Used Bugatti sold despite watery past

25 January 2010

A used Bugatti is to be put on display after being auctioned.

Not many used cars would be simply put on display after being purchased.

Even fewer would draw in any crowds if they had been lying in a river for a lifetime.

But then again, few cars are 1925 Bugatti Brescias that have been made famous by being rescued after 73 years submerged in water.

The car had attracted a lot of publicity prior to its sale by auction house Bonhams at its Paris-based Retromobile Sale.

Bidders competed for it in person and over the phone.

An American who had wanted to restore the car lost out to a European collector bidding on behalf of the California-based Peter Mullin Collection.

Estimated at €70,000 (£61,000) to €90,000, (£79,000) it in fact went for €260,000 (£228,000).

Now the car, known as the Lake Maggiore Bugatti, will be put on display in its present condition.

Bonhams said previously that the money raised by the sale would go towards a charity that works against youth violence.

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