Most Expensive Antique Car in the World

Written by: jeremy Filed Under: Vehicles, World on January 13th, 2009

When relatives of the recently deceased and “eccentric” Dr. Harold Carr opened the garage he’d left to them in his will, they had no idea what to expect. Sure they’d heard that there might be a Bugatti in there, but that was just a bit of local legend. As it happened, there really was a Bugatti in there—and, when it goes to auction in February, it will likely prove to be the most expensive car ever sold.

This 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante was originally purchased by Earl Howe a month after it left the Bugatti works. Over the 8 years that he owned the car, Howe added new bumpers, a luggage rack and rearview mirrors. It was later brought up to SC specification with the addition of a Marshall K200 supercharger by its next owner, J P Tingay. Eventually, the car found its way into the hands of Lord Ridley who held it for a year before selling it to Dr. Carr.

Combine this pedigree with the fact that only seventeen Type 57S’s—a version of the Type 57 modified specifically for competitions—were created and you have quite an expensive car.

The world’s most expensive antique car is expected to sell for £6 million (over US $8.8 million) at Bonham’s Retromobile car show in Paris.