Dr. Peter Williamson died as a very wealthy man with a significant car collection. The of supply and demand made the one his estate just sold by far the most valuable. The car is a 1936 Bugatti type 57SC Atlantic and there were only 3 ever made. Only 2 of them remain in existence and Ralph Lauren owns the other. While the identity and exact amount of the estate sale are not known reports indicate it sold for between $30 Million and $40 Million dollars reaching a significantly higher value than the prior record of $12.2 Million that a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testarossa had sold for in Italy in May of 2009. The car was sold by an auction house Gooding and Company during an estate sale. It had been in the trust estate of the doctor and was being sold in order to distribute shares to the beneficiaries now.
See Dan Neil Wall Street Journal May 4 2010 The World's most expensive car sold.