By this time next week 15 of the greatest and most coveted cars in the history of the automobile should be safely installed with their new owners after an auction at Hampton Court tomorrow (Saturday 5th September) that ranks as one of the most extraordinary of this, or any other, year.
This car collection is expected to sell for over £37million
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The headline car is a 1939 Bugatti Type 59 Sports for which auction house Gooding & Co. is looking for £10m plus. Billed as the ultimate Bugatti grand prix car, the supercharged straight-eight works racer won at Spa and was third at Monaco before dominating in sports car racing of the period. Converted for road use, it was snapped up by King Leopold of Belgium and has had only four owners since then. Gooding says it is arguably the most important, original and coveted of all competition Bugattis.
The Type 59 joins two other Molsheim marvels, both just as special in their own way and almost as valuable, with the 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante tipped to make at least £7m. The other Bug in the sale is a 1928 Type 35C Grand Prix (£3m up).
The Bugattis are special but chased in the special stakes by an equally wonderful trio of Aston Martins: a DB4 GT Zagato, a DB3S and an Ulster and together conservatively worth £12m. In any other auction each of them could easily have been the star of the show, as could the Lamborghini Miura, the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and Vauxhall 30-98 also in the sale.
Wherever you look in this revered collection is a true automotive great, a testament to the collector’s meticulous passion – so much so Gooding & Co. has called the sale Passion of a Lifetime. It is actually Gooding’s first ever sale outside the US – nothing like arriving with a bang…
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Here are the 15 cars for sale at Hampton Court Palace at 5pm Saturday, with their estimated prices. Chequebooks at the ready…
1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, £10m plus
1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, £7-9m
1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, £7m plus
1955 Aston Martin DB3S, £3-4m
1928 Bugatti Type 35C Grand Prix, £3m plus
1935 Aston Martin Ulster, £1.6-2.2m
1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV, £1.6-2m
1919 Rolls-Royce 40/50 Silver Ghost, £1-1.4m
1924 Vauxhall 30-98, £800-1.2m
1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Sider America, £700-900,000
1939 Bentley 4.25 Litre Cabriolet, £450-600,000
1965 Lamborghini 350 GT, £400-550,000
1959 Lancia Flaminia 250 Sport, £400-500,000
1927 Bentley 3 Litre Speed sports tourer, £350-450,000
1924 Lancia Lambda Torpedo, £320-400,000
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