9. Bugatti Type 51 ($4 million)
Finally, we have come to the vintage era of Bugatti cars. And we start it off with Bugatti Type 51 which was built in the 1930s. There were only 40 of them built. And one of them hit the Bonhams auction house last August. This particular unit was from the year of 1931. And it was sold to a buyer with $4 million bid.
Even though this model is the successor of the famous Bugatti Type 35, it could not compete with other competitors’ cars with similar technical features. Well, to be fair, Type 35 really set the bar high by becoming Bugatti’s premier racing car back then. So, it was a tough task to follow.
Type 51 came in a series of other models with similar features: Type 53, 54, and 59. Type 59 in particular was the last Bugatti race car. The 1933 Bugatti Type 59 Grand Prix racer is one of many Ralph Lauren‘s car collection which is probably the most valuable collection in the world.
Bugatti Type 51 is powered by a 2.3-L 8-cylinder engine with 160 hp. It is the twin overhead camshafts evolution of the Type 35 engine. It may not seem much but back then, that was a super car.
