UNITED KINGDOM: RARE VINTAGE CAR FETCHES 8.25 MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS AT AUCTION.

Record ID: 336932

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: RARE VINTAGE CAR FETCHES 8.25 MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS AT AUCTION.
  • Date: 19th November 1987
  • Summary: 1. GVs, SVs & CUs Car on show at Christie's auction at Royal Albert Hall. (9 SHOTS) 0.52 2. SVs & GVs Auction film of car being driven along road. (3 SHOTS) 1.09 3. GV & SV Car auctioned. (2 SHOTS) 1.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th December 1987 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4XVODWHRATHKCHMY02FOTLYPA
  • Story Text: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

    A rare vintage car fetched 8.25 million United States (US) dollars (five million pounds sterling) when it was auctioned at the Royal Albert Hall in London on November 19. Auctioneers Christie's said that the 1931 Bugatti Royale was potentially the most expensive car in the world. This particular model was kept in the Bugatti family for 24 years. Known as the 'Kellner Coach', it was given to US sportsman Briggs. S. Cunningham in 1952 by the Bugatti family in exchange for two refrigerators. A Christie's spokesman said that refrigerators were so rare in Europe at that time that the Bugatti family agreed to the sale. The car had primarily been used until then by Ettore Bugatti's daughter for shopping trips. Italian artist and engineer Ettori Bugatti built the Royales between 1927 and 1933 with no regard to cost at his factory in Alsace, France. He said at the time that he wanted to better the quality of Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz. He planned his Royale range on a monumental scale to provide, as he put it, 'magic carpet motoring within reach of only royalty and the super-rich'.

    <strong>Source: REUTERS - DIMITRI SABBAGH</strong>
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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