At a Paris auction, a forsaken 1937 Bugatti Type 57S fetched an exorbitant £3,043,293! The original engine of the classic car, lying in a Newcastle garage, had not been ignited for over five decades.

Listed at the auction as a “motoring icon,” the auctioneers lured bidders by remarking saying: “a true supercar with impeccable credentials emerges to take its place on the world stage!”

The purported “supercar”, one of the seventeen of its kind manufactured, was firstly owned by racing buff Earl Howe. The President of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, Howe kept the car for around eight years.

In 1955, after undergoing a resale or two, the sporty two-seat Atalante was sold by Lord Ridley - a member of the Northumberland gentry – to a Newcastle doctor Harold Carr. After driving it around for five odd years, the reclusive Carr parked the classic Bugatti in his garage for good in early 1960s. Ever since, the car remained in the garage for nearly half a century, till it was discovered in Carr’s garage after his death in 2007.

The amazingly low mileage of the car is simply unbelievable – the odometer read merely 26,284!

Coveted greatly by collectors, the Bugatti 57S is a prize possession - at least four out of the seventeen similar cars are believed to be the property of the Musee Nationale de L’Automobile in Mulhouse, France!