Buy a Grosser and Robert Stack's 300SL Roadster at Auctions America: First California auction starts with a bevy of Benzes

The star-studded star of the auction, Robert Stack's 300SL Roadster. Photo by Pawel Litwinski.

Our pick for the auction. Whack the peasants with your walking stick. Photo by Hugh Hamilton.

Just 1,100 miles, and still as cool as Need For Speed made it out to be. Photo by Hugh Hamilton.

Comes with a Becker Frankfurt radio and a certificate of authenticity from Porsche! Photo by Pawel Litwinski.

What's a nice gift between friends?

When Robert Stack won an Emmy for Best Actor in 1960 for "The Untouchables," "I Love Lucy" star Desi Arnaz toasted him by giving him a present as a token of success. That present just happened to be a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster, the one pictured above.

We're not saying it's connected, but Arnaz got divorced from Lucille Ball in 1960. That same year, he bought the Benz. Coincidence? There's a popular bumper sticker about boys and said boys' toys, but we won't repeat it here.

This car is not only rare because it's, after all, a freakin' 300SL -- it also has not one, but two examples of celebrity provenance. How much do you think it'll sell for? Two million? Three million? The combined GDP of Benelux? Whoever buys it is going to have a lot of 'splainin' to do, that's for sure.

Auctions America has been around since 2010, but this is its first California auction, happening Aug. 1-3 at the Burbank Marriott located conveniently by the airport. And what a lineup it's prepared for its West Coast debut: there's a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, an Irish Green 1968 Porsche 911 Targa, a Benz 190SL Roadster. How about a Jaguar XJ220, the wonderful and troubled 1990s supercar, with just 1,100 miles? How about a 1974 Ferrari Dino with Daytona seats, Becker radio, and mouse-fur upholstery? How about a hand for Burbank, Calif.?

And yes, the featured Benz is grand. (You can even bring copies of the "Vitameatavegamin" episode on VHS to help seal the deal at the next California Mille.) But what's even more grand than the 300SL is another fine Mercedes-Benz product, one that was produced a mere 14 years after Arnaz's car: the Grosser, a 1974 Mercedes-Benz 600 LWB Pullman Limousine -- Benz's all-singing, all-hydraulic wunderkind, this one as gray as Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. This one has 48,000 miles and a refrigerator, so you could conceivably live in it on a steady diet of Bitburger and Bierkase. There's the oft-popular divider window too, so you could rent out the front end as an additional bedroom at the rate equal to all those auction fees you'll have to cough up if you win.

Like its owners, the 300SL Roadster is obviously the star of the show, and will command most of NBC Sports Network's coverage when the auction goes live in August. (Car auctions are only classified a "sport" if its bidders check each other into the folding chairs with their elbows while raising their bid signs.) If star-struck provenance is lost on you -- as it is on us -- or if you don't have a bank account comparable to the claims made by email inbox princes, then the 600 Pullman is our bet for the three-starred elite. Boy, do we love ourselves a Grosser.