Built, then lost

Every car here is in the record: built, sold, photographed, raced. Then the trail stops. Some were scrapped, some were broken for parts, and some may be sitting under a tarp right now. Most gone is not all gone.

1. Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic

   1936 · one of four · chassis 57453 · “La Voiture Noire”

   Jean Bugatti's personal Atlantic and the most valuable missing car on earth. Three of the four survive as concours royalty; this one has no confirmed sighting since the late 1930s, when it was reportedly loaded onto a train out of Alsace ahead of the German advance. Bugatti's own history says the trail ends there.

   Last trace: en route to Bordeaux, France · c. 1938–41

2. Bugatti Aérolithe

   1935 · one built · the Elektron show car

   The magnesium-alloy prototype that gave the Atlantic its shape and its riveted spine. It vanished around 1936 — dismantled for parts, lost to the war, or quietly parked somewhere. Only recreations exist today.

   Last trace: France · c. 1936

3. Ferrari 375 MM

   1953 · one of 26 · chassis 0378AM · Pinin Farina Berlinetta

   Every other 375 MM is accounted for. This one was sold to a collector in Genoa in 1953 and simply stopped appearing. The Ferrari world's long-standing suspicion is that somebody, somewhere, knows exactly where it is.

   Last known: Genoa, Italy · 1953

4. Duesenberg SJ

   1930s · one of ~36 supercharged · chassis 506

   One of the supercharged Duesenbergs — the fastest American cars of their era — and one of the few whose chassis has never been traced through the registries that track the rest.

   Last known: United States

5. Porsche 550 Spyder

   1955 · the wreck · James Dean's “Little Bastard”

   After Dean's crash the remains toured as a highway-safety exhibit for years. In 1960 the car was crated for shipment to Los Angeles and never arrived. Parts have surfaced over the decades; the hulk never has.

   Last trace: in transit, Miami → Los Angeles · 1960

6. GM Motorama dream cars

   1950s · show cars · several unaccounted

   GM's Motorama concepts were mostly ordered destroyed, but a stubborn number escaped the crusher and were last seen in salvage yards decades ago. Cars like the 1953 Buick Wildcat and the fastback Corvette Corvair remain unlocated — the most findable entries on this board.

   Last trace: Michigan salvage yards · 1970s

7. DeLorean DMC-12 ‘B’ car

   1980s · film hero car · Back to the Future

   One of the DeLoreans used for the film's most famous shots. It disappeared after production wrapped and only fragments have ever resurfaced. Most believe the complete car no longer exists — most is not all.

   Last trace: studio backlot, California