8 cars you won’t want to miss at Gooding & Co’s 2018 Pebble Beach auction

The big winners from last year’s Gooding & Company Pebble Beach auction—a 1966 Ferrari 275 GBT/C and a 1970 Porsche 917K—totaled a staggering $28.6M. A lot of the chatter around this year’s event at Monterey Car Week 2018 concerns two more heavy-hitters—a celebrity-owned 1935 Duesenberg SSJ and a stunning 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial. The expected haul should top $15.5 million. There’s a solid chance these headline sales will draw big crowds, but the Gooding’s lot list is otherwise full of other fascinating (and in some cases very high-dollar) rides that are sure to surprise and delight as they cross the block.

1956 Maserati A6G/54 Berlinetta

Lot 37

Estimate: $4.3M-$4.6M

To mark the triumphant end of Maserati’s line of gorgeous A6 road cars, Maserati came out with the A6GCS in 1954. Only 60 of these dazzling, twin-cam straight-six-powered beauties were made, and this car (chassis 2155) is one of 20 with an alloy Berlinetta body and double-bubble roof by none other than Zagato. Ten days after it was built in 1956, it raced in the Millie Miglia, kicking off a documented racing career not without its missteps. In ’58 it crashed while testing, and Zagato would use the car as a design study for the Maserati 3500 GT. It was presented with a full restoration in 2005, and will share the Pebble spotlight at Gooding’s auction with a 1955 Maserati A6GCS/53 Spider, which is estimated even higher at $5.5-$6.5M. And over at RM Sotheby’s we’ll see a ’56 A6G Berlinetta Zagato, which altogether should give us a clear look at what the market for these cars is doing.

1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/C

Lot 41

Estimate: $12M-$14M

One of just 12 built, raced in period by Pedro Rodriguez, and restored to perfection, this lovely 275 GTB/C is a Ferrari fan’s purple dreamboat. It was a 275 holistically and fully reimagined for competition, boasting a stripped-out interior, larger fuel tank, heavy-duty suspension and brakes, extra-thin aluminum bodywork courtesy of Scaglietti, lightweight Perspex in place of glass, and flared wheel arches to fit racing wheels and tires. Oh, you want to hear about the engine? The 3.3-liter V-12? How about upgraded camshafts, valves, pistons, crankshaft, and carbs, magnesium castings, and dry-sump lubrication? Yes please.

This example—chassis 09063—didn’t sell back in 2000 at the Brooks Quail Lodge auction, before it later sold at RM’s Amelia auction for $1.1M. It was sold again in 2001, and that owner has retained the car since. To give you an idea of return on investment expected, Gooding sold a similar car at Pebble last year for $14.5M.

1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France Berlinetta

Lot 53

Estimate: $6.5M-$7.5M

This single-louver TdF—one of 36 built—is estimated a fair bit below its average value of $9.4M. Don’t worry, the market for a TdF isn’t tanking, and its stellar competition pedigree and reputation is safe. “The low estimate likely has to do with the fact that the car was crashed in period,” says Hagerty auction editor Andrew Newton. “It is also a single-louver car, and that is not the most desirable variant for the TdF. There were also cars with no louvers, three vents and 14 vents, with 14-louver cars being the rarest.” Chassis 0905GT, this car is a longtime show veteran and underwent a full restoration down to the bare metal in 2014.

1969 Ford/Holman & Moody Bronco Hunter

Lot 103

Estimate: $180K-$220K

If it sells even at the low end of its estimate, this one-of-a-kind Holman & Moody project be the most expensive Ford Bronco to ever change hands at public auction (outside of charity benefits). The current record is $143,000, held in a two-way tie between Broncos sold this year at Barrett-Jackson and Mecum. The history of this car, first a testing and development vehicle for Ford, is just plain fascinating. While with Ford is received front and rear limited-slip differentials and beefed-up rubber, among other goodies. Holman & Moody eventually took possession of the car for $1 (not a typo) as part of a special “Dollar Car” deal with Ford.

