brilliant work

bityard 5y ago

I only watched part of it because it reminded me more of those cake-decorating videos than actually engineering and building a car. If you actually want to see someone (re)build a car from (nearly) scratch, check out Bad Obsession Motorsport. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get the funk out.

ynorzinum 5y ago

throwawayffffas 5y ago

Good for them, I was hoping for something more akin to the guy that build an iphone from parts he bought in Shenzhen.

mcast 5y ago
Strange Parts?

Gravityloss 5y ago

Great work. Why not wear gloves? Fiberglass gets in your skin and if epoxy is used, you might get sensitized to it. They might have used some other glue. At least they were wearing masks.

DocTomoe 5y ago

This is very similar to how car body design prototypes were built until the mid-1980s, when CAD become the master of prototyping. A quick photo search for "car body design clay" yields fascinating pictures. https://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2014/07/Opel-Russelsheim-Design-Studio-04-720x540.jpg https://www.carbodydesign.com/media/2014/07/Opel-Russelsheim...

lariati 5y ago

nixass 5y ago

This still has better build quality and panel gaps than Tesla cars.

alamortsubite 5y ago

Equal parts terrifying and impressive. If I worked in PR at Bugatti I'd ship these guys a case of eye protection and respirators.

flal_ 5y ago

This french dude has been building a GT40, documenting everything along the way on its youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/c/BenjaminWorkshop https://www.youtube.com/c/BenjaminWorkshop ( in french )

acmdas 5y ago

Wrong type of Bugatti - I was hoping that it would be a Type 35 or something of that ilk. Too bad.