Little Bugatti, big bucks

There’s already a lot of money in
the MontereyBay
area, but more greenbacks flooded the Oceanside
California city in the form of cool
cars and hard cash. The cash showed up at the many auctions, including those
held by Russo and Steele, RM Auctions, Bonhams and Gooding & Company.

Phil Skinner, ace auction reporter
for Old Cars Weekly, reported that a 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante coupe sold
at the Gooding & Company sale on Saturday night for $7.2 million dollars.
Skinner said bidding was hot between a phone bidder and a bidder who was in the
audience. The audience member nabbed the car for what very well might be a
record price for a non-Royale Bugatti. Gooding reported the car sold for $7.92
million, a figure presumably determined after the buyer’s premium.

The car was one of 12 Bugattis
offered from the Dr. Peter and Susan Williamson Collection. According to
Gooding, a portion of the $15.5 million raised from the sale of the Bugattis
will be donated on behalf of the late Dr. Peter Williamson to the Dartmouth-HitchcockMedical
Center and the DartmouthMedical
School.

Atalante coupes are a favorite of
mine, and I find it noteworthy to mention a second Bugatti Atalante was sold in
the sale for $850,000. This car was in better condition, but was not an SC. I’m
writing this from a hotel room and far away from my library, but I believe an
SC is a lower-slung (S) and supercharged (–C) model of Type 57, and a far more
desirable model of Bugatti.

You can see complete results from
the Monterey-area auctions on the pages of Old Cars Weekly.