Our Top 5 of the 2013 Pebble Beach Gooding & Company Auction

Like you, we day dream. Big. Bold. Beautiful day dreams. And as we gear up for this weekend's Gooding & Company auction we sit down to pick our favorite lots to populate our hypothetical dream garage. The assortment of cars is fascinating and we like so many it's hard to narrow them down. So some ground rules. Okay one rule; keep it under 500,000 bucks. This is for two reasons 1) it makes things more interesting when rules are applied and 2) nearly everything above that price point is a no-brainer.

You'd think there would be more vehicles available with our trunk load of money but this is Pebble Beach; not Craigslist. And all the cars presented are thoroughly gone through and massaged to look and perform as they did when they rolled into the showrooms so we felt a bit better spending our Monopoly money. Our top five under $500,000:

1) 1972 Porsche 911 "STR II", Lot 61

Yeah. We went there. And we think you would too after you take a look at the amount of passion Magnus Walker puts into his builds. This particular RSR interpretation has been featured in Total 911 magazine as well as Fifth Gear, Jay Leno's Garage, and Adam Carolla's CarCast. Estimated to sell for $125k-$150k and offered without reserve (another reason it's one of our top picks). With nearly every well configured 911 being snatched up within a week of listing we think the bidding is going to be active on this one. We suspect the gavel to hammer closer to $110k.

2) 1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series II , Lot 45

This is the car that changed it all for Aston Martin, so why wouldn't you want a piece of history? Only 1210 of these sculpted machines were built. Utilizing a lightweight superleggera (tube-frame) body, cast aluminum 3.7 liter straight 6, and 4-wheel disk brakes this vehicle gained massive fan fair at it's unveiling at the 1958 London Motor Show. It a true continental GT car. Estimated to sell for $425k-$500k. Our estimate: $435k.

3) 1958 Porsche 356 A Speedster, Lot 10

The Porsche Speedster. We love the simple lines with low slung roof and windshield with a dash of chrome body molding to set it apart from it's hardtop brethren. There's really nothing to dislike about these droptops. Fun and nimble Speedsters can hang with the best of them on the curvy back roads. Estimated to sell for $225k-$275k. We think it'll get every bit of it.

4) 1974 BMW 2002 Turbo, Lot 110

The 2002 is the car that really put BMW on the map and in good health. BMW kept the momentum going with the tii model and finally the Turbo. Very rare with only 1,672 built, we think these cars are massively undervalued. The normally aspirated 2002 was rated at 100hp while the Turbo was rated at 170hp. It's rumored that driving one can be a bit tricky when the extra power from the turbo kicks in. Estimated to sell (without reserve) for $60k-$80 we think it'll end up at $68k.

5) 1967 Volkswagen Type 2 21-Window Bus, Lot 113

We've always like these buses. And what better way to cruise to the beach or lake with all your friends and family in tow. Excellent visibility and great color combination. We especially like the period correct roof rack in case you're hauling more than the cabin allows. Great cruisers, these old buses get a ton of attention on the road. Estimated to sell (without reserve) for $70k-$90k. Pretty steep for a VW bus but the prices on these have been going up. We think bidding will end near $70k.

So if your budget we're $500k what would you pick to be in your garage? Lot's of good choices and you can't really go wrong with any of them. Happy bidding!


Source: Gooding & Company