A universal truth to the true gearhead exists: you started young by admiring vehicles that you had no hope of owning and carried that with you to the present day. What did it for you? Was it the college kid who lived up the street who had the brightly colored muscle car that thumped out a Detroit bassline wherever it went, looking like the meanest thing around? Was it a vehicle at a car show you went to, with its perfect paint, gorgeous stance and the interior that was created, stitch by stitch, by a craftsman who had mastered their trade? Maybe you had a bit of centerfold fever and wanted something you saw in a magazine, captured perfectly by the photographer, looking absolutely magnificent on the cover. You weren't getting that hot ride on your teenaged budget. You weren't even close during your ramen-fueled college years. Many dream of building such a vehicle themselves, but ask anyone who has...it's time, labor, and money-intensive and a labor of love (which means you're ignoring the fact that you might as well be setting hundred-dollar bills on fire). But does that mean that you're out of the game altogether?

No, it doesn't. It just means that you aren't going to find what you've been desiring at the local used car lot or on in the local classified ads. Auction houses like Barrett-Jackson, Russo and Steele and Mecum are the go-to locations for selling the dream machines many clamor for.

We wanted to see what we could find at one of these auctions, so we stuck our nose into the 2021 Indy auction that Mecum is hosting. There are some high-end vehicles that will cross the block, like the "Big Oly" 1969 Ford Bronco that Parnelli Jones drove to Baja 1000 victories in 1971 and 1972, and the one-of-one 1971 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda that is sure to be a multi-million sale: Hemi, four-speed, droptop, numbers matching, painted Winchester Gray, and a history that first sends the car overseas to France. There will be money flying for vehicles like that, no doubt. But the Indy auction is eight days of vehicles...what else could we find?

This 1973 Ford Gran Torino seems innocuous enough, doesn't it? As late as the mid-1990s this would just be a nice driver. But look closely: this one is packing the Q-code 351 Cobra Jet engine, which will surprise many who would be quick to underrate it. At an auction like Mecum, this is the kind of ride that stands a good chance of flying under the radar and might be a great pickup for a reasonable cost.

The late 1980s and 1990s saw a strong movement in the street rod culture, and this 1952 Buick is the perfect time capsule of what that scene was all about. The 350/700R4 combination, Vintage Air, and cruise control all beg you to go put miles on this tangerine beauty.