asian_XL | 01-30-2010 03:31 AM | 'Drowned' Bugatti sells for £228k http://cdn.images.autocar.co.uk/612x...11600x1060.jpg http://static.blogo.it/eurocarblog/b...Type_22_02.jpg http://static.blogo.it/eurocarblog/b...Type_22_01.jpg http://static.blogo.it/eurocarblog/b...Type_22_03.jpg http://static.blogo.it/eurocarblog/b...Type_22_04.jpg http://static.blogo.it/eurocarblog/b...Type_22_05.jpg
This Bugatti Type 22 has been sold at auction for £228,000 - despitespending the last 70 years under the surface of Lake Maggiore innorthern Italy.
The car, which had a 30bhp 1.5-litrefour-cylinder engine and an advanced multi-valve cylinder head, wasfirst registered in 1925 in Paris, before being unofficially importedto Switzerland by a young architect.
With the Swiss governmentdemanding import duty and the then out-dated car being all butworthless, the cheapest solution was for the car to be pushed into thelake.
Local divers discovered the wreck in the 1960s, 53 metres below the surface and embalmed in mud.
Lastyear, a salvage team recovered the Bugatti, revealing one side in muchbetter condition than the other as the lake’s mud had helped topreserve it.
The Bugatti was then auction in the RetromobileAuction, fetching £228,000 - £160,000 more than the highest estimate.The winning bidder plans to display the car in its current condition. http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsAr...llCars/246874/ |