1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante (Estimate: $9,000,000 – $11,000,000)
Pebble Beach First in Class Winner, Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante, to Make Auction Debut at Gooding & Company’s Sale Among Other Notable French Classics
Gooding & Company has announced a spectacular 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante, in addition to other French classics, ahead of its highly anticipated catalogue launch this coming Wednesday, July 24. The official auction house of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance® will offer this First in Class-winning 57SC alongside a Delahaye 135M Torpédo Roadster presented from the Petersen Automotive Museum Collection, a Bugatti Type 57 Stelvio, and no-reserve Bugattis from the Dr. Theodore Waugh Collection. All of these selections will cross the auction block throughout the course of the two-day sale at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach marquee on Friday, August 16 and Saturday, August 17.
“This stunningly restored 57SC Atalante will make its auction debut at our much awaited Pebble Beach sale next month, where it will certainly be met with great excitement as one of the finest Bugatti Type 57s to exist in the world, with an impeccable provenance consisting of collectors such as Vojta Mashek and Dr. Peter Williamson,” said Gooding & Company President and Co-Founder, David Gooding. “We are also honored to present the rare Delahaye 135M Torpédo Roadster, a longtime fixture at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and the collection of Dr. Theodore Waugh, a highly respected and important name in the world of Bugatti ownership.”
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The Type 57S model was the pinnacle of Bugatti production under the brilliant genius of Ettore Bugatti, and his son Jean, and made its mark as one of the ultimate high-performance automobiles of its era. The supercharged “C” variant of the Type 57S was even more impressive, producing about 200 hp and ranking among the fastest production cars built before WWII. In total, Bugatti built just 42 examples of the Type 57S between fall 1936 and 1938.
The most famous examples were outfitted with bodies designed by Jean Bugatti, including the incomparable Atalante and Atlantic models, and assembled at the firm’s headquarters in Molsheim. In all, just 17 Type 57S chassis were completed with Atalante coachwork, including this car, chassis 57573 – among the last examples built. Completed in September 1937, this Type 57S was originally finished in blue over Havana leather and equipped with chrome wire wheels. 57573 made its debut on the Bugatti show stand at the 1937 Paris Salon de l’Automobile at the majestic Grand Palais, and then transported to London, where it was presented at the Earls Court Motor Show in October.
Immediately after the show, the Atalante sold to its first owner, C. Ian Craig, a Bugattiste and heir to a wealthy Irish family. Early in his ownership, Mr. Craig registered the car as “GBP 2,” reportedly for “Grand Prix Bugatti 2,” and the plates remain on the Atalante to this day. After entering 57573 in the Lewes Speed Trials in 1939, Craig sold the car to English enthusiast David L. Griffith-Hughes.
Upon acquiring the car, Mr. Griffith-Hughes upgraded the engine to SC specification, fitting the supercharger that had originally been installed in Lord Rothschild’s Atlantic, chassis 57374. Subsequently, the supercharged Atalante was profiled in articles by Motor Sport and The Autocar magazines. By the late 1950s, 57573 had relocated to the US, where it was owned by Charles Globe of Chicago. During this time, it was shipped to the Bugatti works in Molsheim for a complete restoration, after which it was acquired by notable car collector Vojta Mashek.
In 1965, Dr. Peter Williamson, then serving as president of the American Bugatti Club, purchased the Atalante for his collection, where 57573 was part of one of the finest private Bugatti collections ever assembled in the US. After a restoration by Don Lefferts in the 1990s, 57573 took part in the 2003 American Bugatti Club East Coast Rally and that year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance®. In 2006, the car passed from Dr. Williamson to William Ainscough, a respected UK collector. Since 2013, the Atalante has resided in the US, where it has undergone an exceptional, no-expense-spared restoration recently completed by renowned Bugatti specialist Scott Sargent of Sargent Metal Works in Bradford, Vermont.
The restoration expertly brought 57573 back to its original splendor. Upon its debut at the 2023 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance®, the Atalante was awarded First in Class. Today, 57573 remains in exquisite, concours-quality condition, and as a matching-numbers, Jean Bugatti-designed Atalante, proves to be an exceptionally rare and immensely desirable Bugatti masterpiece coming to public auction for the very first time.
