The top sale at the 2013 Bonhams Paris auction held at the Grand Palais yesterday went to a vintage 1929 Bentley 6 1/2-Litre Speed Six tourer that sold for €828,000, beating its pre-sale estimate. The vehicle was originally created as a touring car and has saloon coachwork by English design firm Gurney Nutting.

In the late 1990s, the car participated in the “Around the World” rally, an 80-day marathon. Modifications were made to the car. The vehicle's owner installed a roll bar and special seats and safety belts. The exhaust pipe was also altered to allow the car to ford rivers. Despite being the oldest car in the event, the Speed Six still competed and clocked more miles throughout the event than some modern-day Bentleys do in a year.

A 1963 Aston Martin DB4 Vantage cabriolet came in at a close second, more than doubling its estimate and sold for a cool €805,000, and a 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Coupe, formerly owned by Ettore Bugatti himself, realized at €690,000. Ettore’s older son, Jean, designed the coachwork, which includes a sloping rear deck and teardrop fenders.

The auction also saw the sale of former architect Charles H Brown’s collection, which realized over €1.2 million. The top-selling lot in his collection was a 1931 Bentley 8-litre Sports tourer, which fetched a handsome €483,000.

The auction at the Grand Palais marks the second time Bonhams had hosted an auction at the historic automotive venue. The sale realized just short of €13 million with bidders from 27 countries.

“The global motoring department has enjoyed a stellar start to the year. The highly successful Paris auction follows on from the success that the US division recently achieved in Las Vegas (Motorcycles) and Scottsdale (Motor Cars). Yet again motor cars were sourced for the Paris Sale from teams on both sides of the Atlantic, demonstrating a global approach to our blue riband Sales,”” said James Knight, Group Motoring Director of Bonhams.