Handmade Manifolds by Graham Smart

Bugatti

Graham Smart has built manifolds, Brookland silencers and fishtails for classic and vintage cars for longer than he can remember…Bugatti being a particular passion of his, making and designing them from original drawings.

Enthusiasts and connoisseurs appreciate hand made manifolds which Graham builds to order in stainless or mild steel ready to be polished, chromed or painted.

Graham’s grounding is in engineering, starting at age 15. He took his apprenticeship in England in the art of blacksmithing. Over the years he has applied and adapted his talent, musical ear and artistic bent to that age old craft with his own uniqe and special spin.

Graham learned how to drill it, machine it, thread it, file it, cut it, fire weld it, gas, arc , MIG and TIG weld it. You name it and he can and will do it…to the highest standard imaginable.

He learned all about triangulation and gussets then once all that was in his head and my hands he knew with supremes confidence that once whatever he built was built that it will work first time and last a long, long time because there are no weak areas.

During his career Graham worked for the Wallcolmondy Corporation. This forward thinking American company employed him as the research and development department where he dealt with coatings in nickel and cobalt. Yes, that’s right, he alone was the research and development department.

Bugatti

A small claim to fame lies in the fact that he sprayed the telescopic legs for the Explorer lunar landing and at least he can say that one of the parts he worked on is on the moon…he told me he would just pop over and check it is still OK one of these days when he had time.

When Graham ran his own company, GDS Exhausts, in Brackley, UK (the silicone valley of British motor racing) they made exhausts for cars, motorbikes, boats, aircraft, hovercraft, racing chainsaws (yes you read that correctly, RACING CHAINSAWS) and in fact anything that had an engine!

Meanwhile here is an example of some of Graham’s Bugatti manifolds in various stages of preparation. Bugatti Type 35, Bugatti Type 37 and Bugatti Type 49 are shown.

Bugatti