Their job: To clean out Harold’s garage. It was a big surprise when they arrived.
Many people said their uncle had a Bugatti, but Harold’s niece and nephew found a different kind of sports car.
Many classic cars were made by automaker Frank Bugatti over the years. This one was in a class of its own. For all of his work, he did only 43. The last one left the factory on May 5, 1937.
As a member of the British aristocracy bought the car Harold eventually owns, its history is well-known.
Frances Curzon, a member of parliament who was also a racing fan, bought the car when he was in high school. He had a lot of cars and raced them all through the 1930s.
The good news is that Curzon didn’t put his Atalante through the rigours of the racetrack, and it had a very low mileage for a car that was so old!
After Curzon sold the car, it was sold a few more times. In 1955, Harold Carr bought it from the car. In 1960, Carr’s licence for the Bugatti ran out, so it must have gone into Carr’s garage. When the car never left the garage, no one could tell where it was.
It was only when Harold died in 2009 that the strange discovery was made. With the Bugatti, Harold’s niece and nephew found a classic Aston Martin and a lot of letters from people who wanted to buy the cars. They also found a lot of money.
The Bugatti was sold for $4.4 million at the end. There were a lot of people in Harold’s family who didn’t know how rich they were going to be when they went to dig out Harold’s old garage.
