In the world of East Coast automobile collecting, few people stood as tall for as long as the late Alexander E.

Ulmann.

His name is, of course, synonymous with Sebring, the first American automotive endurance race, which he established in December 1950, as well as with early efforts to establish the US Grand Prix.

However, his efforts in early US automobile enthusiasm were not strictly limited to being a track-day impresario.

Raised around Russia’s hydroelectric power plants and possessor of a Masters from MIT under Dean Fales, his business success in the burgeoning aeronautic and aerospace industries funded an automobile passion that was as diverse as his life.

Mercedes of 1908 and 1914 occupied the Ulmann garage, as did the famed marque Hispano-Suiza; but of his many automotive passions, few were as warm or as long-lasting as that for his Bugatti Type 57, chassis number 57406.

According to Bugatti historian Kees Jansen, Ulmann’s Type 57 was built in April 1936; its body was, an...