Top of the lots: every million-pound car at Bonhams’ Quail Lodge auction

These 14 classics are all up for grabs later this month

For festivals, it’s Glastonbury. For world leaders, it’s G7. For classic car auctions? It’s Monterey.

Every year, the auction houses bring their biggest lots to the California coast to coincide with the Pebble Beach Concours D'elegance and Monterey Car Week.

This year is no different, with RM Sotheby’s, Gooding & Co and Bonhams all presenting lot lists replete with rare machines and million-dollar motors.

Bonhams’ Quail Lodge auction on 24 August is particularly well stocked with classics, so here's our guide to the most interesting offerings.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing

Estimate: £960,000 – 1.1m

Could it be a big auction without a 300SL Gullwing? Mercedes-Benz’s iconic ‘50s cruiser knows how to make an entrance, what with its soaring doors and thrumming 3-litre, 6-cylinder engine – and this 1955 example is up there with the best.

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing (cont.)

Still wearing the same DB 40 Black paint applied by the factory, this historic world-beater has spent its whole life in the USA, stabled with the same owner since 1967.

With less than 60,000 miles on the clock and a matching-numbers engine, there’s little wonder it’s worth £1m.

1928 Bentley 6½ Litre

Estimate: £1.5m – 2.3m

Next up is a lot that could go for twice the price of the Merc: a late-’20s open-top tourer with all the trimmings.

It’s one of just 19 Bentley 6½ Litre chassis to have been bodied by coachbuilder Barker & Co. – and the last known to survive with this unique style of shell.

1928 Bentley 6½ Litre (cont.)

Sensitively and thoroughly refurbished – including a complete mechanical overhaul and a refinish with the correct light blue paintwork – it goes to auction as a matching-numbers example of a truly rare Bentley, complete with reams of period photos that attest to its heritage.

1960 Ferrari 250 GT Series II

Estimate: £1.1m – 1.4m

It wouldn’t be a showpiece auction without a rare Ferrari – and this stunning second-series 250 GT ought to do the trick.

Bodied by Italian coachbuilder Pinin Farina as a cabriolet and equipped with a factory hard-top, 2039GT is one of only 202 such machines to have been built.

1960 Ferrari 250 GT Series II (cont.)

Carrying a V12 engine good for 240bhp, it shipped first to Switzerland, before heading to the USA and, later, to Costa Rica for an extensive restoration.

It was subsequently improved further and brought up to concours standard – as Ferrari Classiche certification recognised in 2011.

2015 Porsche 918 Spyder

Estimate: £1m – 1.3m

Porsche’s hybrid hypercar might not yet be a classic, but it’s surely destined to be one day: equipped with both a 4.6-litre V8 engine and twin electric motors, its total power output is a whopping 875bhp.

Just 294 were built for the USA, including this one.

2015 Porsche 918 Spyder (cont.)

How do you make the ultimate Porsche even greater? By adding the optional Weissach performance package, as can be found on the Bonhams 918.

This US$80,000 option reduced the kerb weight, improved performance and added swathes of Alcantara to the cabin – just as you’d expect in a car now worth £1.1m.

1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K

Estimate: £1.1m – 1.2m

Wind the clock back some 80 years and the Mercedes-Benz 500K was the equivalent hypercar of its day, equipped with a 5-litre, 8-cylinder engine which, with supercharger engaged, could deliver 160bhp.

What’s more, it truly looked the business – and offered luxury in spades.

1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K (cont.)

This 1936 example, set to fetch upwards of £1.1m, wears rare ‘tourenwagen’ coachwork – as fitted to just 16 500Ks.

Stabled with several notable collectors during its life, it goes under the hammer in restored, concours condition, having taken the stand at Pebble Beach in 2008

1996 Porsche 911 GT2 Club Sport

Estimate: £1.1m – 1.5m

Don’t mistake this pristine Porsche for any old white 911: look closely at the bodyshell and you’ll notice a remarkable resemblance to the GT2 race car of the late-’90s.

That’s because the 911 in Clubsport guise – made to the tune of just 20 examples – wore the same shell as its competition cousin, with 100kg shaved off the standard kerbweight.

1996 Porsche 911 GT2 Club Sport (cont.)

Essentially a race car for the road – albeit with a nicer cabin – this 1996 example of the 993 GT2 Turbo carries the renowned 3.6-litre Porsche motor, good for 430bhp, along with a host of desirable options, including a roll cage.

Arguably the ultimate air-cooled 911, with 40,000 miles on the clock this stunning example is a truly unusual sight.

1948 Talbot-Lago T26

Estimate: £920,000 – 1.2m

A stunning slice of mid-century style, this beautiful Talbot-Lago T26 wears one-off bodywork by French coachbuilder Saoutchik.

In fact, so elegant were its smooth lines and swooping wheelarches, even in the late-’40s, that the sports coupé won ‘Le Grand Prix du Salon’ in Paris in 1950 when displayed on the Saoutchik stand.

1948 Talbot-Lago T26 (cont.)

Remarkably, the car was found decades later in the USA – all-original, off the road and in a very sorry state. Mercifully, it was rescued in the late-’80s, but it wasn’t until 2014 that the car was finally bought by an owner with the means to give it the restoration it deserved.

