Thursday, May 14, 2015

Amazing Barn Find Bugatti Hasn’t Moved in 40 Years

BOLD RIDE

Copyright © 2015 Bold Ride LLC.

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What have you done since 1975? Answer: likely many things. However, ask the same question of this rarified 1925 Bugatti Brescia and the answer is ‘naught’. That’s because for the past four decades, this Bugatti has sat untouched behind the doors of a French barn. 

But don’t wince in pain, it’s going to find a new home soon enough. Artcurial Motorcars, the auction house that recently sold the dusty ‘Baillon’ barn find collection for $25 million, will usher this rare Bugatti across the auction block on June 22, and it’s expected to fetch a pretty penny – $280,000. Then again it would, allegedly only 12 of its kind are known to still exist.




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The Bugatti ‘Brescia’ forms the furthest evolution of Ettore Bugatti’s first car built at his new Molsheim factory – the Type 13. The car experienced a variety of changes over the years, the most famous of which was a revolutionary multi-valve engine, and when Bugatti took it racing at the 1921 Grand Prix of Italy at Brescia, his Type 13s swept first, second, third, and fourth. Orders apparently poured in and – in honor of that performance – the name stuck. Between 1914 and 1926, some 2,005 16-valve and 8-valve Brescia cars rolled off Ettore’s production lines.


This ‘pur sang’ (chassis 2628), or thoroughbred, was originally owned by Bugatti enthusiast Bernard Terrillon, and features bodywork crafted by coachbuilder Maron Pot et Cie from Levallois-Perret, France. It has remained in the family of the current owner since 1953, and at one point the Brescia was accompanied by three other Bugattis. Those however were sold off in the late ‘70s, leaving only this one to slumber on and age its barn find stature.




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Every piece of the Brescia is said to be original to the car, and despite the pictured flat tire – it looks in good shape for a 90 year old car. While the $280,000 auction estimate is by no means a bargain, it does seem rather affordable within the world of Bugatti.


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