Why Neil Peart’s Silver Surfers are the stars of this year’s Pebble Beach

One of the world’s most glamorous classic car events, the Pebble Beach Concours, returns next month for a 70th anniversary edition. One of the highlights will be an auction by the Gooding & Company auction houses that will offer nearly 100 blue-chip classic cars, including a 1995 McLaren F1 that will fetch more than $ 15 million.

Neil Peart in his 1964 Aston Martin DB5 © Courtesy Gooding & Company. Photo by Mike Maez

Music fans might be more drawn to a seven-car collection created by the late Neil Peart who, apart from a five-year hiatus in the late 1990s, served as the drummer and lyricist for Canadian rock band Rush for nearly 40 years. With some of the fortune amassed from the sale of the group’s 19 studio albums (10 of which went platinum), Peart, who died last year at the age of 67, set out to buy copies of the classic cars he already had always wanted. He started in 2009 with a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 in the same Silver Birch livery as the DB5 made famous by Sean Connery’s James Bond. One of only about 1,000 built, the car is offered in pristine condition with a pre-sale price of $ 650,000 to $ 725,000.

1963 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe with split window © Courtesy Gooding & Company. Photo by Mike Maez

1964 Aston Martin DB5 © courtesy Gooding & Company. Photo by Mike Maez

1964 Shelby Cobra 289 © Courtesy of Gooding & Company. Photo by Mike Maez

1970 Lamborghini Miura P400 S © Courtesy Gooding & Company. Photo by Brian Henniker

The DB5 turned out to be the first in a line of similarly colored cars Peart bought, leading him to name the collection Silver Surfers, a name derived from many trips along the Pacific coast from his Los Angeles home to Malibu and beyond Ventura County was inspired after. The most valuable of the Silver Surfers is a 1970 Lamborghini Miura P400, a rare S model. It could fetch as much as $ 1.5 million, while a 1965 Maserati Mistral Spider, one of only 125 made, would fetch $ 575,000 to $ 650,000. Peart bought the car in disrepair and had it meticulously restored inside and out.

1965 Maserati Mistral Spider © Courtesy Gooding & Company. Photo by Mike Maez

The remaining four cars in the collection are a 1973 Maserati Ghibli, which Peart imported from Europe in 2013 ($ 250,000 to $ 300,000); a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette, known as the split-window model for its two-piece rear window ($ 150,000 to $ 180,000); a 1964 Jaguar E-Type Series One with subtle upgrades for modern driving ($ 140,000-160,000); and finally, a 1964 Shelby Cobra 289 – the only car in the collection that isn’t painted silver. This all-black 4.7-liter Cobra was one of around 520 MKII variants and is said to have been the pride of Peart’s collection.

For full details on the Silver Surfers and other cars Gooding & Company is selling on August 13-14 at Pebble Beach Parc du Concours, California, visit goodingco.com