Oxnard, CA - If you have a desire to see the world’s most expensive car in all its primal glory, the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, Calif., has put it on display. Collector members of the ARTKABINETT social network will certainly wish to view this "grande dame" of automotive history.
The 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, the first of three built, sold for more than $30 million and possibly as much as $40 million in a private sale brokered in May by California auction house Gooding and Company.
The Bugatti will be on display for just two or three months at the art-deco-inspired Mullin museum, which opened April 15.
The Bugatti Atlantic was previously owned by the late Dr. Peter D. Williamson, a New Hampshire neurologist, and was the centerpiece of his renowned Bugatti collection. In 2003, the Atlantic won the coveted Best in Show award at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Most of the Williamson Bugatti collection sold after his death for a collective $15.5 million at a 2008 Gooding Auction at Pebble Beach.
The Atlantic was designed by Jean Bugatti, the son of company founder Ettore Bugatti, and is known for its distinctive riveted construction that forms a pronounced ridge down the centers of its roofline, hood and fenders. The design came from the Aerolithe Electron Coupe, a 1935 Paris Auto Salon show car, which was constructed of magnesium and could not be welded.
Although the three Atlantics were built from aluminum, the riveted look created so much attention at the Paris show that Bugatti decided to keep it as a design element.
The first chance to gaze at the Bugatti Atlantic will be Aug.10th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Although the purchasers of the pricey Bugatti were never revealed, the rumor is that three partners including museum owner Peter Mullin pooled their substantial funds to buy the car.
Early speculation just after the Gooding sale was that Mullin alone had purchased the car for the museum, which was quickly denied.
The Bugatti sale eclipsed the highest price ever paid at auction for a car: $12.2 million for a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa sold a year ago in Maranello, Italy.
Although Gooding would not reveal details about the transaction, the buyer of the Bugatti was reported to be the Mullin Automotive Museum of Oxnard, Ca., according to a Wall Street Journal report. The museum, dedicated to French deco style, was recently opened by noted car collector Peter Mullin.
Just before its opening, the Mullin museum made headlines when it paid $365,000 for the corroded remains of a 1925 Bugatti Brescia that was under Lake Maggiore for more than 70 years.
THE HISTORY
The Mullin Automotive Museum is an homage to the art deco and the machine age – eras that produced exquisite art and magnificent automobiles.
The museum is home to examples of the finest of historic French automobiles from the Bugatti to the Voisin as well as significant and representative decorative art from this same period.
THE BUILDING
The Mullin Automotive Museum building was previously owned by legendary newspaperman Otis Chandler who once housed a collection of vintage automobiles and motorcycles in what is now the revamped museum structure. After Mr. Chandler’s death in 2006, Mr. Mullin acquired the property, then called “The Vintage,” and began an extensive remodel utilizing the talents of architect David Hertz and contractor Interscape Construction. Interior design and fabrication were done by The Scenic Route.
Peter Mullin’s great love of 1930’s French cars with their curvaceous, custom built bodies started as a grand passion. After his first sighting of a Delahaye, he was smitten. He began to collect, restore, show and even race some of these great French “beauties.”
His passion soon gave way to a cause - the preservation of the classic French automobile.
The Mullin Automotive Museum will serve as a legacy - one that captures and preserves a historic movement embodying both sublime style and superb engineering.
The "French Curves Collection" exemplifies the zenith of the French automobile. The collection includes some of the most beautifully styled and amazingly engineered French-built cars covering several decades: Bugattis, Delages, Delahayes, Hispano Suizas, Talbot-Lagos and Voisins.
Many notable cars in this collection have won prestigious awards at concours d'elegance throughout the world. In addition, a number of the race cars have been past winners of historic races, such as the Grand Prix de Pau and Le Mans.
Peter Mullin is Chairman Emeritus of MullinTBG and founder and chairman of M Financial. He serves on the boards of Avery Dennison, Gene Autry Heritage Museum, Occidental College, St. John’s Foundation, Hospital of the Good Samaritan and the UCLA Foundation Board of Trustees.
He is Chairman of the Music Center Foundation, as well as past Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA.
He is past president of the American Bugatti Club and a member of the Bugatti Trust.
