Here is something that you do not get to either hear or see every day. A Bugatti Type 22 Brescia that was collecting rust at the bottom of Lake Maggiore, at the north of Italy, was found and raised out of the water and later put up for an auction in Paris, France, by Bonhams Retromobile Sale. As the story goes, this car had its fateful moment back in 1940, plunging at the bottom of the above mentioned lake, at a depth of 150 feet under the water.
The way the video is revealing us, the main part of the car`s body, with a chassis number 2461, and motor number 879, managed to remain completely intact, even though there is a lot of water damage to the rest of the body. As you can imagine, there was a lot of publicity about this old-timer sports car before the sales, and from the moment when the bidding was open, a real battle started between the phone bidders and the ones that were present at the auction.
Bonhams Retromobile originally estimated this Bugatti to go between $100 000 and $130 000, but due to the great interest, the final result was much, much higher! The winner of the bidding finally got his hands on this one-time great sports car for an unbelievable $368 600, and according to the info, it was a European sport car collector that was representing the Peter Mullin Collection from California. Now they are planning to show the car (in its present condition) in his museum, before they start restoring it.
Check out the video from the moments when Bugatti Type 22 Brescia was pulled from the water.
