A 1929 Bugatti Type 40 spent more than 60 years with one owner; it sold for $240,800 against a $450,000 high estimate

A 1929 Bugatti Type 40 Grand Sport, chassis 40801, crossed the block at Gooding Christie's Amelia Island sale as part of the New Woodstock Collection, carrying pre-auction hopes of $350,000 to $450,000. Instead, as Racecar records, the car, which had spent more than 60 years in the hands of a single owner, the late Robert J. Chevako of New York, sold for just $240,800, roughly a third below its low estimate, as noted by Gooding Christie’s. Here's the story behind chassis 40801, and how a car with such rare, storied provenance still fell short at auction.Chassis 40801: The history of Bugatti Type 40 Grand SportPublished registry records show chassis 40801 was built in May 1929 and fitted with the marque's Grand Sport bodywork, a design echoing Bugatti's Grand Prix cars while offering space for passengers. It was bought new via Dache Pilot & Cie of Valence, southern France, in 1929, and registered for the road as "6207 FA," though the identity of the original buyer was never recorded. The car passed through a sequence of owners in the Marseille area before returning to Valence in 1952. By 1955, M. Balieu of Paris had acquired it. Balieu entrusted famed Bugattiste Henri Novo with finding a buyer, and the car passed to Dennis Talbot, a British man based in Holland, around 1957.How the Bugatti made its way to America and into Robert J. Chevako's handsFrom Talbot, the car passed to Jean De Dobbeleer, a Bugatti dealer well known for supplying vehicles to the US, in 1958. That same year, Gene Cesari and John O'Donnell imported it to America and sold it to Robert Bramley of Rumson, New Jersey. Bramley refurbished the car and reported his work to the Bugatti Trust in 1960, but his interest reportedly waned amid marriage and flying. In 1964, Robert J. Chevako of New Woodstock, New York, acquired chassis 40801 and kept it until he died in 2024, using it at select events in the 1960s before it largely disappeared from view, absent even from the American Bugatti Club's 1988 register.Inside the Type 40 Grand Sport: Specs and conditionThe car was powered by a 1,496cc SOHC inline four-cylinder engine producing 60 bhp at 4,500 rpm, paired with a four-speed manual gearbox, four-wheel mechanical drum brakes, and a front solid axle with semi-elliptical leaf springs. The barn page described it as retaining a matching-numbers engine and original bodywork, presenting at auction with the popular "oily rag" look, an unrestored patina many collectors prize as highly as a full restoration. The listing also noted the vehicle is titled 1928 despite registry records showing its 1929 build and completion dates, and that it would require mechanical recommissioning before road use, having spent years in long-term static storage.A rare barn find that still sold well below estimateDespite its rarity, matching-numbers engine, and more than six decades under one owner, chassis 40801 ultimately sold for $240,800, well short of even the $350,000 low end of its estimate. The result stood out within the wider New Woodstock Collection, which also included three unrestored Ferraris, among them a 1951 Ferrari 342 America Coupe estimated at $900,000 to $1,200,000, alongside two Porsches, a Morgan Three-Wheeler and a Vincent Series C Comet, all offered without reserve. The Bugatti's outcome served as a reminder that even a car with an exceptional, well-documented history and genuine barn-find appeal doesn't always command bidder confidence in line with its story.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.