The Bond Street auction house might not have consigned as many stars as RM Sotheby’s or Gooding & Company, but the catalogue for its annual Quail Lodge sale is still teeming with interesting and desirable motorcars nonetheless. As mentioned, the headliner is the 1962 Ferrari 250 GT ‘Short Wheelbase’.

The car was restored to the nth degree in 2014 with the express aim of winning concours trophies. And win concours trophies it has – at the FCA’s International Meet in Monterey in 2015, chassis #3337GT even scored a perfect 100 points and won a platinum award. Complete with matching numbers and the all-important Classiche certification, the Ferrari’s estimate is available on request. As the old saying goes, if you have to ask…

Here at Classic Driver, we’re strong advocates of the Make Lancia Great Again movement. And if you’re looking to join the cause, Bonhams is offering some fantastic examples with which to do so. The brace of Aurelias offered – a 1955 B24 Spider America (est. 1–1.3m US dollars) and 1958 B20 GT (est. 150,000–200,000 dollars) – demonstrate the marque’s propensity to build cars so outrageously beautiful that they can bring grown men to tears.

Our favourite, however, must be the 1985 Lancia Delta S4 Stradale (450,000–550,000 dollars), the ultra-rare road-going version of the fire-breathing Group B car. It’s covered fewer than 14,000 miles from new and was recently restored by the Baldi Brothers in Turin, who are the renowned specialists for the marque.

Who wants to traverse the Golden State in the hot and stuffy confines of a coupé when you could let the wind blow through your hair in a convertible? Those looking to truly stand out, be it on the boulevards of Venice Beach or the fairways of Pebble Beach, should look no further than the sole remaining Fina Sport Convertible (750,000–950,000 dollars), the Bertone-bodied 1954 Arnolt-Bristol Roadster (375,000–450,000 dollars), or the drop-dead gorgeous 1953 Siata 208S Spider (1.5–1.8m dollars). The latter has won awards at both Pebble and Villa d’Este – no mean feat.

Of the slew of rare modern super- and hypercars poised to cross the block during Monterey Car Week, Bonhams has arguably taken the spoils with its 2018 Bugatti Chiron, which has an attached pre-sale estimate of 3.3–3.9m dollars. Incidentally, Bugatti’s hotly anticipated new hypercar, christened the Divo, will be revealed at The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering on the very same day as the sale.

It’s not too late to celebrate Porsche’s 70th anniversary, you know? Whether you were driving the exquisite and oh-so-Hollywood 356A T2 1600 Speedster from 1958 (500,000–600,000 dollars) or the ‘as-new’ 918 Spyder with the desirable Weissach package (1.35–1.75m dollars), we’re sure you’ll be welcomed with open arms at the numerous birthday parties yet to take place this year.

Special note must also go to the 1996 Porsche 911 GT2 Club Sport – one of just 20 examples of what Bonhams is calling ‘the pinnacle of street-legal, air-cooled Porsches’. It’s expected to fetch an extremely healthy 1.5–2m dollars.

If you’re looking for the quintessential blue-chip collector cars from both the pre- and post-War periods, the 1928 Bentley 6½ Litre – the only surviving example bodied by Barker, estimated at 2–3m dollars – and the 1948 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Competizione (3–3.5m dollars) would be great places to start. The latter is the only original Competizione Berlinetta remaining and contested both the Mille Miglia and the Targa Florio numerous times.

Not for the faint of heart, Bonhams’ ‘barn-find’ Aston Martin DB4 Series II is offered publicly for the first time in 36 years and is apparently in sound structural condition. It’s estimated to bring 425,000–475,000 dollars when it’s pushed (?) across the block.

Interestingly, it wasn’t the striking Blu Mirabeau 575M Superamerica (350,000–450,000 dollars), one-owner F430 Scuderia Spider 16M (300,000–400,000 dollars), or the retro-liveried 599 GTO (550,000–650,000 dollars) that took our fancy of the Ferraris offered by Bonhams. Surprisingly, we’d rather cruise home in the ravishing Rosso Monza F355 Spider that formerly belonged to the American comedian Martin Lawrence. A low-mileage, well looked-after six-speed example, its attached estimate is 100,000–125,000 dollars.

What of our personal favourites? We can’t think of a cooler car in which to prowl the boulevards of Venice than the restored Safari-spec 1990 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen (75,000–95,000 dollars), though for ultimate Instagram kudos, the satin silver 2009 Ruf CTR3, estimated at 700,000–900,000 dollars, snatches the winners’ cigars for us. 

Photos courtesy of Bonhams © 2018