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June 4, 2007
A 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante coupé that had been sitting untrouched in a garage outside New York City for 45 years sold yesterday for $852,500 (including Christie's 10 percent buyer's premium) at a Christie's auction at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance in Greenwich, Conn.
The price was way over the auction house's estimate of $300,000 to $400,000 but as auctioneer Hugh Edmeades told me afterwards, there is no way to really value a car this rare and in such orginal condition. "They find their own level," he said.
The bidding for the car ended in a bullfight between noted restorer Wayne Carini of F40 Motor Sports in Portland, Conn., who was bidding on behalf of Connecticut contractor Joe Capasso and an unidentified telephone bidder.
As the levels went higher, the two bidders did everything they could to knock the other out. Sometimes they came back immediately with a price, sometimes they mulled and then delivered a steep increase in an attempt to deliver a killing blow. At times the crowd gasped and applauded following long gaps and sudden hits; at other times you could have heard a pin drop. Certainly Edmeades did not need to work the kind of auctioneer's magic he had used earlier to push the bidding higher.
But what am I doing - giving away a fabulous story that will appear in Wednesday's projoCARS section? Be sure to read it as one of the issues I will be addressing is the restoring vs conserving and preserving argument that this sale highlighted. Plus details of some of the other beauties that were sold and some of the flavor of this tony and amusing event.
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