A 1936 Bugatti, 30 Million!

[OneofNoneRT]

A 1936 Bugatti, thought to be the world's most expensive car, recently sold for over $30 million. Magnesium body panels.. couldnt weld them so they are riveted.. Fascinating car, But 30 Million  Kinda Ugly 

[OneofNoneRT]

OK.. I had to add this link.. I am just amazed.. All the absolutely Beautiful/marvelously engineered cars in the world.. And this one brings this..

http://www.supercars.net/cars/2705.html

[gtx6970]

Chassis #57374 - Here is the first production Atlantic which is identified by its low set headlights that only slightly protrude.

[PocketThunder]

A 1936 Bugatti, thought to be the world's most expensive car, recently sold for over $30 million. Magnesium body panels.. couldnt weld them so they are riveted.. Fascinating car, But 30 Million  Kinda Ugly 

It does have a face only a mother could love...  But, member Aero426 will be here shortly to tell us more about it. .     

[bull]

Wow. Some cars are so ugly they're beautiful but I think that car started ugly, passed beautiful like it was standing still and ran head-on into fugly. That said, I would gladly sell that thing for half what it went for and laugh all the way to the bank.

[tan top]

intresting  , but dont do nothing for me !!  30mill  look how many  XX29 & XS  & J codes  you could get with that  
& still buy a fully equiped workshop &  large house 

[Ghoste]

The difference is that the XX and XS buyers are making their purchases with an eye toward the functionality of the vehicle.  Even if it will never venture forth from it's safe housing or not, there is still a notion that it represents a great racing heritage and the excitement of the muscle car era.  Hanging out at high school, first dates, watching one "just like it" win the weekend NASCAR race and many other real life activities took place around the Charger.
That Bugatti, and many others of the Art Deco period are nothing but sculpture on wheels.  Yes, the Bugatti has a racing heritage but it's really limited to a romanticized period before WWII.  Not unlike the Veyron of today, the Bugatti's of that time were playtoys for the very wealthy and more at home on the Great Gatsby's front lawn than taking Joe Average to his job at the steel mill.  Their role today hasn't changed much and they are just moved from collection to collection and occasionally paraded around various concour's d' elegance where the wealthy art patrons vote on who brought the nicest scultpure to that particular weekend at the resort.
There is nothing wrong with either scenario and there is plenty of room for both in the auto hobby.

[Mike DC]

 
Cars like this will make the news about 3 times in their lives: 


#1  When it's first built and then sold for some stupid-high number. 

#2  When it gets resold for some even-stupid-higher number, maybe several increasing rounds of this over the years. 

#3  When some rich jackass finally gets drunk & wrecks it.
 

[Aero426]

intresting  , but dont do nothing for me !!  30mill  look how many  XX29 & XS  & J codes  you could get with that  
& still buy a fully equiped workshop &  large house  

I can't say it better than Ghoste did.   It's all relative.   People say the same thing about a Hemi Daytona:  "Well gee, look how many (insert other cars here) I could buy for that one. "   Very true, but it's all what you want and where your priorities are.

The deal with the Bugatti is that it has transcended from an automobile, to a piece of art.   Keeping in mind the last time that car changed hands was almost 40 years ago, (and $59,000 unrestored then!) someone bought that car because they wanted something they MIGHT-NOT-GET-ANOTHER-CHANCE at.    Yes, it's an obscene amount of money for an automobile.   But it might be considered cheap considered what some pay for things in the art world.     Of course the guy who paid $8 million for a dead shark in a tank of formaldehyde is probably shaking his head and saying,   "Man, I could buy four more of those dead sharks for the price of that car!"  

