Can you believe it – a replica Bugatti Type 51 that has been unearthed in a garage filled with rubbish is expected to realise in excess of £100,000 when it comes up for auction on 26 September.

The replica Bugatti Type 51 classic car was purchased in 1987 by engineer Alan Riley who unfortunately died last year. He was under the impression that the car had won a grand prix in 1931 when in fact it was actually a replica that had been built in the middle of the 1980s using only two original components from Bugatti.

When the car comes up for auction in Leominster, Herefordshire at Brightwells auctioneers in September many experts believe that it may achieve a sale price in excess of £100,000 despite having deteriorated in the past nine years.

However, if it had been an original Bugatti Type 51 classic car, it may well have achieved a sale price of £2 million on the open market.

The replica Bugatti was constructed by the late Keith Butti, who was an engineer from London, to the Type 51 specification. Its supercharged 2.3 litre 8-cylinder engine was capable of achieving 180bhp.

David Sewell, who is an independent Bugatti consultant, stated: “We never had the chance to inspect this car but now we know everything about it. Alan never raced the car but he took it to Bugatti meetings all around the UK. He would always say it was an original.

“It is not a genuine Type 51 but it has been built to Type 51 specification. A real Type 51 is worth around £2 million and a replica is worth about 10 per cent of that. If you were to build a replica it would cost £150,000 and I’d be very surprised if it didn’t fetch over £100,000.

“It needs some TLC but will be great to see it out and on the road again.”