Acclaimed director Stanley Kramer won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Director in 1959 for his work directing and producing the classic On the Beach. The film depicted life in Australia after a global nuclear war while the residents came to terms with the notion that all life on Earth would be destroyed in mere months. Starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner, the movie became a classic winning 2 Oscars.

One of the most memorable moments of this film came when Fred Astaire is racing down the road in his 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spider. The "Fred Astaire Ferrari" is one of 35 750 Monza Spiders built, and has an incredible history to boot. The 750 Monza Spider debuted at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1955 and was sold to Luigi Chinetti in New York. Chinetti sold it immediately to John von Neumann in Los Angeles. Von Neumann raced it all over Southern California and it was featured in the February 1957 edition Road & Track magazine. The asking price in 1957 for a limited edition Ferrari? $7,000.

After the Road & Track feature, Stanley Kramer leased the Ferrari and put it in the aforementioned film. Under the hood, the 750 Monza Spider packs a 260hp 4-cylinder engine with two Weber 58mm DCOA/3 carburetors and has a five-speed manual transmission. After passing through several prestigious collections and undergoing a two-year restoration, the Ferrari 750 Monza Spider is heading to Pebble Beach where it will go up for auction on August 19th and 20th. The price for this piece of racing and Hollywood history is expected to top $3 million. Photos courtesy of RM Auctions.