Complicated yet clever marketing, to start a new auction company and organise a first auction in worldfamous Hershey, but in a totally different segment of the calender. Not early October, but June 11. They show guts these guys and they aim high. Top cars, top photography must proove their ambition. Here just two fine examples of what The Finest Automobile Auctions has in mind for the future.
When you read about the history of certain cars, it encourages deeper research and you end up better informed - not only about the car but about the people and the times that surround it.
The 1927 Bugatti Type 38A Grand Sport is just such a car and is being offered for sale at The Elegance At Hershey auction held on Saturday June 11 by The Finest Automobile Auctions.
The car's first owner was L.G.Bachelier who co-founded the Bugatti Owners' Club in UK and owned a total of nine Bugattis in his lifetime. The description records all the car's owners and what they did to the car, but the current owner has spent much time and money on a meticulous restoration with its supercharged 8 cylinder Type 35A engine and Art Deco inspired Grand Sport boat tail body. People were stunned when the car was sold in 1991 for $91,000 - these days we are more used to seeing what buyers will pay for such fine cars, but to somebody who wants a comfortable sporting grand touring Bugatti with excellent road manners, it's worth every penny.
The 1929 Type 40A Roadster went to the US after the war and was discovered in southern California when an old house was demolished in Chavez Ravine for the development of the baseball park for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This model has 4 cylinders and no supercharger but with the elegant Jean Bugatti designed body, it pleased the Parisian aristocrat Alastair Marmaduke Gresham Leveson-Gower who drove it to Paris with Louis Chiron as co-driver!
We love learning the stories that are woven into the history of old cars and future generations will enjoy doing the same as each new driver adds his/her own fresh adventures.
Text Robin Batchelor. pictures courtesy The Finest Automobile Auctions.