Bucciali TAV 12

The Bucciali TAV 12 (alternatively also 8-32 or Type 7) is the last model from the French car manufacturer Bucciali. Introduced in 1931, the TAV 12's history and characteristics are not fully understood. Unusual for the time, it had front-wheel drive and sensational bodywork, the flat and long limousine version of which was also known as la flèche d'or ("the golden arrow"). The vehicle, of which only one is known, was dismantled into its individual parts before the outbreak of the Second World War. A collector had it rebuilt 40 years later. Since the early 1990s, the TAV 12 has been ready to drive again and is shown at exhibitions from time to time.

Background

The Bucciali brand can be traced back to Angelo ("Buc"; 1889–1981) and Paul-Albert Bucciali (1887–1946). The Bucciali brothers, from a Corsican family, were born in Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France and worked as piano and organ builders in their hometown. After World War I, they founded Société Bucciali Frères, based in Courbevoie near Paris, which produced a series of small, conventionally styled sports cars from 1922. Some of the cars initially marketed under the Buc badge were one-offs, but some models were produced in small series of up to 100 units (Buc AB 4–5). Occasionally, Buc cars appeared at French motorsport events. Depending on the source, the company produced 120, 150 or 200 cars in 1926. This was not enough to make the business economically viable. As a result, the Bucciali brothers stopped producing conventionally designed automobiles at the end of 1925.