A rare 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet Supersport is for sale in the Gooding London 2022 classic car auction.
A rare 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet, chassis 55230, estimate: £3,750,000 – £4,750,000 ($4,700,000 — $6,000,000) is the top classic prewar car thus far announced for the Gooding London 2022 classic car auction. It features rare cabriolet coachwork by Gangloff. It joins the previously announced 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione (Estimate: $7,500,000 — $8,750,000) at the London sale.
Gooding London Sale 2022
Gooding & Company London classic car auction: 3 September 2022 at Hampton Court Palace in conjunction with the Concours of Elegance.
London is currently the only location outside the USA where Gooding stage an annual classic car auction. At the first London sale, the Passion of a Lifetime Auction in 2020, Gooding earned £34,048,900 ($45,285,037) with a recorded average price per car of £2,432,064 ($3,234,645). The sale included two Bugattis for over $10 million including the most expensive Bugatti ever — a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports that Gooding sold for $12,681,550.
In 2021, the London sale was a more modest online-only auction with £5,259,650 earned from only 14 cars with a 86% sell-through rate. The top result was for the 1969 Ford GT40, chassis P/1085 that sold for £2,508,000 ($3,462,000).
1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet at Gooding London 2022 Sale
A rare 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet, chassis 55230, estimate: £3,750,000 – £4,750,000 ($4,700,000 — $6,000,000) is the top classic prewar car thus far announced for the Gooding Londong 2022 classic car auction.
The Bugatti Type 55 “Supersport” was born from the visionary mind of Jean Bugatti, Ettore Bugatti’s son who also served as an innovative designer and engineer at the French automaker. The Type 55 made its debut in Paris in October 1931, where it gained appeal due to its high-performance capabilities, including its impressive top speed of over 110 mph. The Type 55 was offered with a variety of bodies including coupe, cabriolet, and roadster designs.
The elegant 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet offered for sale at Gooding London 2022 features coachwork by the well-known French coachbuilder Gangloff, and is powered by a supercharged 2.3-liter twin-cam, eight-cylinder engine. Delivered new to Paris, the Bugatti remained in France through WWII and was exported to the US in the early 1960s, where it was owned for many years by famous Southern California car enthusiast Bob Estes.
One of only 38 Type 55s ever built, this rare automobile remarkably is believed to retain its matching-numbers engine and original Gangloff Cabriolet coachwork, according to a report on file by veteran Bugatti historian Mark Morris. Additionally, thanks to its extensive recent restoration, chassis 55230 today presents as one of the very best examples of the ultra-desirable Type 55 model in existence.
Classic Bugattis performed well at recent auctions with the Gooding London 2020 Passion of a Lifetime sale a particular highlight. The Type 55 model record is for a more elegant Roadster — a 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster that sold for a then marque record $10,400,000 at Gooding Pebble Beach 2016 — the first Bugatti to have achieved above $10 million.
More on Gooding London 2022 Sale
Pre-Sale Announcements:
- 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione
- 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet
- 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder (Barn-Find)
- 1950s British Classics: 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Convertible and 1952 Frazer-Nash Le Mans Replica
- More cars: 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ, and a 1937 Bugatti Type 57C Ventoux
Previous London Sale Results:
