Botafogo Special

PRODUCTS > HOT ROD COLLECTION > BOTAFOGO SPECIAL

Jay Leno's "Botafogo Special"

This one of a kind guitar was built for our buddy Jay Leno. It was inspired by his very cool 1917 Fiat race car named BOTAFOGO SPECIAL (brought to life by Pur Sang Argentina), after a famous race horse. The car was raced in Italy and later in Argentina, and is powered by a WW1 Fiat 22L airplane engine. It has quite the history!

We’ve had the pleasure of visiting Jay’s private car collection several times now and among all the incredible vehicles in his stable, the BOTAFOGO SPECIAL just kept jumping out at me. It was just begging for a custom built guitar to match all the cool elements and materials of that era. The guitar was delivered to Jay in May 2013, and his reaction and appreciation for all the details made it all worth it. It now hangs next to its automotive twin in Jay’s beautiful museum.

Special thanks to Jay Leno for your enthusiasm regarding V8CG and for all you do for this hobby, Bob Sales for coordinating everything, Dan Gruer (Dan Gruer Hot Rod Garage, Quebec) for the perfect matching paint job, and Michael Harris and Alex Pinzon of Dupont California for coding the vintage paint.

For more on the Jay’s original BOTAFOGO SPECIAL, check out Jay Leno’s Garage, a great web show for anyone who cares about this automotive hobby. Jay also interviewed me about the project in October 2013 with special guest guitarist Paul Jackson Jr!

-Spanky

Specs

NECK
V8 logo 3D  
17 degree headstock angle for maximum down-pressure and resonance.  
Locking Grover aged brass tuners  
FIAT logo truss rod cover
Vintage bone nut 1 11/16"  
22 frets  
25.5" scale  
12" radius  
Comfortable c shape neck. Not too big - not too thin!  
Medium jumbo frets  
Seated and sealed for max resonance and sustain  
Quartersawn one piece maple neck and ebony fretboard  
Chemically aged to match car sideboards  
BOTAFOGO –SPECIAL- MOP 12th fret inlay  
Aluminum side markers

BODY
T6 aluminum top with reverse louver sound holes
Mahogany body  
Contoured heel for superior upper fret access  
Chambered/semi-hollow for acoustic resonance  
13 1/8" body width  
7.5 lbs.  
2"total thickness  
String through body  
Stainless steel "V" shape recessed backplate for maximum resonance and sustain;  
Copper teardrop pickguard to match rad shell and tail of car 
Copper machined solid Compton bridge

ELECTRONICS
Dynamically responsive V8 Custom Guitars “Radiator” P90 pickups  
Completely shielded for noise reduction and harmonic increase;  
CTS pots; Switchcraft 3 way pickup selector and tone switches with custom machined brass tips
Master volume with series switching and custom machined knob
Electrosocket output jack

COLORS
The original BOTAFOGO SPECIAL paint was scanned and coded by Dupont Los Angeles and painted perfectly by Dan Gruer (Dan Gruer Garage, Quebec)*
Aged green top and black body
Aged “3” hand lettered racing number

*Differences in picture colors are due to different cameras and lighting used to photograph the car and the guitar. In person they match perfectly!

AVAILABILITY
Thanks to all the great reviews and feedback from Jay’s BOTAFOGO –SPECIAL-, we’ve decided to launch the V8CG BONNEVILLE series! For options and pricing, go to the BONNEVILLE page.