The 1937 Bugatti supercar recently unearthed in a deceased doctor’s garage in northern England sold to a European collector for about $4.4 million at a Paris auction Feb. 6.
Auction house Bonham’s sold the Bugatti Type 57S Atalante at its Retromobile car show and sale on behalf of the heirs of its last owner, Dr. Harold Carr, who permanently parked the car nearly 50 years ago (click HERE to read more). Carr’s several nieces and nephews said they had no idea the Bugatti was buried in the dusty garage left to them by their eccentric uncle after his death in 2007.
“He was always such a generous man. It would have been boring and so
unlike him to have just left normal things,” one of Carr’s nephews told the Times UK Edition. “He was
very much a hoarder.”
The Atalante is one of only 37 built and is highly valued for its unrestored state.
Carr, the Bugatti’s third owner, drove the car for several years before parking it permanently in the early 1960s. A vintage Aston Martin and Jaguar were also housed with the Bugatti.
“I have known about this Bugatti for a number of years and, like a
select group of others, hadn’t dared divulge its whereabouts to
anyone,” said James Knight, international head of Bonhams’ motoring
department. “It is absolutely one of the last great barn discoveries.”
Click HERE to see photos from the auction.
