A curve-alicious French deco vehicle is now the most expensive car in the world, after reportedly selling for up to $40 million
The auction was handled by Gooding & Company, a Santa Monica, California-based auction firm. In a statement, David Gooding, the company’s president and founder, called the vehicle “one of the world’s most significant and valuable automobiles.”
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. Huffington Post
Gooding wouldn’t disclose the price secured by the old owners, the family of Dr. Peter D. Williamson, a Yale neurologist, epilepsy expert and vintage car collector who died at his home in New Hampshire in June 2008. But the Wall Street Journal reported the vehicle sold to the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, Ca., for between $30 million and $40 million, citing a person familiar with the transaction. New York Daily News
Gooding says the Atlantic was an automobile derived from Bugatti’s prototype Aerolithe Electron Coupé that caused a sensation when it was unveiled at the 1935 Paris Auto Salon. Bugatti later built just three Atlantics, each one different from the next, but this 1936 car (chassis #57374) is the first in the series and its historical significance, originality and restoration has been revered by enthusiasts throughout the world.
Formerly the coveted pillar of the world-renowned Williamson Bugatti Collection, the Atlantic was the 2003 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance best in Show car. USA Today
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