Remember that weird uncle that always tells stories that only he could follow or understand? Where you feel like you’re listening to an audio book of one of James Joyce’s “stream of consciousness” stories? Well, don’t be so cold to that uncle for he may leave you with one surprising inheritance of classic cars.
In January 2009, old Dr. Harold Carr died in June 2007 leaving behind a locked-up garage in Newcastle. But the good, old doctor didn’t tell of the hidden treasures in his garage, perhaps he didn’t want to ruin the surprise or just simply didn’t want to tell. But his relatives were really in for a delightful surprise as they found a Type 57S Atalante, an E Type Jaguar and an Aston Martin.
Of course, we’re not saying that Dr. Carr tells stories like post-modern literature; we don’t have much facts to claim that as true. But from one of his nephew’s descriptions, the doctor was “a very eccentric old gent.” So there, we just wanted to put a little spin on things.
Among the three cars, it’s the Atalante that literally takes the gold. It’s all about the rarity my friend. It’s basic economics; price goes up as demand increases and supply decreases. The Atalante found in that garage was one of the 17 ever made; and it doesn’t hurt that the car has “Bugatti” stuck to it.
The Atalante will be auctioned off in Paris in the Bonhams’s Retromobile car sale this February. And the price? Just a cool £6 million. That would be about $8.7 million (that’s the conversion at the time of this writing). That makes the car the one with the highest price tag to go for auction. Expensive? No problem; let me just go to the ATM and be part of the auction.
The car was decided to be placed on auction as it hasn’t been driven since 1965. Yeah, who would want to spend all the time and resources restoring an old car right? It’s better to just sell it off and roll-over the millions. So it’s cash the easy way, we think. Not that it’s bad; but it would be fun to make it a restoration project don’t you think?
Apparently, the existence of this Atalante was quite in the rumor mill among enthusiasts. But they kept it “hush-hush” as they don’t want everybody else in on the secret. It makes the clique a whole lot cooler. But the real reason is, it’s a treasure that they don’t want anyone else to ruin. Or perhaps a respect for privacy. But whatever the reason is, now the secret is out. And everyone is the happier for it.
So if there’s a lesson to be learned from this, it’s that even weird uncles have their merits—especially if they leave you with a garage that has a rare, classic car in it. So be a bit nice to your “funny” uncles and even aunts. Because you can never really know…
Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/4060347/Doctor-leaves-secret-6-million-Bugatti-in-his-will.html
