1938 Rusted Car Found in Barn Sells for $850,000

There are lots of old things you can find in a barn, like rusted tools, really useless pieces of equipment and appliances, even dad's rusted car that used to make him proud in his young days and is now slowly eaten away by time.

But once in a while, someone stumbles on a rare collection car that's been sitting for years, an abandoned old glory that needs a mechanic's magic touch to make him a fortune. This 1938 Type 57C Bugatti is assembled from two old junk cars that were both owned by the same pre-war collector.

One of them was found in poor condition, with the paint, chipped and faded rusty chrome, grimy engine that hasn't started before the oil crisis, worn out leather and tires that haven't seen the road for ages. Still, this rust bucket is one of the 710 ever produced by Bugatti, from 1934 through 1940.

After some repair work, this car that sat in storage since 1962, was sold by Christie's auction house for a whopping $852,500 at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance earlier this summer, more than twice the highest pre-sale estimate and close to the price of a new Bugatti, according to a AutoWeek report.

The Bugatti Type 57 and later variants (including the famous Atlantic) was an entirely new design by Jean Bugatti, son of founder Ettore. Now, the Bugatti Veyron, the company's latest creation, is the fastest, most powerful and most expensive street-legal full production car in the world with 1001 horsepower and a top speed of 407 km/h (252 mph).

The curious thing is, it wasn't even restored and it was worth all that money, so imagine the final price after its new owner gets it up to spec. Not many car antique dealers can say they found a treasure in a barn, so this one must really be more than its poor look was showing.