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Rare 1937 Bugatti Supercar on Auction Block, Expected to Sell for $4M

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Courtesy FoxNews.com

A rare vintage car on the auction block this weekend will likely fetch $4 million.

Bonhams auction house in Paris is selling the black 1937 Bugatti, one of only 17 ever made, on Saturday.

The powerful 2-seater, a Type 57S Atalante, had a top speed of 130 mph at a time when most cars could only go half as fast or less.

It is expected to sell for than 3 million British pounds, or $4.3 million.

"It was an incredibly valuable car in period," James Knight, the managing director of Bonhams motoring department, told NPR. "It would have been one of the most expensive cars you could afford to drive on the road."

The dusty old luxury car was hidden away in the garage of an elderly doctor who bought it in 1955 and last used it around 1960. His relatives found it after his death.

British race car driver Earl Howe was the Bugatti's first owner.

• Click here to read more about the rare Bugatti.

Edited by BugMan on February-07-2009 at 7:32am

Bugatti found in Britain gets big bucks at auction

LONDON – A car abandoned in a garage in Britain for half a century sold at an auction in Paris for euro3.4 million (about $4.4 million) Friday.

The 1937 Bugatti Type 57S went under the hammer at Bonhams' Retromobile car show and sale in Paris. It was sold on behalf of the family of its last owner, Dr Harold Carr.

The orthopedic surgeon drove the car for several years, but in the early 1960s it was parked in his garage in Gosforth, near Newcastle in northern England, where it remained for nearly 50 years until his death in 2007.

Bugatti once represented the height of motoring achievement. The supercar was so ahead of its time it could go up to 130 mph (209 kph) when most other cars topped out about 50 mph (80 kph).

This particular car is especially valuable because it was originally owned by Earl Howe, a prominent British race car driver, and because its original equipment is intact, so it can restored without relying on replacement parts.

Bonham's said a European collector bought the car.

The company founded in 1909 by Ettore Bugatti collapsed in the 1940s after a long string of racing victories.

The rights to the legendary Bugatti name were purchased in 1998 by Volkswagen, which has built the Bugatti Veyron, one of the world's fastest and most expensive cars.