Got $10 million? Buy the world’s most expensive car

The world’s most expensive car is officially up for sale – well, ‘world’s most expensive’ according to Forbes, at least, although I suppose $10 million has to come pretty close. That’s the asking price for a Bugatti Type 41 Royale, a beautiful automobile designed by Ettore Bugatti and one of the rarest cars in existence. It came about in the 1920s when he was expecting to win a lucrative contract from the French military to build 16-cylinder aircraft engines. When the contract never materialized, Bugatti thought that using an engine half as big would make for a pretty cool car.

And he was right. The Royale produces almost twice the power of any V-8 built by any car company today, and remains the largest engine of any privately-sold vehicle. Unfortunately for Bugatti, production started right before the stock market crash of the late 20s. Hence, only six were ever built, and two of the six were never even sold – remaining with the Bugatti estate. One was apparently bricked up behind a fake wall during World War II. They were finally sold in 1950. The current owner of this particular car is unknown, though believed to be Japanese, and they have commissioned London’s Bonham & Brooks to sell the vehicle for at least $10 million. Interested? The phone number is 011 44 20 7393 3822. Go ahead. Make a bid.