The list of cars on offer by RM at Monterey on the 19th-20th August, the annual auction held concurrently with the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California, is about as good as you're going to find anywhere (they churned through $67 million in sales last year).
Vintage Lagondas, Hispano Suizas, Bugattis and the like rub shoulders as usual with ex-competition cars and the odd modern supercar, making it one of the most mouth-watering car auctions in the world. In fact, there's so much delectable machinery that picking out just a few cars for special mention seems a bit perverse, but here goes...
the list of entries
Maserati Bora
looks good, with an upper estimate of $80,000 (£49k), despite being burdened with some irretrievably crude US-spec bumpers. The two Ferrari Boxers, two Daytonas and the Daytona Spyder (lots 107, 125, 124, 222, and 243 respectively) also add nicely to the list of most PHers' Euromillions dream-buys.
The sight of a BMW 3.0 CSL 'Batmobile' offered with an upper estimate of $160,000 (£98k) (but interestingly with no reserve) got the pulse racing a little quicker still, as did the Porsche Carrera GT (again with no reserve) and the outrageous 750bhp 'Greenwood' Corvette ZL-1 with its 'aloominum' big-block V8 and whopping $950,000 (£580k) upper estimate.
However, the sight of the
ex-Steve McQueen Porsche 911S
- the actual car which he drove at the start of the film
and subsequently owned as part of his private collection - pretty much instantly decided where the 'star of the auction' accolade was going.
Not surprisingly, RM expects there to be some epic auction-room financial fisticuffs over this one, and the estimate is available only on application.
It's a measure of the fever that surrounds all things McQueen - vehicles especially - that even the inclusion of a Grand Prix-winning ex-Alboreto/Arnoux Ferrari 126C4 (upper estimate $480,000 or £293k) will probably not overshadow the humble Slate Grey 911S.
For fans of moderns there isn't a great deal to bid on, in fact strictly speaking there are only two modern cars on offer (the Shelby GR1 is just a 'concept platform') and they are the
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
and the Porsche Carrera GT.
The upper estimate for the Merc is $280,000 (approximately £172k), but with just 4000 miles from new I'd be surprised if it didn't push past that on the day. The Carrera GT's high estimate is $400,000 (about £246k) which is surely a long way below what it'll make, especially when you consider that it's covered just 930 kilometres. Whoever buys that hopefully senses a degree of duty to get in it and use the thing.
Mind you there's so much more drool-worthy metal at Monterey than we can glimpse here, so a good look through the catalogue is highly recommended.
What kind of value would you put on the McQueen 911? Personally I'd re-mortgage the house and sell everything I own (twice), but that would probably only be enough to pay the buyer's fee...