Vintage Bugatti bought for £60 auctioned for £430k
- Published
The Bugatti was restored and raced in the 1950s by a Rugby engineer
A Bugatti racing car bought for £60 in 1950 has been sold at auction for £430,000.
The 1924 type 35 Bugatti was found by Jack Perkins, from Rugby, Warwickshire, at a Nottinghamshire aerodrome and restored to racing condition.
The car raced at Indianapolis 500 in 1936 and the American National Championship races in 1938.
The vintage car was sold at Bonhams' annual auction at Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex.
Engineer Mr Perkins, who died in 1992, continued to race the single-seat car until June 1988 when he was 78.
'Most beautiful'
His widow Jean put the Bugatti on display at the Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset, where it remained exhibited until December 2010.
Autocar magazine has described the Type 35 Bugatti as "the most beautiful racing car of all time".
Another Bugatti at the auction - a 1926 Type 37 Monoposto - sold for £197,000 while a 1954 Aston Martin cabriolet, previously owned by British racing car driver Innes Ireland, sold for £606,500.
The new owner of the Bugatti was not identified.