Bugatti Type 57 Atalante - extremely grand tourer

Jean Bugatti might have marketed the spectacular Type 57 Atalante as a ‘grand tourer’ but cars were cars back in 1936 and drivers often used them however they damned well pleased.

A case in point is this Atalante being offered for sale by Artcurial in its role as the official auctioneer of the annual Paris Rétromobile classic car show.

Its original owner, Charles Olivero, was a high-end jeweller from Marseille who sought relaxation away from the workbench by racing the car in gruelling events such as the Coupe des Alpes, the Monte Carlo and the Liège-Rome-Liège.

And why not? The twin-cam 3.3-litre straight-eight engine made for sporting performance and the ‘S’ chassis (lower than that of the standard model) gave the 1.7 ton two-seater surprisingly lithe handling.

But being gunned up some of Europe’s most demanding alpine passes wasn’t the only excitement this Atalante has seen during its years, because in 1950 it was sold by its then third owner to Belgian architect and Bugatti fan Albert-Jean de Lay – who took it to the Belgian Congo where he worked on a building programme in the then-prosperous city of Elisabethville.

De Lay was still living there in the early 1960s when civil war broke out, forcing him, his wife and their dog to use the Bugatti to escape to Zambia after knife-wielding rebels invaded their street, seemingly intent on killing every white person in sight.

The couple were forced to abandon their home and all their possessions – including a new MGB – and were left with only the Bugatti to their name.

Back in Belgium the car changed hands twice more, the second time going to one Gaston Greven who owned a Luxembourg nightclub called the Royal Bugatti, a popular haunt of the Bugattisti.

Its said that Greven was subsequently made “an offer he couldn’t refuse” by an insistent gypsy, after which the car went through at least three further owners before being restored to its original condition during the late 1990s.

One of only 10 factory built Atalantes with toit ouvrant sliding roofs (and one of just three survivors) it has covered “thousands of kilometres” in the hands of its present owner and is again finished in the same black and ivory colour scheme specified by Olivero back in 1936.

Now sporting “a lovely patina”, it is being offered in full working order and ready for its next adventure.

Trip to the Congo, anyone?

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1936 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante
On sale with Artcurial, Paris, February 3.Estimate £1.7m-£2.6m