$4m for eccentric's rare Bugatti

The 1934 Gangloff Bugatti Roadster once owned by Bob Turnbull.

Restored vintage ex-Vuitton car on the block.

Arare vintage Bugatti roadster is for sale for a cool $4 million, left behind by a reclusive mechanical engineer now credited with the brilliance of motorcycle legends John Britten and Burt Munro.

Bob Turnbull was a familiar sight in the tiny Otago gold-mining town of Ophir, roaring around in his vintage cars before disappearing into his ramshackle property. No one knew much about him, or what was inside his large, cluttered shed.

Bob Turnbull. Photo / NZH

When he died in 2012, aged 82, among Turnbull's five half-restored cars was a 1934 Gangloff Roadster Type 57, once owned by a member of the Louis Vuitton family. Turnbull bought the car in 1958 for 475 and began a 50-odd year restoration.

Now the car, restored to concourse condition, is being advertised in Classic Car and Beaded Wheels magazines by Turnbull's trust.

In accordance with Turnbull's wishes, the proceeds will be used to benefit the local community and establish a scholarship for young Kiwi engineers.

Ophir resident Pete Brabant, a friend and trustee of the Trust, described the Bugatti as "beautiful".

"When I take the cover off people just go 'Wow!'"

The vintage car always turned heads when he took it out for a spin, he said. "You park in town, go in for a coffee and when you come out there are 20 people around the car."

The Bugatti, which has 96,560km on the clock, has a fully reconditioned engine and "goes flat out". After Turnbull consulted the French coach builders Gangloff, he restored the Bugatti close to its original colours of pearl with burgundy trim and carpet, and pale tan upholstery.

John Southward, of Southward Car Museum near Wellington, is a Bugatti fan because of their brilliant engineering. The museum owns a rare supercharged Bugatti 57C and Southward owns two Bugattis.

Southward wouldn't be drawn on the $4m asking price, saying vintage car values weren't an exact science.

Brabant, one of the few invited in Turnbull's workshop, befriended the solitary engineer 18 years ago. Before his death, Turnbull asked Brabant to finish restoring the cars and find a good home for them.

A 1907 Sizaire et Naudin has been sold and a 1904 Humberette Coventry Royal, the first car in Central Otago, is for sale. Turnbull drove the Sizaire to Alexandra for groceries. He went on back-country trips, kipping under the car, and often won vintage car rallies.

Notes Turnbull made after he retired t in 1987 say he began working for CWF Hamilton, Hamilton Jet's parent company, in 1955, designing everything from hydro-scheme gates and oil hydraulic equipment to a mobile crane and concrete agitator trucks.

But it was his work with Hamilton's jet-propulsion units that earned him praise in John Walsh's recent book, Hamilton's Jet: The Biography of an Icon.

Brabant says those who knew him in the vintage car world credit him with being as resourceful and ingenious as Kiwi motorbike legends John Britten and Burt Munro.

"One day someone will write a book or make a film about him."