Heroshot

1932 Bugatti Type 55 Super Sport

Roadster
Engine No. 21
Amelia Island 2020 - Bonhams
Friday, 6 March - Saturday, 7 March 2020
$7,100,000
Sale Price
123
Lot Number
#3
Older Restoration
Bonhams
Auction House
Chassis No. 55220, Engine No. 21. Red and black with a black top over black leather. RHD. 2262-cc, 160-hp L-8. 4-speed manual. 8-spoke alloy wheels, Dunlop Racing tires, dual rear-mounted spares, folding windshield, Scintilla headlights, and Jean Bugatti-designed coachwork.

Evaluation: Older restoration | Sold new to Victor Rothschild, later to R. ­MacLeod-Carey, whose meticulous 32-page notebook about the car comes with it. Eventually auctioned in 1985 by Sotheby’s in London to Dean Edmonds, who canceled his Friday classes at Boston University, took the Concorde to London on Thursday, bought it on Saturday (for £440,000, about $570,000 at the time), and returned via Concorde. He was back in class on Monday. Restored in 1993, class winner at Pebble Beach that year. Good older paint, fair brightwork, good upholstery and gauges. The engine and chassis are obviously used but extremely well maintained. A gorgeous Jean Bugatti design with an impeccable history.

Bottom Line: The Type 55 was, essentially, a Grand Prix car in street clothes, and what gorgeous street clothes they were. This example’s history makes it even better, and the bidders in the Bonhams’s Amelia marquee recognized how extraordinary it is with this generous yet completely realistic result.

by Hagerty Editor
1 February 2020
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