1938 Bugatti Type 57C Aravis Special Cabriolet

This car, Lot 22, sold for $6,605,000, including buyer’s premium, at Gooding & Company’s Oxnard, CA, auction, on April 26, 2024.

Bugatti didn’t simply make cars, it made rolling art. Every little detail was considered and designed not simply to be functional — it also had to be beautiful. The tapered chassis of the legendary T35 grand-prix racer did nothing to help the handling, nor did Bugatti’s signature front axle work any better than those on other cars, but both features looked fantastic. Open the hood on a Rolls-Royce, Duesenberg or Hispano-Suiza, and you see functionality. Open the hood of a Bugatti, and you get eye candy.

That beauty was not simply skin deep. Everything worked perfectly. That is why Bugatti automobiles are an enduring legend, with collectors the world over seeking them out in the 1950s and ’60s, at a time when they should have simply been obsolete.

The Aravis arrives

The Type 57 was an expensive luxury car, launched during the Great Depression. Bugatti still managed to sell nearly a thousand in a few short years. Produced between 1933–39, the T57 featured a 3.3-liter straight-8 with twin overhead cams. Minor upgrades were made during the four years of production, namely hydraulic brakes and flexible engine mounts, both of which were not initially available. A supercharger was an available option but was quite rare. In reality, its performance advantage was not that great.

Bugatti did design and make its own bodies, but the rolling chassis could be purchased for other coachbuilders to clothe. The sublime Aravis is an in-house Bugatti design, essentially an Atalante coupe sans roof, with a slightly different trunk. Instead of making the car itself, the factory entrusted the work to two coachbuilders: Letourneur & Marchand, and Gangloff. The Aravis name is often misused. In reality, they were either produced as a 2-seater or a two-plus-one, with the third person sitting transversely behind the front seats. All but one had suicide doors. There are six known survivors — three from each coachbuilder — only two of which retain their original supercharged engines.

A star car

This 57C, chassis 57768, was ordered new by a young gentleman racer named Maurice Trintignant, who would go on to be fairly successful, racing for a number of factory teams including Ferrari. He came from a wine-producing family and certainly had the means to purchase the exclusive 57S, with the low, short chassis and iconic “V” radiator. But in 1939, that model was no longer available.

A few short months after he received the 57C, war broke out, and the car was salted away to keep it out of the wrong hands. Sold to the second owner in 1947, the car went through a number of owners until sold to Peter Mullin in 2003. Mullin spent a long time restoring the car, and it was unquestionably one of his favorites. He went on to show the car at all the major concours in America and Europe, and it picked up prizes wherever it went.

Following Mullin’s death last year, Gooding & Company has been disposing of the eponymous collection. Mullin was obsessed with French cars, and what was not generally known is that he purchased a large number of fairly average examples. These were banged out at the museum through Gooding & Co.’s April auction. There were some interesting cars amongst the dross, and the other Bugattis, most unrestored, made relatively good money. Our subject 57C Aravis was the star of the show. Selling without reserve, its estimate was $2.5m to $3.5m. Any prospective buyer delusional enough to think they could get the car for this sort of money was obviously going to get a quick education.

No show, all go

Selling for $6,6m, the car nearly doubled its high estimate. Did the auction company get it wrong, or was the low estimate simply a “come-on?” Probably the latter, on the basis that if you can write a check for three million, you can probably write one for six. The knee-jerk reaction is that, for this money, you can get yourself a more-sporting 57S. But you’d be at the bottom of the ladder with a British-bodied 4-seater example. Plus, the short chassis is exactly that, and many drivers will be uncomfortable. The buyers knew that this was a truly exceptional car, and even if it won’t corner as fast as its little sister, the straight-line performance will not be far behind.

About the only problem here is that most owners of such a car would enjoy showing it at concours events. Since Mullin already took this car to every major show in the world, the new owner will have to wait a long time for a return trip to enjoy the lawns. On the plus side, it came from the Mullin Collection, the greatest collection of French cars outside of the National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse. And we’ll probably have to wait a long time before another Aravis appears on the market. Although the pre-war market is generally depressed, the great cars have retained their value. And this is a true great — sold right on the money. ♦

(Introductory description courtesy of Gooding & Company.)