The much anticipated Passion of a Lifetime sale by Gooding & Company more than met its heady expectations at the Concours of Elegance, Hampton Court Palace, London, on 5 September, with a whole host of world record prices.
Its lead lot, the King Leopold Bugatti Type 59 from 1934, has raised the bar for Bugattis, achieving £9,535,000. The remarkable unrestored survivor had been tipped to hit £10m, but the price is still more than ever before for a Bug under the hammer. History was made by the Type 35C, too, selling for £3,935,000 – the highest paid for a Grand Prix example at auction.
The Type 57S Atalante, pitched at more than £7m before the sale, hit £7,855,000 to make it a hat-trick of Bugatti records, being the most paid for a T57S Atalante at auction.
Bugattis 35C and 57S Atalante; patinated 35C and Flaminia; record-breaking Lamborghini Miura
