£3 Million 1937 Bugatti Found In British Garage After Almost 50 Years

An unmolested 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, one of only 17 built, was discovered in a garage in the UK after gathering dust for almost 50 years. The estimated value? At least $4.35 million!

An unmolested 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante was discovered after spending 48 years in a quiet, Tyneside, Britain garage. It's being termed "one of the last great barn-finds" with an estimated value of at least £3 Million ($4.35 million).

The car was originally owned by the first president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, Earl Howe, and through a series of sales ended up in the hands of a reclusive doctor named Harold Carr. After driving the car for a couple years, it was parked in a private garage in 1960 and hasn't seen the road since. With only seventeen examples of Type 57S Atalantes ever produced, the car was notably absent in the history of significant Bugattis.

In 2007, Dr. Carr passed away and left the contents of the garage to his family. That was when the car was discovered. It's currently set to cross the auction blocks at Bonhams of Paris next month, and with the combination of an incredibly rare chassis, only 26,284 original miles, a rare supercharged inline eight engine and its unmolested condition, we suspect some very wealthy bidders will push the price well past that initial valuation of $4.35 million.

Reminds us of that barn-found 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante a couple years ago. Wonder how many more are out there, lurking in dusty barns.(Hat tip to everyone who sent this in!)

[via BBC]

Photo Credit: Bonhams

Send an email to Ben, the author of this post, at ben@jalopnik.com.

publish on Facebook

Upload an image | Add an image URL ×

Image URL: ×

Youtube URL: ×

Choose a file to upload:

×

Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

Loading comments ...

Earlier discussions | Other discussions | Show all discussions | Show featured discussions only | Expand all threads Collapse all threads
Start a new discussion