There are few places in the world that have fostered the kind of car culture that you’ll find in Southern California, and a big part of that can be found in its automotive museums: the Petersen in LA, the Mullin in Oxnard, the Marconi in Tustin, and the Riverside in… Riverside.

The museum holds one of the foremost collections of Maseratis, among countless others. But now a significant portion of the museum’s collection is being auctioned off.

Following the passing last year of Doug Magnon, who started the museum together with his brother Ray, RM Sotheby’s and its subsidiary Auctions America will liquidate a significant array of the collection, split between two events right there in California.

The first will take place at the Auctions America event in Santa Monica later this month. At the historic Barker Hangar, the auctioneers will offer such modern supercars as a 2008 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizone, a 2006 Ford GT, a ’95 Jaguar XJ220, and a trio of V8-engined Ferraris – including a 308 GTB from 1977, a 360 Spider from 2001, and a F430 Spider from 2007.

The higher-value items, however, will be saved for RM Sotheby’s auction during Pebble Beach week in Monterey. Lots consigned from the Riverside museum for that event include a number of rare Maseratis and Dan Gurney’s Eagle Indy racers for which the museum is best known. There’s a 2005 Maserati MC12, a ’51 A6G, a ’65 Mistral Spyder, ’75 Khamsin, and the King of Spain’s ’71 Quattroporte. They’ll be joined as well by Gurney’s own ’66 AAR Eagle, and F1 champ Denny Hulme’s ’69 Indy racer.

All told, the Santa Monica sale will handle 34 vehicles from the museum’s collection on June 25-26, and the Monterey auction another 15 on August 19-20.

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