(Artcurial)
Posted on 01/28/2019 2:01:07 PM PST by jazusamo
(Artcurial)
A trio of treasured Bugattis kept locked in a barn for years by the family of an artist could sell for a small fortune when they are auctioned next week.
Belgian sculptor August Thomassen purchased the three vehicles in the late 1950s and early 1960s when they were practically worthless to everyone but him. His daughter told the De Telegraaf newspaper that he loved their engineering and unusual styling.
He kept them running and used them as daily drivers for years, becoming such a fan of the brand that he sculpted a bust of the automaker’s founder, Ettore Bugatti, which today resides at the National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse, France.
The artist started building his own bodywork for the Type 40, but only got as far as the wood frame. (Artcurial)
His 1932 Bugatti Type 49 Berline and 1937 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet each feature custom coachwork, as was the practice of the day. He was creating his own for a 1929 Type 40 after it was damaged in an accident, but never quite finished the job. Its exposed wood frame still waits for new body panels to be hand-formed and attached to it.
Over the years, as the value of the cars increased, Thomassen received many offers from interested parties who had heard about them, but he had no interest in letting them go at any price.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
WOW!
Will this be on ‘Barn Finds’ any time soon?....................
:^) Quite an expensive find.
Great story, but woulda thought the three would have been valued higher.
I saw a fully restored Buggati at the Ford Museum in Detroit. Really cool car.
He then moved into a home that rented out rooms to indigents such as him...........
Sounds like the guy may have been well off at one time and lost it, maybe the crash of ‘29?
What a delightful story, Hot Tabasco!
Heartwarming.
I have now twice visited the Bugatti exhibit at the Petersen museum in Los Angeles and STRONGLY recommend a look.
It is a very, very exciting array.
Worst exhibit I have ever seen? Musee de Beaux Arts, in Montreal. “MICHELANGELO.’ Tickets? $120.
Contents? Some carbon sketches made by his students, along with “period treasures,” in dim light.
Typical Canadians. They never deliver (Since 1948 or so.)
The French, however? Well, let’s just say Hitler probably took one look at a Bugatti and...
By the way the notion that that is a “million dollar collection” is laughable. The Type 57 alone will go for well over a million.
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He was a painter, and just figured he'd give them a new paint job?
I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime
Sad, didn’t have insurance.
About 45 years ago, when I was a first termer in the Air Force making $130 a month I had a chance to buy two Thunderbirds, a 1956 and a 1957, for $1,000. A friend of mine had inherited them from his grandfather. The cars were up on blocks in a barn on the old man’s farm. At that time a thousand bucks might as well have been a million for me, way out of reach. Sure wish I had had the cash, though.
Yep, a $1000 was a lot then.
Towards the end of 1964 I was going to buy a Mustang, they’d just come out.
Went to the Ford dealer and they were selling them for sticker price.
I told the guy if he’d knock $100 off I’d buy it right then, he said he couldn’t.
I showed him, went down and bought an Olds. Biggest mistake I ever made buying a car. LOL!
Hard to tell, it was such a small town at that time. The years leading up to that were primarily the end days of the logging industry that dominated northern Michigan........
As a side note, back in the 1950's there was an old guy I remember as Cedrick who actually had a car that he had built the body out of wood....true story.
He worked in the town lumber yard down by the lake (Charlevoix) and one day the lumber yard warehouse caught fire and burned down along with Cedrick's car........
There was an account similar to this where a guy hoarded numerous Stutz automobiles somewhere in the Midwest about 15 years ago.
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