Early Bugattis are among the most desirable pre-war cars out there, so seeing three of them tucked inside a barn like this untouched is a rare treat. The cars have since been pulled out of their slumber, and now, they’re going up for auction.
The cars were a part of Belgian sculptor August Thomassen’s collection, which he began to assemble in the 1950s. The cars laid dormant inside a barn in Belgium for years before the curators at Artcurial Motorcars dug them out (having to move an abandoned car and numerous sandbags in the process). All three cars will be offered without reserve at Artcurial’s Retromobile 2019 event starting on February 8th, 2019. The company documented the entire discovery process on video, which can be seen below.
The blue convertible is a 1937 Type 57 Cabriolet, estimated to sell for between $400,000 and $600,000 Euros, which translates to around $457,000 to $685,000 at current exchange rates. The yellow-bodied car is a 1923 Type 49 Berline set to go for between 150,000 and 200,000 Euros, or around $171,000 and $228,000. The final car is a Type 40 that was involved in an accident at some point in its life. Thomassen, the owner at the time, decided to reconstruct his own wooden body for the vehicle, but never completed the build. It’s estimated to go for 70,000 to 130,000 Euros, or $80,000 to $148,000.
A fourth car discovered in the barn, a 1925 Citroen C3 Torpedo, will also sell at Artcurial’s Retromobile auction. If you’re in the market for any of these cars, you better act fast, because by this time next week, they’ll be on the auction block ready to meet their new owners.
via 9 News
Source: Read Full Article