When relatives of the recently deceased and �eccentric� Dr. Harold Carr opened the garage he�d left to them in his will, they had no idea what to expect. Sure they�d heard that there might be a Bugatti in there, but that was just a bit of local legend. As it happened, there really was a Bugatti in there�and, when it went to auction at Bonham�s Retromobile car show in February of 2009, it sold for €3,417,500�around $4.4 million at the time.

This 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante was originally purchased by Earl Howe a month after it left the Bugatti works. Over the 8 years that he owned the car, Howe added new bumpers, a luggage rack and rearview mirrors. It was later brought up to SC specification with the addition of a Marshall K200 supercharger by its next owner, J P Tingay. Eventually, the car found its way into the hands of Lord Ridley, who held it for a year before selling it to Dr. Carr. Combine this pedigree with the fact that only seventeen Type 57S�s�a version of the Type 57 modified specifically for competitions�were produced and you have quite an expensive car.