It seems that auction house Artcurial He has taken a liking to this type of lots, especially after the success of the sale in the past Retromobile from Paris (read chronicle) from the impressive Baillón collection (see news), considered by many to be the greatest discovery to date.
And yet, with this curious Bugatti we see what they really are findings of the XNUMXst century: Although they still exist, old vehicles kept by their original owners decades ago are hardly found anymore. Rather, what is now coming to light are cars that were already discovered once in the 50s-70s, and even restored and used by those early enthusiasts.
THE FIRST DISCOVERER
According to Artcurial - which is going to put it up for auction in Paris on June 22 - the little Brescia was discovered and used during the 60s by Bernard Terrillon, a great fan of the red oval brand that for many years enjoyed an interesting stable equipped with no less than four different Bugatti.
At the end of the 70 years, Terrillon's descendants They decided to sell the remaining three, but they left the Brescia in a corner, as can be seen in the succulent photographs in this news item.
A SPECIAL BUGATTI BRESCIA?
The bizarre appearance that he now sports is due to the fact that has non-original bodywork Made in the mid-late 30s by Maron, Pot et Cie de Levallois-Perret. It is certainly unsightly and exaggerated for the small chassis barely two meters long, even if Artcurial erroneously defines it as "Its original body".
Another matter that has surprised us is that they describe it as "one of the only 12 survivors of this model", since the Brescia, if we add the "Type 22" and "Type 23" models manufactured between 1920 and 1926, were produced about 2.000 copies, of which a reasonable number have reached our days.
The explanation could be that it was one of the only 40 copies that he himself Ettore Bugatti It was created as competition models and mounted with double ignition... But these are only conjectures and we will have to wait to see the auction catalogue. For now, what we do know is that he already has a estimated price between 170.000 and 250.000 euros. We'll see if it's great discovery it arouses so much interest.