Pebble Beach–Winning 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante Could Be Yours for Just Eight Figures
If you want to own one Pebble Beach– winning car but don’t want to actually do any restoration or competition work yourself, we have the car for you. This spectacular 1937 Bugatti The Type 57SC Atalante won its class at last year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and next month’s Monterey Car Week it will be Auctioned by Gooding & Company.
Bugatti produced only 42 Type 57S models from fall 1936 to spring 1938, and only 17 of those chassis were ever built. Atalante body The Atalante was designed by Jean Bugatti and built in Molsheim, rather than being shipped to other car builders outside Bugatti. The name Atalante comes from the Greek mythological heroine Atalanta, a huntress associated with Artemis. This particular Atalante, chassis number 57573, was one of the last to be built, completed in September 1937. Upon completion, it was displayed at the Salon de l’Automobile in Paris and the Earls Court Motor Show in London, before being sold shortly thereafter to C. Ian Craig, a prolific Bugatti collector and heir to a wealthy Irish family.
Craig repainted the Atalante in the black-and-white scheme he used on his other racing cars, including the Type 51, Type 54, and Type 59. Together with his wife Marcelle Moody—an amazing name—Craig made frequent trips between the UK and St. Moritz, Switzerland in the Atalante, and he even entered it in the 1939 Lewes Speed Race. He later sold the car to David L. Griffith-Hughes, another British Bugatti enthusiast, who repainted the car in two-tone grey and upgraded it to 57SC specification by installing the Roots supercharger originally installed in the Lord Rothschild. Bugatti AtlanticIncrease the power of the inline 8-cylinder engine to 200 horsepower.
After a few owners, the Atalante ended up in the United States under the ownership of Charles Glore of Chicago, who sent the car back to Bugatti for a full restoration. In 1963, it was purchased by car collector Vojta Mashek, who then sold it two years later to Dr. Peter Williamson, president of the Bugatti Club of America. The Atalante was restored in the late 1990s, and then sold to a collector in England in 2006, who repainted it black and white in honor of its first owner.
Then, in 2013, Atalante was acquired by a private collection based in California (with a great Instagram account) sent the car to Sargent Metal Works in Vermont for a “special, no-expenses-paid restoration” that “addressed every aesthetic and mechanical aspect” to bring the car back to its original 1937 show car specifications—but kept the upgraded supercharger. The restored car debuted at least a year ago at the Pebble Beach Concours, where it beat out two other Type 57Ss to take first place in its class.
Still in pristine condition with matching chassis, body and engine, this is probably one of the finest examples of the Type 57 in the world. It is absolutely stunning, with its dark green paintwork beautifully accented with chrome trim and lovely brown interior. The Type 57 is characterised by its lower ‘surbaissé’ chassis, with the rear axle running through the frame rather than underneath, giving it more dramatic proportions, a lower hood and shorter wheelbase.
Gooding’s auction marks the first time this Atalante has been offered for sale publicly, and the company has listed it with an estimate of $9,000,000 to $11,000,000. At Car Week Two years ago, Gooding sold another, slightly less impressive Type 57SC Atalante for $10,000,000, so don’t be surprised if this one sells for even more.
