Van thieves steal replica Bugatti

The working model was not completed when it was stolen

A replica historic car has been stolen from a car park in west London en route to a French exhibition.

Engineer Richard Day woke up on Saturday to find the white van in which he was transporting the model 1902 Bugatti had been stolen in Hounslow.

The £100,000 project to build the working replica was commissioned for an exhibition in Strasbourg to commemorate its industrial heritage.

Mr Day, who built the car in Bristol, says the exhibition may be postponed.

He had stopped for the night on his way to Strasbourg and parked the van, which was converted to a specialist car transporter, in a car park.

"I woke up this morning and my worst nightmare came and hit me in the face," he said.

"Somebody presumably was trying to steal a white van and will have discovered what is inside.

'Devastating' news for team

"It will be difficult for them because, like an Old Master painting, it will not be easy to dispose of something like that."

But Mr Day, curator of the Cheltenham-based Bugatti Trust, said he felt devastated because he had been responsible for something that a lot of people had put "so much effort" into.

The full-size working model of the 1902 De Dietrich Bugatti Type Five was not fully completed when it was stolen.

The project to build the metal-framed two-seater car with Victorian wooden wheels was funded by De Dietrich with sponsorship from the local authority.

The van it was inside was a Mercedes 312, registration number T485 ANP.

Scotland Yard has confirmed it is investigating the theft of a "high-value" replica car stolen from the A4, near Harris Close in Hounslow.