As usual, the French have a word for it. In this case, you might call it an encore, the addition of a barn-found Bugatti Brescia to the docket for Artcurial Motorcars eighth Automobiles sur les Champs auction to be held June 22 in Paris.
Artcurial stunned the classic car world last year with the discovery and sale of 59 barn-found vehicles from the Baillon Collection. Earlier this week we reported on the upcoming les Champs sale. But now Artcurial reports that the sale will, indeed, include a barn-found gem.
“After the discovery of the Baillon Collection, how wonderful to find a Bugatti Brescia, in its rarest and most highly sought-after form, in barn-find condition,” Matthieu Lamoure, Artcurial Motorcars managing director, said in a news release.
The Bugatti Brescia, chassis 2628 and circa 1925, is one of only a dozen of the model known to survive, Artcurial said. The car has been in the hands of the same owner since 1953, and it has not moved for some 40 years.
“The family kept no less than four Bugatti at the property,” Lamoure continued. “The other three were sold at the end of the 1970s, and this is the last one.”
According to Artcurial, the car’s original body, by Maron, Pot et Cie of Levallois-Perret, sits on a short-wheelbase chassis with a dual-ignition engine and has not been restored or modified in any way.
Artcurial expects the car, being offered at no reserve, to sell for $170,000 to $280,000.
