When RM Sotheby's rolls into Monterey this August, five cars from the celebrated Jim Patterson Collection will cross the block, headlined by a rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante. It's a grouping that reflects one of the most decorated collecting careers in the hobby.
Patterson's story is a very American one. A Louisville, Kentucky businessman and the first in his family to finish high school, he built a fast-food empire before he ever built a car collection. He co-founded Long John Silver's in 1969, reportedly having a hand in its signature fish batter, and sold his roughly 40 percent stake in 1975 for close to $20 million. He later helped pioneer the double drive-thru concept behind Rally's Hamburgers and ran dozens of Wendy's locations.
His real love, though, was pre-war European coachwork. Working alongside RM Auto Restoration in Ontario, Canada, Patterson achieved something only a handful of collectors ever have: three Best of Show wins at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Those triumphs came with a white 1933 Delage D8 S de Villars Roadster in 2010, a 1924 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A cabriolet in 2015, and a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster once ordered by the Shah of Afghanistan in 2023.
The star of the sale is the 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante, chassis 57551. One of just four Atalantes built on the lowered Type 57S chassis with those low-set headlamps, it began life as a Type 57S before gaining supercharged SC specification. Delivered new to Jean Levy of a Strasbourg-area milling family in July 1937, it survived the war on a Dordogne farm before passing through several owners, including the painter Andre Derain. Harrah's Automobile Collection acquired it in 1961 and it took Best of Show at Pebble Beach in 1976. Patterson bought it in 2000, and a further RM restoration returned its tail and headlights to their original forms. Finished in black and deep green with a pigskin interior, it is estimated at $4.5 million to $6 million.
Joining it is a 1937 Delage D8-120 Coach Aerosport, chassis 51042, one of six first-series examples wearing Letourneur et Marchand coachwork. The body was originally shown at the 1937 Brussels Motor Show on a different chassis before being transferred to this one. After passing through American collectors and a California restoration by Hill & Vaughn, Patterson acquired it in 2001 and promptly won Best of Show at Amelia Island in 2002. It carries a $2 million to $3 million estimate.
The 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C Competition Roadster, chassis 82928, is the sole survivor of two prototype roadsters bodied by Figoni et Falaschi on short-wheelbase competition chassis. Built in full race specification and debuted at a Paris concours by Madame Jeanne Falaschi, it later passed through European hands before a Connecticut restorer, then Tom Price, and finally Patterson in 2001. RM's research-driven restoration rebuilt it to its documented original shape. Now black with a tan interior, it is estimated at $1.5 million to $2.5 million.
A unique 1939 Delage D8-120 S Coupe follows, also by Letourneur et Marchand, built on the lowered and lightened D8-120 S chassis with unusually compact sporting proportions. First registered in Lisbon in 1939 to a former mayor of Sintra, it stayed in Portugal for decades before reaching Britain, Japan and eventually Patterson in 2001. Refinished by RM in black with a tan interior, it earned Best of Show honors at The Elegance at Hershey in 2013 and the Keeneland Concours. It, too, is estimated at $1.5 million to $2.5 million.
Rounding out the group is a more attainable 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet. Originally sold by Loeber Motors of Chicago and finished in Silver Grey Metallic over black leather, this low-mileage example has covered fewer than 22,000 miles and had just one long-term owner before joining the collection. Equipped with a Becker Europa radio, tinted electric windows and air-conditioning, it is offered with no reserve and estimated at $350,000 to $450,000.
Together, the five cars offer a snapshot of a collecting philosophy built on rarity, provenance and painstaking restoration, and a rare chance for the market to bid on machines that have already earned their place on the world's most famous show lawns.
