2011 Bugatti Type 52 by Authentic Models – Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers

2011 Bugatti Type 52 by Authentic Models Hand-built and numbered Authentic Models reproduction of the Bugatti Type 52. Electrically powered and faithfully executed, just like the original. A uniquely documented history - from a shop window in Edinburgh to Veteran Tidende. A Bugatti is not normally associated with a modest budget, but the Type 52 is in a different price range. The model was created by Bugatti founder Ettore Bugatti as an electrically powered miniature car for his son Roland. The car was developed based on the Type 35 Grand Prix racer and was named Type 52. The original plan was to build a single example, but the car attracted so much interest from customers that Bugatti put it into production. Only around 500 original examples were built, and today they are among the most sought-after pieces of automobilia and historic pedal cars. A handful of specialist manufacturers have since taken on the task of recreating the Type 52 with the level of detail and quality expected of the Bugatti name. Among them was Dutch company Authentic Models, which produced this particularly well-executed reproduction to the same dimensions as the original. This example is No. 108 of a limited production run, and its history is almost as interesting as the car itself. In the summer of 2011, its current owner was on his way to go hiking in the Scottish Highlands when he spotted a blue Baby Bugatti at Old Town Context in Edinburgh. After a week in the Highlands, he returned - so early that the shop had not yet opened. A knock on the window and a conversation marked the beginning of the purchase. The car in Edinburgh was not actually for sale. However, it turned out that ’Authentic Models’ in the Netherlands had a brand-new example in stock: No. 108. Shortly afterwards, it was sent to Denmark, where it was converted to electric power with the ambition of coming as close as possible to the original, which was likewise electrically powered. The research led, among other things, to contact with the Bugatti specialists at Pur Sang in Argentina, and the entire story of the discovery, purchase and work carried out on the car was later documented in ’Veteran Tidende’ in December 2015. No. 108 is finished in classic Bugatti blue with a horseshoe-shaped radiator grille, Bugatti emblem, leather straps, instruments, four-spoke steering wheel and the characteristic polished wheels. The car is accompanied by an ’Authentic Models’ certificate, the original 2011 packing list and the illustrated article from ’Veteran Tidende’. This is not an original Type 52 from the 1920s, which would command a very different valuation, but rather a rare, numbered and collectible reproduction. Small in size. Big in history. And unmistakably Bugatti.

Estimate:$14,983.7

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