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1937 Bugatti 57SC sells for record $9.7 million at Amelia

See this car right here? It may very well be the most valuable Bugatti ever sold at auction. Any 57 would stand among the most sought-after Bugattis among collectors. But this particular 1937 Bugatti 57SC Sports Tourer features unique bodywork from British coachbuilder Vanden Plas. That may make it look more like a Jaguar or Morgan than a Bugatti, but that signature grille tells you otherwise. Chassis number 57541 was showcased at the London Motor Show and featured in some of the company's own literature, then went on to race before and after the War on our side of the Atlantic. In superlative condition, the Vanden Plas Bugatti was valued at $11-13 million heading into the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance where it was auctioned off by Bonhams this weekend. It didn't quite get there, but at $9,735,000, the auctioneer lauds this as "the most valuable Bugatti ever sold at auction and the most valuable car ever sold at Amelia Island." That may not actually be accurate, though. Sports Car Market logs a '31 Royale that Christie's apparently sold for slightly more at $9.8 million way back in 1987, and Gooding & Company sold a '61 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider for $17 million over the same weekend. One way or another, it's a lot of money, and a beautiful car that one very fortunate owner will be taking home with him (or her) from Florida this week. Check it out in the extensive image gallery above and the video clip below. Show full PR text BONHAMS' SECOND ANNUAL AMELIA ISLAND AUCTION A SMASHING SUCCESS – WORLD RECORDS MADE, SALES NEARLY DOUBLED OVER LAST YEAR, AND THE BUGATTI 57SC BECOMES THE MOST VALUABLE BUGATTI EVER SOLD AT AUCTION For immediate release – 11 March 2016 – Amelia Island, Florida – Held Thursday, March 10th at the spacious and conveniently accessible Fernandina Beach Golf Club, Bonhams' second annual Amelia Island auction was a resounding success with nearly $27.5-million achieved. With an impressively diverse and curated selection of 95 automobiles ranging from 19th century motor carriages to 21st century supercars, the handpicked assembly offered something for every taste and interest. Leading the sale was the singular 1937 Bugatti 57SC Sports Tourer by Vanden Plas. Armed with a generous amount of international buzz from the preceding weeks, this very special pre-war car had the auction tent packed to capacity with bidders and spectators. With a starting bid of $6-million, the bidding quickly rose to $8-million.

Why the Bugatti Royale was the first car granted diplomatic immunity

Bugatti's cars have participated in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance since the inaugural event was held in 1950. The judges have given the prestigious Best of Show award to a Bugatti nine times, but the firm notes one of the most memorable moments at the concours was displaying the six examples of the Royale on the lawn in 1985. Getting six vehicles together doesn't sound awfully difficult, yet organizing the Royale display was actually a massive undertaking that involved international law and charter flights. Bugatti only built six units of the Royale, a 252-inch-long ultra-luxurious car powered by a 12.8-liter straight-eight engine, between 1926 and 1933. While all of them survived, which is astonishing considering what many went through, they were scattered on both sides of the pond. One of the biggest hurdles was that two of the Royales were located in the fascinating Cite de l'Automobile museum in Mulhouse, France, and they were part of the batch seized from the Schlumpf brothers by the French government. "The museum was worried that if the cars left French soil, the Schlumpf brothers might attempt a legal move to seize the cars back," explained Chris Bock, who played an instrumental role in organizing the display. Bock and his colleagues convinced American government officials to grant the two cars diplomatic immunity. This was the first time a car had benefited from this status. However, at the time, cargo flights from France to the United States stopped in Canada to refuel, and the immunity wasn't valid on Canadian soil, so Air France operated a direct flight from Paris to Los Angeles to get the Royales to the Pacific coast. And then, one flight became two. Still worried about retaliation from the Schlumpf brothers, the museum insisted that each car be transported separately. Sending the four others to Monterey was simple. Two were in the William F. Harrah collection in Reno, Nevada, and one was in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The sixth arrived in an even more laid-back manner. "Then, a guy arrived with the sixth Royale, which belonged to (American race car driver) Briggs Cunningham. He'd towed it on an open trailer with a Ford F-250 pickup truck. He said: 'oh, it'll be fine, we'll just throw a tarp over it,' while everyone else was running around hyperventilating," remembered Bock. Arranging the display wasn't easy, but it paid off.

Felicity Ace sinks with thousands of VWs, Porsches, Lamborghinis

The stricken ship Felicity Ace sank overnight after a week of salvage efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The ship, which was carrying up to 4,000 VW Group cars, went to the bottom unexpectedly while a salvage team was attempting to tow it to shore, Bloomberg reports.  "Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard," Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company (MOL), which owns the Felicity Ace, said in a statement released early Tuesday.    "The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores," MOL said. "The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available." The ship sank after being battered by waves and listing 45 degrees to starboard, the ship’s operator said. “The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management (Singapore), a unit of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., said by phone. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.” VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models were aboard the ship, which was headed to Rhode Island from GermanyÂ’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16.  Rough seas and ongoing fires fueled by the lithium-ion batteries of EVs onboard delayed the ship's salvage and recovery operations for the better part of a week. While the likelihood of salvaging the smoke and potentially fire- and water-damaged vehicles from Felicity Ace's hold was slim to none, some had held out hope that their special-ordered vehicles might survive the mishap.  The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace was safely evacuated of its 22 crew members by the Portuguese navy after a fire started in its hold more than a week ago. The ship can carry up to 4,000 cars. European carmakers declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were on board, but it appears to have been transporting approximately 2,500 cars, including roughly 1,100 Porsches and an undetermined number of Volkswagens.  The cars aboard were on order. Porsche customers in the United States were being contacted by their dealers, the company said. “We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told The Associated Press in an email. The ship sank in water nearly 10,000 feet deep, the Portuguese Navy said.