Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
Automotive Lifestyle
VINTAGE: Museum Denies Buying Bugatti
Buyer of highest-priced collector car ever remains a mystery; media report had named Mullin museum.
Bob Golfen  |  Posted May 06, 2010   Santa Monica, CA.
The 1936 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic sold by Gooding is shown receiving the top Best of Show award at the 2003 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. (Photo: Gooding & Company)
The Mullin Automotive Museum is not the buyer of the world’s most expensive car, the 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic that sold last week for more than $30 million, the museum said today.

The recently organized Oxnard, Calif., museum issued a denial regarding media reports naming it as the purchaser of the famed Atlantic, which leaves the identity of the actual buyer still shrouded in mystery. The museum had been named as the buyer in a Wall Street Journal article.

The Atlantic, a unique highlight of French deco design, was sold by California auctioneer Gooding & Company in a private transaction. Gooding would not reveal the buyer nor the amount paid, though knowledgeable sources have pegged the price tag as somewhere between $30 million and $40 million, which would be the highest car purchase on record.

In comparison, the highest price ever paid for a collector car at public auction is $12.2 million for a 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa sold a year ago in Maranello, Italy.

Private treaty sales by auction houses often take place behind the scenes, with neither the sales amounts nor the sellers or buyers ever being made public.

Gooding served as broker for the family of the late Dr. Peter D. Williamson, a New Hampshire neurologist, who owned a renowned Bugatti collection with the Atlantic as its centerpiece.

The Atlantic is the first of three built, each a unique example derived from the Aerolithe Electron Coupe, a 1935 Paris Auto Salon show car. The signature riveted construction came from the magnesium-body Aerolithe, which could not be welded together. The aluminum Atlantics retained the riveted style as a design element.

In 2003, the Bugatti won the coveted Best in Show award at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The Mullin museum, which celebrated its grand opening recently although it is not yet open to the public, said it has had contact with the Atlantic’s buyer, who is amenable to having the Bugatti shown on a limited basis sometime this year.

The museum was created by car collector Peter Mullin and dedicated to the French art-deco designs of the early 20th Century through the Second World War.

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEEDtv.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, who has driven and evaluated essentially every new vehicle sold in the United States. A lifelong car enthusiast with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle, he annually attends and writes about Arizona's famous January collector-car auctions, focusing on Scottsdale’s monumental Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event and other Barrett-Jackson auctions. SPEEDtv.com fans email Automotive Editor Bob Golfen at

Play! SPEED Fantasy Racing and Super 7 Sweep
bob_golfen's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bob Golfen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.