Selling too soon:
A Used-Car Deal for the Ages: 30 Bugattis Sold for a Song
By DON SHERMAN
BUGATTIS are the French blue diamonds of the auto world.
Even as prices for vintage Ferraris made headlines, the Bugatti marque managed to hold the title of most expensive. A 1931 Type 41 Royale that sold at auction in 1987 brought nearly $10 million, setting a record that stood for two decades.
This month, a 1936 Type 57SC Atlantic coupe that won the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance in 2003 sold privately for more than $28 million, according to Katie Hellwig, a spokeswoman for Gooding & Company, the auction house that brokered the sale.
But every now and then there are Bugatti bargains. In January, a 1925 Brescia Type 22 sold to a museum collection at auction for $345,000. That car was a bit the worse for wear, having spent more than 70 years at the bottom of Lake Maggiore in Switzerland, the result of a dispute over import duties.
In glaring contrast was a little-known package deal, perhaps the used-car bargain of the 20th century. On a March day in 1964, 30 Bugattis were loaded onto railcars in a small Illinois town some 65 miles east of St. Louis. A motivated seller shipped his collection — to a buyer in France he had never met — for just $85,000, including freight. Even when converted to $600,000 in today’s dollars, that was a giveaway.
The seller was John W. Shakespeare, a wealthy sportsman who dabbled in leisure pursuits that ranged from sports car racing to orchid horticulture. His father, William, the inventor of the level-winding fishing reel, had amassed a fortune manufacturing tackle..............
nytimes.com
Didn't necessarily end up well for the buyer:
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org |
