This Bugatti Is The Most Expensive Car Auctioned So Far This Year [72 Images]

Every year, we see classic cars selling for bigger and bigger bucks. We’ve yet to see one reach into tens of millions so far this year as we have in years past, but for now, this is the high-water mark for 2017.

It’s a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S cabriolet – one of just three with bodywork by coachbuilder Vanvooren of Paris in existence. Leading up to this past weekend’s auctions at Amelia Island in Florida, RM Sotheby’s estimated it would sell for over $8.5 million. It didn’t quite get there, but it did sell for $7.7 million.

By our count, that makes this the most expensive car sold at auction so far this year, just edging out the rare Jaguar E-Type that Barrett-Jackson sold in Scottsdale for $7.37 million this past January.

The Bugatti wasn’t the vehicle with the highest estimated value heading into the weekend. But neither the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, the 166 MM, nor the Jaguar XKSS appear to have reached their reserve prices – leaving the buyer of the Vanvooren cabrio with the biggest check to write before taking his (or her) new prized possession home.

All told, RM Sotheby’s alone topped over $70 million in sales during the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, bolstered by Mike Tyson’s Ferrari F50 ($2.6m), a ’56 Maserati A6G ($2.4m), and a ’36 Lancia Astura cabriolet ($2.1m).