[tan top]

yeah i see what your saying guys   makes sence when you put it like that ,   still crazy though i think ! but yes each to their own

[Ghoste]

Further to all of that, and understand I am only speaking for myself here, as someone who is around those kind of cars almost every day I tend to not even see them as cars anymore.  At least not in the same sense that I view my Charger or something like a 55 T-Bird or whatever.  When I look at them I really do see the art in their construction more than anything else.  Even the engineering (and some of it was extremely clever) of a lot of the pre-war classics I somehow view the art behind it more than the mechanical appreciation.  If that makes sense.
I just look at them as being on a completely different scale of the automotive experience and although I still shake my head at the amoutn of money spent, it is more about the actual amount as being a sum I can't truly comprehend than an arbitrary number assigned as a value to an object.
I see a 2nd gen Charger as art and I think them as being my favorite styled vehicle ever, but not the same as that Bugatti.  It's similar to the drawings a close friend of mine can do.  He is an art teacher at a local high school and can produce work that just leaves me shaking my head in amazement.  I even proudly display one of his charcoal drawings on out living room wall.  But to compare it to something hanging in the Louvre is quite different.  I can't exactly spell it out but it is somehow not the same.
FWIW, I imagine our own treasured cars will evetually reach that status as well through attrition both of the cars and of the people who actually have those high school parking lot memories of them.  Happily I doubt it will happen in my lifetime and that means I can still go drive the snot out of my car and feel no guilt. 

[bakerhillpins]

Ah, they decided to sell the car.

The Bugatti 57SC Atlantic was previously owned by the trust of the late Dr. Peter Williamson, a neurosurgeon and car collector. The vehicle was the first of just three Atlantics built, according to Gooding & Company.

When Dr. Williamson passed, his collection, sans the Bugatti, was auctioned off. This car was just down the road from me for years. Dr. Williamson used to drive his Bugattis (and others from his collection) in our town parades on the 4th. Wonderful gentleman.  He enjoyed his cars and always drove them. You guys would have approved! 

[Aero426]

Ah, they decided to sell the car.

The Bugatti 57SC Atlantic was previously owned by the trust of the late Dr. Peter Williamson, a neurosurgeon and car collector. The vehicle was the first of just three Atlantics built, according to Gooding & Company.

When Dr. Williamson passed, his collection, sans the Bugatti, was auctioned off. This car was just down the road from me for years. Dr. Williamson used to drive his Bugattis (and others from his collection) in our town parades on the 4th. Wonderful gentleman.   He enjoyed his cars and always drove them. You guys would have approved!  

Before he passed away, Williamson decided to sell his collection (all the Bugatti's except this one).   He set it up so a portion of the proceeds benefitted various medical charities.  This was in 2008.    They probably saved this one for later knowing it was the "really big gun".  

[OneofNoneRT]

From the same ERA..here is a car... Morman Meteor!

The Duesenberg Special stopped every 400 miles for fuel, tires and a safety check. On August 31, 1935 the run ended and the Duesenberg Special held a succession of new records including the top mark, covering 3,253 miles in 24 hours at 135.47 miles per hour, an amazing accomplishment. 

1935!

[OneofNoneRT]

  Check out the side seat..

[bobs66440]

Check out the side seat..

I can't imagine what that would be for...maybe if the driver saw a pretty girl walking down the sidewalk, he could scoop her up? 

That must be some ride in that seat!!   

[Ghoste]

It would be for a staff member.  Roadsters were typically driven by the owners and not chauffered so the seat could be for a chauffer who in that time also functioned as mechanic and chief tire changer.  It could also be used for a valet or other personal servant.
I am sure it was also frequently used for daring passengers though.

[Ponch ®]

A 1936 Bugatti, thought to be the world's most expensive car, recently sold for over $30 million. Magnesium body panels.. couldnt weld them so they are riveted.. Fascinating car, But 30 Million  Kinda Ugly 

Isn't there a Rolls Royce Silver Arrow (I don't know much if anything about those cars) - the first one ever built or something like that - that's worth $50 mil? Then again, I can't remember if that's how much it sold for or if it's just what "they" think that's how much it would sell for.