The headline acts 

After a 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster sold for 4.6m euros (incl. premium) at its Paris sale, Bonhams has miraculously managed to consign another of the ultra-significant Jean Bugatti-designed factory roadsters, this time a Super Sport version, to its Amelia Island auction. The entirely matching-numbers car is among the finest of the 11 surviving examples and has resided in the collection of Dean Edmonds since 1985. It’s estimated accordingly at 6.5–9.5m dollars. 

Biting at the Bugatti’s heels is a drop-dead gorgeous 1952 Jaguar C-type (6.5–7.5m dollars). Chassis #014 boasts a ‘known and uncomplicated history’, having been delivered new to the US and spent the majority of its sheltered life stateside. It is, without doubt, the most beautiful car in the catalogue. 

Bentleys for buck 

For the same estimated 130,000–150,000 dollars, you could potentially leave the Fernandina Beach Golf Club with either a 2009 Bentley Brooklands Coupé or a 2014 Bentley Continental GT3-R. The former is the last word in automotive luxury, a 530HP powerhouse that’s covered just 12,000 miles from new. The latter, meanwhile, is one of just 99 US examples of the special edition built to commemorate Bentley’s success with the GT3 version of its flagship Grand Tourer. It’s also presented in ‘as-new’ condition. 

The athletes 

While the Adrian Newey-designed 1984 March 84G nicknamed ‘Kreepy Krauly’ (475,000–675,000 dollars) and the original 1968 McLaren M6B-50 Can-Am (250,000–300,000 dollars) are both cars that would command the attention of their drivers absolutely, we can’t help but yelp for the comparatively humble 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup. Resplendent in a funky Reebok livery, the car is one of 39 road-legal racers hand-built by Porsche’s engineers in Weissach for the Rothmans Porsche Turbo Cup in Canada. The regular podium finisher is today estimated to fetch 60,000–80,000 dollars. 

The value proposition 

A low-mileage convertible V8 Ferrari in which you could ferry the whole family for 30,000–40,000 dollars. That’s what this white-on-white Miami-delivered 1990 Ferrari Mondial T Cabriolet represents. The Mondial has always lived in the shadows of the Magnun P.I.’s 308 and Sonny Crockett’s Testarossa, but who wants to follow the herd? 

The car we’d drive home 

Could it be any other car than the Meyers Manx Dune Buggy from The Thomas Crown Affair in which Steve McQueen’s crown took Faye Dunaway’s character for a white-knuckled ride across the beach? Bonhams has attached a pre-sale estimate of 400,000–600,000 dollars, though as we’ve seen before with memorabilia directly linked to the ‘King of Cool’, the sky is the limit. Expect fireworks – and potentially Faye Dunaway – when it crossed the block in Florida. 

Photos courtesy of Bonhams © 2020