Chassis 100238 is now in concours quality, wearing its arresting light grey and royal blue colour scheme – though it’s never been shown at a modern event.

2018 Bugatti Chiron

Estimate: £2.5m – 3m

The youngest lot at the Bonhams sale is also one of the most valuable. Essentially a brand new example of Bugatti’s most recent and most powerful hypercar, this 2018 Chiron has just 480 miles on the clock – and all the performance you’d expect from a car with a quad-turbo 7.9-litre engine at its disposal.

2018 Bugatti Chiron (cont.)

One of just 500 built, it was delivered new to the USA wearing a stunning livery of Atlantic Blue and French Racing Blue.

Thankfully, for the £2.5m lower estimate you also get a host of options, including diamond-cut wheels, brake calipers and stitching coloured to match the lovely paint job.

1929 Bentley 4½ Litre

Estimate: £960,000 – 1.1m

Next up in this million-pound parade is a much earlier machine. Built in 1929, it’s a second late-’20s Bentley tourer and a highly original example of the British marque’s 4½ Litre chassis.

Just 665 were built between 1927 and 1929 (when a supercharger was added) and this 90-year-old example is surely one of the best-kept.

1929 Bentley 4½ Litre (cont.)

Built at Bentley’s Cricklewood Works and bodied by Vanden Plas, the battleship-grey Bentley shipped first to Major E. G. Thomson (supporter of the Ecurie Ecosse racing team) in Edinburgh. 

Its later history is patchy, though it’s known that it resided in Scotland for several decades, even being displayed in the Glasgow Transport Museum, before reaching the current owner in 2016.

1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB

Estimate: £POA

Now for a lot so valuable Bonhams won’t even publish its auction estimate: a matching numbers, highly original, award-winning, Ferrari Classiche-certified, one-of-165 Ferrari 250 GT SWB.

Designed by Pininfarina, bodied by Scaglietti and loved by Ferrari fans the world over, similar examples of the 250 GT have been valued at upwards of £10m in recent years.

1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB (cont.)

This example could fetch even more, though: 3337 GT is probably the best example of Ferrari’s stunning GT in existence.

Finished in 1961, it's enjoyed a life of careful ownership and today carries its original engine, drivetrain, bodywork and chassis. What's more, a money-no-object restoration further refurbished the Prancing Horse to the highest possible standard, meaning that it goes under the hammer as a Platinum award-winning Berlinetta without compare.

1953 Siata 208S Spider

Estimate: £1.1m – 1.4m

Another rare Italian number, this Siata 208S Spider was born of the marque’s involvement with Fiat, which had a few V8 engines going spare from a canned project.

Tweaked to deliver 125bhp, the motor gave the 208S real punch – and in Spider form it had sublime looks to match that performance.

1953 Siata 208S Spider (cont.)

This 1953 number is one of just 37 to have been bodied by Motto.

In 1998 it was purchased by award-winning animator David DiFrancesco (the man behind the likes of Toy Story and Cars), who went about obtaining and fitting a correct engine, ahead of a later restoration with its current owner that saw the Siata returned to a condition as good as – if not better than – new.

1931 Bentley 8 Litre

Estimate: £760,000 – 1.2m

Last of the Bentleys at the Bonhams sale is this 8 Litre. A more powerful evolution of the 6½ Litre, it also carried a host of novel components – including a gearbox redesigned to handle the extra power and a new, stronger chassis.

All told, it made for a wagon that could top 100mph in complete comfort.

1931 Bentley 8 Litre (cont.)

This 1931 example was the penultimate one of just 100 built before Bentley’s financial turmoil put an end to production.

Delivered new to J.A. Player (of cigarette fame), it shipped with bucket seats for the driver and front passenger. Still in highly original condition today, it’s one of just three surviving examples to have the factory perches.

1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K

Estimate: £2.7m – 3.4m

An evolution of the 500K, Mercedes’ pre-war performance car was scarily powerful for its day, with 180bhp squeezed out of the 5.4-litre engine when the throttle was flat and the supercharger engaged.

Just 145 were built in 1937, including this example wearing outlandish bodywork by the Mayfair Carriage Company.

1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K (cont.)

The subject of several stories regarding its order – the most credible being that Charles Follett commissioned it for French driver Goffredo Zehender – chassis 154080 spent much of its life in the USA.

In 1960 it was heavily damaged by fire, but a committed 20-year effort saw it returned to its original glory and, in the late-’90s, it gained its bold red colour scheme.

1948 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Competizione

Estimate: £2.3m – 2.7m

Last up is this racing Alfa Romeo from the ’40s – the last surviving Competizione Berlinetta of just three originally built.

Finished in 1948, it raced numerous times at the turn of the ’50s, contesting events such as the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia and Coppa d’Oro, before, in 1954, it entered Swiss collector Mochel Dovaz’s collection.

1948 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Competizione (cont.)

Popularly referred to as the ‘sleeping beauties’, Dovaz left some 50-odd classics to rust in a barn at his French chateau for decades – until the collection was revealed and had to be moved to keep them from angry car enthusiasts.

At this point the 6C was fixed up enough to contest the 1984 Mille Miglia, but it wasn’t until 1995 that it was bought and a proper restoration (the first of three) could begin.

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