Our own Colin Comer oversaw the 2400-hour restoration after the car was discovered in 2016, and the car features lots of custom details, a dyno-tuned Ford 302 motor, and Coral paint that wouldn’t appear on the Bronco until the Baja variant in 1971. For Bronco geeks, this is some rather special, indeed.

1988 BMW M3

Lot 125

Estimate: $160K-$180K

Very few cars have experienced as much of a hot streak as the BMW M3 over the last five years. In fact, during that time frame only seven out of nearly 1300 vehicles that Hagerty tracks have increased in value more than the M3. So how much has the M3 surged? Try 269 percent, to an average of $63,600. Concours-level examples now average $133,00, and as Newton points out, much of the mega price increases for this car can be seen among the unmolested, super-clean, low-mile unicorns like this one. We’ll be watching this one closely to see just how high the E30 M3 can go.

Staying in the care of one owner from new until 2017, this 9400-mile blast from the past is about as sorted and fresh as an E30 M3 can possibly be. It is the car that BMW M’s current success can be directly connected to, a homologation special that sold poorly in the U.S. when it launched and now wouldn’t be difficult to trade for your average car enthusiast’s left kidney.

1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante

Lot 132

Estimate: $2.8M-$3.3M

This is one of those cars that just makes your jaw hit the floor and your tongue unfurl, Looney Toons-style. Designed by Jean Bugatti, it’s hard to believe a car this majestic was parked and then left essentially for dead over the course of almost 45 years. Resting in a suburban garage all that time, it was eventually found in original and totally intact condition in 2007, and showed at Pebble not long after. It sold that year at the Christie’s Greenwich auction for $852,000—way above its $400,000 estimated top end. It completed restoration in 2011 from renowned authority Sargent Metal Works, and started its show tour, during which time it sold in 2013 for $2.03M at the Gooding & Company Scottsdale auction. The car is an Art Deco masterpiece, not to mention it has an interesting racing history from the late ‘40s to the early ‘50s.

1966 Ford GT40 Mk I

Lot 142

Estimate: $3.5M-$4M

Enough ink has been spilled on the legendary GT40 to paint a military battleship, but suffice to say that when you beat Ferrari three years in a row at their own game, people remember. Then again, if we were to own this GT40 Mk I road car, we’d make sure everyone with a pulse had heard the tale at least a dozen times, for good measure. This particular car was originally ordered for Ford’s internal promotional efforts, and also became one of the six road cars that Shelby American used to market the roadgoing GT40 to dealers across the country. The car has had a very respectable provenance over the years, including in the collection of Greg Whitten, where it remained from 1991 until 2016. The car is advertised as being exceedingly original and bearing unique details like original valve covers and an aluminum factory luggage rack. Values for these cars have been steady over the last several years, and with average values at $3.8M, this estimate is reasonable. This example, chassis 1057, last sold in 2016 For $2.9M.

1967 Toyota 2000 GT

Lot 166

Estimate: $800K-$1M

One of just 62 examples constructed for the U.S. market, this red Toyota 2000 GT is an absolute looker. This limited-run GT showed just how Japan could flex its collective engineering, design, and manufacturing muscle, corralling resources from Toyota, Nissan, and Yamaha to prove to the world that it aspired as a nation to build more than economy cars. The message was made clear.

“The first Japanese collector car to top a million dollars during its big run up in 2014 and 2015, the 2000 GT has since seen a lot of price fluctuation,” says Newton. “Values saw a big correction in 2015 but they remain high at an average of $660,000, with Concours-quality examples commanding $875,000.”  This particular 2000 GT, MF10-10100, is an original left-hand-drive example (RHD cars trend about 15 percent lower in price). The car is an auction veteran, last appearing at Mecum’s Indy sale in 2017 where it changed hands for $825,000. If the Ferraris, Maseratis, Porsches, and Astons don’t do it for you, this Toyota might be the one.