A Type 35B Bugatti, which competed in the first Monaco Grand Prix and later won the Targa Florio, has been sold privately in England for what is believed to be a Bugatti world-record price of £2.5 million. The car, which boasts all of its original components, was offered for sale by former Samsung chairman, Lee Kunhee, and acquired by an unnamed but “highly regarded international collector.”
The car was apparently sequestered away in Switzerland during World War II, which accounts for its survival, and apart from what are being characterized as “a few charming battle scars,” remains in the identical specification as when it was first built by Ettore Bugatti in 1928.
Prior to Mr. Lee, previous owners of the car have included the eccentric British car collector and pilot Hamish Moffat, who died in 2002, and Swiss Baron Emmanuel “Toulo” de Graffenried, who died in January 2007 at the age of 92.
