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BUGATTI 59 GRAND PRIX

I decided to save a special car for Christmas Day, I thought about it long and hard and settled on this, the 1933 Bugatti 59 Grand Prix.

It’s a personal favourite of mine from the Frenchman’s garage and its racing pedigree has made it one of the most memorable Bugattis ever made. Looking at this automobile makes it very easy to understand why Ettore Bugatti made such a name for himself as a car designer and engineer, it was a classic the moment it rolled out of the factory and I doubt there’s a modern art gallery anywhere in the world that wouldn’t display it proudly.

The Type 59 used an enlarged, supercharged 3.3 litre DOHC version of the Type 57′s straight 8 engine and produced 250+hp at 5,500rpm. It’s piano wire wheels and external copper-tube oil coolers always catch the eye, as does the aircraft like exhaust tunnel running down the left side of the body.

Somewhere between 6 and 8 Type 59s were made in total and only 5 survive to this day, this particular example lives in the impressive and jealousy inducing collection of Ralph Lauren.

The profile images below are both 2000+ pixels wide, click to enlarge.

Read more here via The Bugatti Trust and The Guild of Automotive Restorers.

via SILODROME

RM sells Ferrari 250 LM for record $14.3m

It was expected to be a highlight of the RM and Sotheby’s collaborative auction in New York – and it didn’t disappoint. Lot 141, a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM, was sold for a record-breaking $14.3m…

Going under the gavel at Thursday’s ‘Art of the Automobile’ sale along with numerous other design icons, chassis number 6107 was widely expected to become the most valuable 250 LM ever to be sold at auction. After some agressive bidding, the hammer eventually dropped at $13m (14.3m including buyer’s premium) – a new record, and by some margin, too.

From Mulholland Drive to Daytona

Interestingly, this particular 250 LM was initially delivered as a road car, unlike its 31 competition-ready brethren. Apparently, the first owner would use it around town in California, and occasionally took it along the famous Mulholland Drive. After a few years of relaxed mileage, the rare Ferrari was sold on to an Ecuadorian duo that prepped the car for entry to the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona. Despite its age, the car finished 1^st in class and 8^th overall, ahead of numerous prototypes and Trans-Am cars.

The Japanese collector who has just sold chassis 6107 bought the car back in 1983 and had kept it in his collection ever since. According to RM, this is one of the few examples largely preserved in its original state, as many were modified as part of their racing endeavours. The telephone bidder clearly took this into account when parting with the record sum for this historic, matching-numbers Ferrari.

Photos: Michael Furman ©2013 Courtesy of RM Auctions

All the cars featured in the ‘Art of the Automobile’ sale on 21 November 2013 in New York can be found in the Classic Driver Market.

Those who missed out on the 250 LM will find a wide range of road and racing Ferraris in the Classic Driver Market.

TOP !!! 1954 AIRSTREAM FLYING CLOUD

When it comes to trailer homes, or caravans as we call them, this 1954 Airstream Flying Cloud might just be the nicest one in the world. Far from the fibreglass and asbestos trailer homes sitting on bricks behind meth labs in the deep south, this Airstream is just about perfect.

It was restored by Timeless Travel Trailers for the clothing and outdoor gear company Orvis and was auctioned off in late 2011. The trailer was found operating as a hunting and fishing lodge near Goose Lake, Oregon – The Timeless Travel Trailers Team literally stripped it back to its fundamentals and restored it to a level that’d see it warmly welcomed at Pebble Beach.

The running gear has all be replaced with new, more modern equipment, the exterior has been polished to a mirror finish and the interior has a warm, rustic feel to it that I imagine would have been popular with Hemmingway. If you’d like to read more about this Airstream or see more work from Timeless Travel Trailers, click the link here.

from SILODROME