Mark Hyman's Bugatti

Mark Hyman and his daughter Brooke, left.

Cast your gaze on Mark Hyman’s 1939 Bugatti Type 57C and it’s not hard to see why Bugatti is one of the world’s most celebrated marques.

This slinky coupe’s Aravis fixed-head-coupe bodywork by Gangloff is like poetry in motion. The Type 57, produced from 1934 to 1940, was the ultimate Bugatti road car. A supercharged, 3.2-liter, DOHC eight- cylinder engine derived from the very successful Type 59 racer sits under the hood.

 Ettore Bugatti was born in northern Italy but started building automobiles in Molsheim in the Alsace region of France. He was a consummate engineer, and his Grand Prix racing cars of the 1930s were legend.

 Hyman, of St. Louis, owns a classic-car business, and the Bugatti is one of the cars in his collection. It’s for sale for a cool $750,000.

 Hyman has been in the classic-car business for the last 15 years or so, but his love for cars started when he was a child.

 “Antique and classic cars have been my passion since I was a little kid. I was a nut for anything with a motor and wheels. I loved go-karts, and I even loved lawn mowers,” he said. He restored his first car at age 16.

 He got into the classic car business almost by accident.

 “I never made a decision to become a classic-car dealer. My dad was in the tire business and had a couple of old cars. I was in real estate for about 10 years. While working on my master’s degree, I had a little extra time and started fooling with cars. One day I woke up and had seven or eight cars. The focus of my day was chasing cars or talking cars rather than real estate. One thing led to another and the business grew,” he said.

 “Fifteen years later it is still my passion, still my hobby. Hyman Ltd. Classic Cars has turned into a well-known and successful business. It’s a lot of fun and I feel fortunate.”

 Hyman’s Bugatti was ordered on April 21, 1938, by the Bugatti agent in Marseille, France, for a Mr. Cremieux. It was delivered on Aug. 11 of the same year. The completed chassis was delivered to Gangloff, where it was fitted with the coupe body. Its history is vague, but it was eventually exported to this country and was listed in the 1973-75 Bugatti Register update. It was restored in the late 1990s.

 Hyman bought the car about a year ago and no matter how delighted he is to own it, he will part with it when the right buyer comes along. Cars are his business, and there’s always one more treasure lurking out there. Chasing it down is part of why Hyman likes classic cars.