Security through obscurity
…or, antique car collectors are an honest lot.
According to the Times (of London, dear chap), a recently-deceased British surgeon has left his heirs a rather significant bequest: a super-rare, super-fast, antique Bugatti which hasn’t been driven since 1960 and is expected to fetch several million at auction.
This is the fabled “Imagine their surprise, when in the back of the barn they found a…” story. Except, well, records are kept of motor cars, and aging recluses tend not to move much:
James Knight, the international head of Bonhams’ motoring department, was one of those who knew where the example, chassis number 57502 [link to http://www.bugatti-trust.co.uk/photographs/v/album-19/129A+D1158_11.jpg.html no longer works], was hiding.
“I have known of this Bugatti for a number of years and, like a select group of others, hadn’t dared divulge its whereabouts to anyone.
The article also quotes the late doctor’s nephew:
People must have known because he got letters from all over the country. He got notes pushed through his door. People travelled to try and convince him to sell the car.”
Fascinating.
If you want to read a bunch of stories like this, I recommend the book, “The Cobra in the Barn” by Tom Cotter.
Oh, Yes.
This showed up on the eMog mailing list for Morgan owners since several of them have and race various Bugattis.
Classic ‘car in the barn’ story. Here’s another one that no one knew about. In Norwegian but the important bits in English. http://mirror.geenstijl.nl/pritt-mazda/www.mazda-ogn.org/forum/viewtopicef13.html
Car collectors are odd. 🙂
Thanks for the informative suggestions, people!