Rusty 1925 Bugatti sells for $408,000

Rusty 1925 Bugatti sells for $408,000




By Neil McDonald



Herald Sun


04 February 2010












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This
rusty 1925 Bugatti that sat on the bottom of a lake in Switzerland for
73 years just fetched $408,000 at the Bonhams Retromobile sale in Paris
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Wealthy collectors are moving back into the rare car market.


One
cashed-up European has just paid $408,000 for a rusty 1925 Bugatti that
sat on the bottom of a lake in Switzerland for 73 years. The price for
the Type 22 Brescia Roadster was even more astonishing given that
auction house Bonhams had put a reserve of $140,000 on the car.

It was one of several six-figure prices paid for classics at the
Bonhams Retromobile sale in Paris. Over in the USA, organisers of the
annual Barrett-Jackson classic auction in Scottsdale, Arizona also saw
record prices paid for some classic American muscle cars.

Top-sellers included a 1929 Hamilton Metalplane, which fetched
$755,000, a 1964 Shelby Cobra went for $607,700 and another rare 1963
Shelby Cobra CSX2091 made $443,600. In a sign the economic blues may
be over, Barrett raised more than $30 million this year, up 2 per cent
over last year.







In
Paris other Bonhams sale highlights were a 1935 Hispano-Suiza T56
Torpedo that sold for $742,700. A record-breaking $622,100 was paid
for a 1970 Monteverdi 450SS Hia Berlinetta and an iconic Citroen DS
Decapotable - convertible - from the early 1970s sold for $295,500.

A spokesman for Bonhams says the sale raised $10.4 million, with 75
per cent of the lots sold. Analysts in Europe and North America say
the results of both auctions say that serious collectors are emerging
from the global economic crisis.

The winning Bugatti bidder, who was a European collector
representing the Peter Mullin Collection in California, plans to show
the car as it is at his museum. A spokesman for Bonhams says that if
it is restored only 20 per cent of the original car is reusable.

The Bugatti was stuck in deep mud in Lake Maggiore, Switzerland
until last July. It was rescued by a local diving club to be sold to
raise money for a local charity. The Bugatti's original owner has been
traced to a Marco Schmuklerski, who is believed to have been unable to
pay duty on the car to Swiss authorities back in 1936.

He subsequently left Switzerland, leaving the car behind. Local
customs police destroyed the car by throwing it in the lake in about
50m of water.

Because it sat there for so long much of the car's body has
deteriorated. Most components have corroded, particularly on the car's
exposed right-hand side. Other materials like wood, aluminium, brass
and rubber survived in a much better condition.