World's Most Expensive Car! 1936 Bugatti Atlantic Sells For More Than $30 Million
Earlier this week, a Bugatti originally built in 1936 sold for more than $30 million to an anonymous buyer, Autbolog reported.
USA Today calls it "the most expensive used car ever," while the Wall Street Journal called it the "most valuable car ever known to have changed hands."
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.
Whoever the buyer was, they join designer Ralph Lauren as the only two owners of these extremely rare rides.
The Wall Street Journal has some background on the vehicle:
The 57SC Atlantic was based on the Aerolithe Electron Coupe, a show car built for the 1935 Paris Auto Salon. The car's low-slung, pontoon-fender design was the work of Jean Bugatti, son of founder Ettore Bugatti. The show car was fashioned out of magnesium panels that were difficult to weld, and so Bugatti employed the car's distinctive riveted seams. And while the three production Atlantics were built of weld-able aluminum, the seams were retained as a design cue.
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First Posted: 07/07/10 06:12 AM ET Updated: 05/25/11 05:25 PM ET