I admit that I’m not really a car girl. When I tour celebrity homes, I’m usually more interested in the decor style of the garages than in the cars they house. But all that changed last weekend, when my hubby and I attended Auctions America’s California Auto Sale at Barker Hanger in Santa Monica. I originally went to see our buddy Barry Weiss, the silver-haired and savvy “Collector” on Storage Wars, auction off his famous 1955 Ford Beatnik Bubbletop Custom. But I soon became intrigued by some of the most remarkable autos to ever go on the block — some selling for millions of dollars.

The fact that Auctions America is a division of RM Sotheby’s, a company whose luxury homes I frequently feature, tipped me off that I’d probably be seeing the best of the best. And it didn’t take an auto expert to know that some of the most glorious cars ever produced were being featured. Believe it or not, I actually came about this close to buying one. When I finally spotted Barry in the crowd, I started waving wildly so he would be sure to see me. At the time, a breathtaking, ruby-colored 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roaster was on the block and the bid was at about $1.5 million. I heard it ended up going for $1.87 million, but I really wouldn’t know, because by the time the gavel came down my husband Jim had wrestled me to the ground and was standing on top of me, just in case the auctioneers mistook my hailing of Barry for a bid.

Turns out that was the highest priced car of the more than 300 that went on the block at the event. The other top sellers included a 2004 Ferrari Enzo, also for $1,870,000; a 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS for $1,622,500; a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet for $407,000; and a 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition for $360,250. Newly anointed auto aficionado that I am, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at any of them, but I couldn’t help envision myself in that 1938 Mercedes, elegantly clad in authentic 30’s attire, cruising to the top awards spot at Carmel’s Concours d’Elegance.

And as for Barry’s Beatnik Bubbletop? I need to explain that I love me some Barry–he and my husband have a long, happy history together that goes back beyond our own, and has even endured Barry’s practical joke gifts like the “Hillbilly Safe,” which is actually a pair of men’s jockey shorts painted with skid marks and containing a zippered pouch for valuables in the crotch. I found it on Jim’s closet floor when we’d only been dating a few months, and it just about did us in. But anyway, as much as I came to love and understand Barry’s sense of humor, I thought he was aiming a little high by setting a $150,000 reserve for his ride, even if it was built by Long Island’s own Gary “Chopit” Fioto  and had scooped, full teardrop skirts, a pancaked hood, a rolled and pleated pearl Naugahyde interior and razor like tail fins, all done up with a gleaming lavender paint job.

But low and behold, when Barry’s buddy, wearing a Mexican wrestling mask, drove that car onto the stage which was rigged to make it look like the car was being unloaded from the bowls of a jumbo jet, the bidding was brisk. At this point Jim had me duct taped to my chair, but the other bidders were going wild. “I can’t believe that thing is going for more than my Porsche,” muttered one slick character with long sideburns sitting behind me. Barry had told us ahead of time that he wasn’t going to lower the reserve, even if the auctioneers pressured him to do so. If the bidding stopped under the $150,000 dollar mark, he’d keep it, along with his eight other custom cars. He is, after all, “The Collector.”

When the dust settled, the gavel came down at exactly at the $150,000 mark, Barry breathed a sigh of both relief and regret, and Jim untaped me from my chair. Barry’s take would be a fraction of the $15.4 million in total sales, and I would have a new understanding of why people like Jay Leno and Minecraft’s Marcus “Notch” Persson have giant turntables in their garages. As a matter of fact, if we installed a turntable, we’d have to get a cherry car to go on top of it. “Oh, Honey…”

Find out more about this event and others like it at AuctionsAmerica.com.

Barry Weiss, the Bubble Car and Me at Auctions America