Bonhams Announces Star Cars for Paris Auction

There is just one week between Bonhams’ The Scottsdale Auction on January 27 and Les Grandes Marques du Monde a Paris sale on February 3. Of course, both are spectacles no car crazed individual will want to miss.

For those attending the Paris sale, note that there is a new venue for 2022 as The Grand Palais is undergoing renovations. The Bonhams auction will instead be held at the Grand Palais Ephémère, a new pavilion hosting Grand Palais events on the Champs de Mars.

The event is set to be a traditional live auction with all appropriate social distancing and COVID-19 guidelines implemented. For those unable to attend in-person, bids can be placed by registered bidders via the Bonhams App, telephone, and absentee bidding. However you choose to bid, Bonhams has announced some spectacular star cars you won’t want to miss.

The biggest star among the star cars is a 1964 Porsche 904 GTS previously owned by famous actor Robert Redford. The fire-breathing coupe was originally sold to Steve Earle, who founded the Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca. It was later raced around North America by its second owner, Steve Berg. It then landed in the hands of Redford, who kept it for almost a decade. Estimate: €1,300,000 – €1,600,000

No French auction is complete without a car from one of the country’s most hallowed manufactures. In this sale, it is a 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Special coupe known as “Le Patron.” Used before World War II by the legend himself, Ettore Bugatti, “Le Patron” was also piloted by factory drivers Jean-Pierre Wimille and Robert Benoist. As well as Bugatti General Manager Pierro Marco after the war.

The supercharged coupe is completely original and features many unique touches, as it was used as a development car for testing new ideas. The most obvious unique touch here is its bespoke coachwork, believe to the be the last designed by Jean Bugatti. Estimate: €1,600,000 – €2,000,000

Another star Bugatti, though this one built in Italy, is a beautiful-in-blue 1996 Bugatti EB110 GT coupe. Quite advanced for its day, the EB110 GT features a 3.5-L V12 engine with five valves per cylinder, four turbochargers, a six-speed transmission and all-wheel drive. With 550 horsepower and a top speed of 340 km/h, the EB110 set four world speed records in period.

Just 95 EB110 GT examples were built during the production run, and as such, they don’t show up for sale every day. Furthermore, this example has had just three owners and covered a scant 10,000 kms during its 25-year existence. Estimate: €1,100,000 – €1,300,000

Other stars cars include a Giallo Modena 2014 LaFerrari coupe, a supercharged 1934 Mercedes-Benz 380K Cabriolet A, an original 1921 Hispano-Suiza H6B Torpedo with Duvivier coachwork, and a 1902 Panhard & Levassor Type A2 7hp rear entrance tonneau.

Check out the full Les Grandes Marques du Monde a Paris catalog here