By Yan Verdier
How does a passion continue over three generations ?
The Novos certainly keep many a secret. They have succeeded in maintaining the soul of our beloved marque to such an extent that you would think that the garage in Marolles had always been there. Each visit turns into a strange journey through time during which one catches oneself thinking that perhaps the Molsheim factory is still producing.
When I met Henri Novo, I didn't remember now which of us was the first to utter the name of Bugatti, but I think that he was quicker off the mark than I was. It was in the den of the impasse du Lavoir. I had just dropped in for a brief visit and I stayed for hours on end as I still do today when I take off along the roads of the Essonne. To restore an antique machine is to keep a memory.
For sharing his memories with us Henri Novo thoroughly deserves a "coup de beret".
Preface to Marc Nicolosi.
A new book will soon be published: Henri Novo's biography.
I have been a close family friend as well as neighbour for many years now. I have spent the last ten years researching for this biography.
The book « Une vie pour Bugatti » consists of ten chapters, of which eight are dedicated to Henri, Jean and Frederic, who all in turn have carried on with the Bugatti tradition. This represents a total of seventy three years of experience !
Chapter nine is the,register of over ono hundred chassis numbers between 1935 and 1950. The last chapter is a series of short biographies of celebrities who have known Henry.
Vanous artists, painters and photographers, have contributed to the book, and the iconography is entirely new.
The book « Une vie pour Bugatti » is being sold by subscription at the following prices :
Payments in Cash
Contact Yan Verdier, 99 rue Menilmontant, 75020 Paris, France
E-mail: yan_verdier@club-internet.fr
(Photo with Henri:Petra Pierrette Berger, painting: Yahn Janou)