How does a priceless Bugatti end up in a lake? To tell that story, we need to go back to the 1930s. Picture a champagne-fueled poker game in a smoky back room in Paris. Famed Bugatti works driver René Dreyfus is down but convinced he can win back his losses from Swiss playboy Adalbert Bodé. He’s the toast of the Grand Prix circuit, fresh off his 1930 Monaco Grand Prix victory. In desperation, he bets his car—a 1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia—on a hand of cards.

Then they flip their cards.

Bodé wins.

A Bugatti held for ransom–in a lake

Bodé collects his prize and heads for Switzerland. But there’s a problem. At the Lake Maggiore border crossing, customs agents tell him he needs to pay an import tax on the Bugatti. The flashy playboy is short on cash. No big deal—he’ll return later with the money.

Except he never does.

Swiss authorities, unwilling to let the car sit in limbo, come up with a truly insane solution. Instead of selling or auctioning it, they hang it from chains, fully submerged in Lake Maggiore. But not sunk all the way down. No, they suspend it just below the surface, close enough that they could haul it back up if Bodé ever paid the tax.

Because yeah, nothing says “we’ll take good care of it” like dunking a priceless race car into a lake.

Lost, but never forgotten

Bodé never returned. The chains rusted and broke. The priceless Bugatti fell 173 feet down to the bottom of the lake, where it sat for 75 years.

Local divers rediscovered the car in 1967, when deep-diving technology finally allowed them to see it. For decades, it became a tourist attraction, a ghostly masterpiece resting in the depths. “It became a part of local lore,” said Andrew Reilly, curator at the Mullin Automotive Museum.

Then tragedy struck. In 2008, a young man was murdered in a random street attack. To honor his memory, a local diving club decided to raise the Bugatti and auction it for charity. Thousands gathered on July 12, 2009, to watch the car emerge from the water.

The Bugatti of the Lake: not restored, but preserved

At auction, the Bugatti sold for $370,000 to Peter Mullin, a California-based collector. He made a bold choice: no restoration. Instead, the car remains exactly as it was found—half preserved in lake silt, half eaten away by the elements.

“My theory was that Ettore Bugatti started in the creation of this piece of art, and mother nature finished the creation,” Mullin once said.

The Bugatti sat for years in its own room at the Mullin Automotive Museum, displayed under dim lights to mimic the darkness of its watery crypt. “This is a car that’s had many different lives,” said Reilly. “Depending on what part of its lifespan you focus on, you come away with a different appreciation.”