If you want a car with at least as much class as power and are also not averse to a little extravaganza, then there is only one country to shop in: Italy. Around this time, there are a lot of sweets looking for a new owner. Gentlemen's Watch tips you the following seven, in no particular order.
Ferrari 375 MM Coupe Speciale
Feast your eyes, because you might just never see this Italian beauty again. Indeed, this Ferrari 375 MM Coupé Speciale is unique in the world. Ghia designed the car's stylish body, which was painted in a combination of salmon pink and metallic grey. That's a unique combination on a Ferrari to this day. In 1954, the car shone at the Turin Motor Show, but not long afterwards it disappeared in the collection of the rich American who ordered it.
It seems that no Ferrari 375 MM is still in such original condition as this one. If you want its mighty V12 to roar, you will have to dig very deep. A double amount with six zeros, we guess.
Image: Darin Schnabel, Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
Lamborghini Countach LP500 S
The poster boy of the 1980s may be a usual suspect, but at the same time an equally great guilty pleasure. Mainly thanks to that phenomenal body, drawn by Marcello Gandini under the Bertone banner. The 5.0-litre V12 provides the design - a weird combination of futurism and retro - with a fitting soundtrack. OK, with 375 hp and a top speed of 275 km/h, it is not particularly fast by today's standards, but back in the days it was quite something.
Incidentally, driving the wildly shaped Countach was (and still is) a challenge. The car has the turning radius of a barge and offers less visibility than watching a rock concert through a keyhole.
Image: Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione
The Lancia Delta was a true success story in the World Rally Championship. But to make competing for that championship at all possible, Lancia had to make so-called homologation models: production versions of their intended racers. Of those, this Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione is a very fine example. Finished in the special colour Giallo Ferrari, completely original and with less than 7,000 kilometres on the odometer, this is perhaps the very best Evoluzione you will ever be able to buy.
No need to worry about the fun factor: a lightweight car with 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, 210 hp and all-wheel drive. Three cheers!
Image: Darin Schnabel, Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
Maserati A6GCS
You don't have to be a car connoisseur to see that this is a car for racing. Right in the year the A6GSC debuted, 1954, this fast Maserati scored its first victories. The eye-catching graceful body was drawn by Fantuzzi. Style will have been a side effect; it was a car built to perform, so its lines will have mainly contributed to its aerodynamics.
The car resided in South America for years, was bought by an Italian collector, moved to a new owner in America and was extensively restored in 2014. The estimated price tag of this blood-red brute with powerful six-in-line? About $3.5 million.
Image: Darin Schnabel, Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
Alfa Romeo 1900C Super Sprint Coupe
Only 540 such beauties left the Milan factory in the 1950s, so this is another godsend if you want to enrich your life with a truly classy Alfa. The body was drawn by Touring and made of aluminium. The engine in the nose, a two-litre four-cylinder, was not an outright powerhouse, but proved strong enough for sportier driving.
Especially when combined with all the technical ingenuity Alfa Romeo put into the car. Think progressive independent front suspension, modified rear axle and a finely shifting five-speed gearbox.
Image: Dirk de Jager, Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
De Tomaso Pantera Si
You wanted 90s design at its finest? Then this extremely rare DeTomaso Pantera Si is your candidate. DeTomaso, an Italian car manufacturer founded by an Argentine businessman, was a bit of an oddity. Because as the power source for its Pantera, DeTomaso did not use an Italian block, but a Ford engine.
In the case of the Pantera Si, pretty much the swing-out model of DeTomaso's mid-engined sports car, a Ford 302. Only 38 Pantera Sis were built. Far too few, because even today Marcello Gandini's Ferrari F40-esque design deserves far more credit than it ever received. Just look at that ingenious splitter under the windscreen and that magisterial cake scoop at the back.
Image: Erik Fuller, Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
Fiat Dino Spider
This droll little blue car is a perfect example of how two car manufacturers can come together to create beautiful things. This Fiat Dino Spider is a love baby born from a wild night out between Fiat and Ferrari. Both manufacturers wanted to get a six-cylinder homologated for use in Formula 2.
Eventually, that particular block - in 2.0 and 2.4-litre versions - found its way into several Ferrari Dino's and even the Lancia Stratos. And so this Fiat Dino. A little Fiat with a two-litre Ferrari engine and styling by Pininfarina. In the popping colour Bleu Francia. You wanted one of the most fun sporty two-seaters of the 1960s? Look no further.
Image: Tom Wood, Courtesy of RM Sotheby's
English 
Dutch 
German