Rare Bugatti up for auction with €4.5m guide price

A RARE Bugatti car which was found in a garage after the death of its owner went on show to the media yesterday before it is sold at auction.

The 1937 Type 57S Atalante was one of just 17 built by the company and its existence was known to only a handful of people during the last 50 years.

Originally owned by Earl Howe, it was discovered by the family of Dr Harold Carr in his garage in Gosforth, Newcastle.

The bachelor died in June 2007 aged 89 and had not driven the 210km/h car since 1960. He left the garage to his nephews and nieces, who knew nothing of its valuable contents. Carr also had several other classic vehicles.

The Bugatti, which went on display in Hartney Wintney in Hampshire, is to be sold at Bonhams’ Retromobile sale in Paris on February 7 with an estimated guide price of £2.75 million (€3.1m) to £4m (€4.5m). The car has 43,000 kilometres on the clock.

Carr’s relatives were unaware of the rare two-seater coupe’s existence until they opened the garage doors; the Bugatti was parked alongside a Jaguar E-type sports car and an Aston Martin.

His nephew, an engineer from Gosforth, Newcastle, who asked to remain anonymous, said while the family knew Carr had a number of vehicles, none of his relatives knew they were worth so much.

Of the 17 Atalantes built, four are the property of the French Musee National de l’Automobile in Mulhouse, and the others are in private hands.

The current auction record for a car was the $8.7m (€6.4m) paid for a 1931 Bugatti Royal Kellner coupe, powered by a 12.7 litre aircraft engine, sold in 1987.

“The Atalante is incredibly original and, although she requires restoration, it is ‘restoration’ in the true sense of the word,” James Knight of Bonhams, the auctioneer, says.