"New" Ferrari driven one mile in 33 years among hidden gems at RM Auctions Monterey

The package landed on my porch with a thud — twin catalogs from RM Auctions that felt more like telephone books for medium-sized cities. On those 600-plus glossy pages were more than 120 dream cars to be auctioned off at Pebble Beach Aug. 15 and 16. For a car lover, leafing through these books is akin to a child being deposited in a candy factory; the world slips away.

Beyond just being a treat to peruse, the catalogs revealed intriguing — and sometimes outrageous — things about the state of the collector hobby in general and the perceived value of certain cars in particular. Among the revelations:

Some people really never drive their cars: What do RM’s 1979 Lamborghini Countach LP400S Series I, 1981 Ferrari 512 BB and 1989 Ferrari Testarossa have in common? They’re time machines whose owners inexplicably resisted driving them over the past decades.

With, respectively, 536, 444 and 95 miles on their odometers, these supercars challenge the notion that a regularly driven exotic is the best investment, with estimates of $600,000 to $800,000 for the Lambo, $275,000 to $375,000 for the BB and $200,000 to $275,000 for the “Miami Vice”-ish redhead. The 512 BB stands out as a monument to monastic reserve; it was delivered with those miles (actually kilometers) on its dash; the owner spent the next three decades traveling behind the wheel of his Italian sports car for only half a mile.

In contrast, a driven but maintained Testarossa will typically go for under $100,000. But if you were dirt poor in 1989 but lusted after that particular Ferrari, this is your chance to re-enact that dealership experience by buying a vehicle that still has its seats covered in factory plastic.

The mother of all extended warranties: Top-of-the-heap outrageousness never goes out of style, which explains the estimated auction price of between $1.9 and $2.5 million on a 2013 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse “Le Ciel Californien.” Yes, that is the full name of the car, which boasts 1,200 hp, a rear air brake to haul you in from 257 mph and a not-for-everyone white over blue paint scheme meant as an ode to the blue California skies.

But perhaps the most eye-popping thing about this machine is buried deep in the lengthy catalog description, an almost casual aside that the 3,000-mile machine “comes with an extended factory warranty which will remain in effect until May 30, 2019. The current price for such a warranty is approximately $255,000.” Come again? Nearly 300 large for a warranty? Let’s hope that includes oil changes for the W16 engine and perhaps new wipers.

Get ‘em while you can: Not that long ago, an ‘80s Ferrari 328 GTS was $50,000 or less all day long, a nice but not museum quality Mercedes 300SL Gullwing cost a cool half-million dollars, and barely driven Ferrari Enzos could still be snatched up for around $1.5 million. But if you are still waiting on those trains, they’ve left the station.

Advertised as being “the next generation of collectible Ferraris,” RM’s Lot 164 - a 1986 Ferrari 328 GTS in black over black leather with 7,300 original miles - is estimated to fetch between $80,000 and $120,000. That’s quite the price for a car that isn’t even at the top of the 328 heap, which would be the last-of-the-breed 1989 model which came with ABS brakes. But it makes sense if you consider that Ferraris from the previous decade go for the price of a nice house.

What’s telling about the 1955 Gullwing for sale isn’t the now-routine $1 to $1.4 million estimated sale price, but the fact that this car is hardly a garage queen. Although the catalog doesn’t list the precise mileage, it’s clear the 300SL has traveled upwards of 100,000 miles, which is what these bullet-proof road warriors were meant to be doing in the first place. This also means that more preserved examples will now push the $2 million barrier.

A successful friend had just a few years back spent months hunting down a Ferrari Enzo to add to his collection. In the end, he was put off by the price tag of around $1.7 million. That now seems like a bargain. RM’s Enzo is a sinister black on black example with 8,000 miles on the odometer. Price? As much as $2.5 million. Reason? Maranello’s new supercar, the $1.4 million LaFerrari. But they’re impossible to buy at almost any cost, hence the uptick in Enzo values.

Japanese cars take a bow: At first glance, the silver car on page 14 of catalog two doesn’t exactly scream “buy me.” The chrome bumpers aren’t doing it any favors, and the rear wing tacked on the trunk lip is borderline tacky. But this is, in automotive terms, what the original Godzilla movies are to this year’s monstrous reboot. The name says it all: 1972 Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-R “Hakosuka” (estimated $125,000 to $175,000). In conquering the Japanese Grand Prix series, these cars turned the Skyline name into legend.

Nestled in catalog two between a $2 million Ferrari 250GT/L Lusso and a $3 million 1963 Ferrari 400 SA LWB is perhaps Japan’s most iconic exotic, a 1967 Toyota 2000GT, which could command between $700,000 and $900,000. This right-hand-drive sports coupe, considered Toyota’s E-Type, is a well-traveled example, starting life in Mozambique, moving to Maine and then to Costa Rica where it was fully restored. Aiming for authenticity, its owner, Toyota importer Javier Quiros, had one distinct part-finding advantage: He had been current Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s roommate during business school at Babson College.

Expect the unexpected: Beyond the usual suspects (Ferraris, Jaguars, Aston Martins et al), it’s fun to stumble into off-beat fare that makes you smile.

Not one but two cars make up Lot 221, a 1957 Fiat 600 Multipla and a companion 1961 Fiat 600 Jolly, one of the cutest beach cars around ($125,000 to $175,000 for the pair). Besides being prime examples of each model and matched in their teal green livery, the cars represent the origins of the small Fiat dynasty, which is now making a comeback on American shores.

Lastly, one has to highlight a car that when built in 1966 you’d have been hard-pressed to guess it would share the same auction catalog pages as Steve McQueen’s 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 (worth as much as $12 million). We’re talking about a Volkswagen Deluxe Microbus, with 21 windows a rare sliding sunroof. Fully restored and sporting its original black California license plate, this VW is proof that you can travel back to that endless Beach Boys summer, as long as you’ve got $90,000 to $120,000 in your surf shorts.