At Auction: The ‘Sabrina' Rolls-Royce

The car from the 1954 classic'll go on the block in Beverly Hills.

The number of well-known and even beloved movies centered around an important vehicle could fill a sizable trunk, if one were to carefully stack DVD cases, row by row.

There's "Bullitt," of course, Steve McQueen's frequently airborne, streets-of-San-Francisco action-packed chaser. There are the souped-up machines from all seven "Fast & Furious" flicks, and the flux-capacitor'd DeLorean in "Back to the Future." And, yes, Herbie the Love Bug more than deserves a parking space in this particular conversation.

As for cars that don't typically top out at over 100 miles per hour but are still incredibly film-famous? The Rolls-Royce from 1954's "Sabrina" absolutely is at the apex of the hoity heap here. It's the car, after all, that serves as Audrey Hepburn's elegant entry into the world of the wealthy Larrabee family, as her character's dad is the family's chauffeur. It's the car that serves as a visual backdrop to her on-screen romances with both William Holden and Humphrey Bogart.

And it's the car that bidders at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills will try for when the historic automobile goes to auction on Friday, Nov. 20.

While it's often called the "Sabrina" Rolls-Royce, let us also pay much due to its other major movie tie: Actor Harold Lloyd owned it for decades, giving it more wayback cred, even more waybacky than its big '50s-era screen debut.

Silent movie mojo and Audrey Hepburn cool? It would hard to not brag about it daily, to everyone.

As for its full title? We are talking about a "Sabrina" star here, and since the Billy Wilder-helmed flick dealt with powerful swells and big-league characters, a full title is essential. The car is "a black Silver Ghost Riviera Salamanca Cabriolet Rolls-Royce," so if you're the winning bidder, be sure to often speak the auto's complete title in its lofty presence.

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And if you plan on being the winning bidder, plan on plunking down somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000 to $600,000. The kick-off bid'll start in the neighborhood of $200,000.

It's an interesting week to auction a famous movie car, as the Los Angeles Auto Show opens downtown on the same day as the bidding flies. Where the very newest cars'll be in the house at the show, one of the oldest, and most esteemed, will await its next home just a few miles to the west.

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