If you are the type, like me, that got aggravated when the popularity of the Barrett-Jackson auctions drove the prices for good muscle cars through the roof, well, this ought to help put things in perspective.

A 1936 Bugatti 576SC Atlantic was just sold at auction for an astounding sum. It’s somewhere between $30 and 40 million, but neither the buyer nor auction house Gooding & Company is saying exactly. According to The Wall Street Journal, the buyer is the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, Ca., which specializes in French cars, and the seller is a neurologist in the Northeast who collected Bugattis. The previous high for a car sold at auction was a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa which went for $12.2 million in 2009.

You can see that particular car here.

This car is one of two ’36 Atlantics in existence (the other is owned by clothing designer Ralph Lauren), and only three were ever made. It is based on the Aerolithe Electron Coupe, which was shown in 1935. The Aerolithe’s body was constructed from magnesium and because it was so difficult to weld, was riveted together. And although the Atlantic’s body is aluminum, it retianed the aesthetics of the Aerolithe’s riveted body. Feel free to insert your jokes about Cruella DeVille wanting her car back here.

Kind of makes a hundred grand for an old Mustang look downright cheap now, doesn’t it?