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Bugatti Type 57 Aerolithe recreation on display in Kuwait Classic Car Museum

By Shahzad Sheikh

The 1935 Bugatti Type 57 Aerolithe is a rare car indeed. So rare, it didn’t even exist anymore. Until now that is. A faitful recreation has been on display at the Historical, Vintage & Classic Cars Museum in Kuwait recently.

But what is the Aerolithe? Built before the Type 57SC Atlantics which borrowed their styling from this car, and built on a Type 57 chassis, the Aerolithe featured a body made of magnesium. This was a brittle, inflammable material that was extremely lightweight.

It appeared at the UK Earls Court Motor Show, was tested once in 1936 and then disappeared. It’s thought it was broken up for materials during the war.

The Guild of Automotive Restorer in Bradford, Ontario took on the difficult task remaking it from a handful of black and white photos, some rough blueprints and a painting.

They sourced an original Type 57 chassis then started working on the body. So hard was the material to work with, that they had to cut and weld strips of its together to create the complex curves of the shape.

It took five years to rebuild it and even the tyres had to be custom made for the car.

The car is now owned by Christopher Ohrstrom who, along with David Grainger of the Guild of Automotive Restoration Company, brought the car to be displayed in Kuwait.

The Kuwait Museum even hosted a model of a 2025 futuristic interpretation of the Aerolithe and displayed a reproduction of the original painting of the car, which became the only clue as to the colour of the Aerolithe (remember all the photos were in black and white).