Highlights of the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Going to bed early on a Saturday night is never a great idea. Unless of course you're dragging yourself into the shower at 5 a.m. so you can go and watch Dawn Patrol! Starting around 6 a.m., some of the cars featured in the abso-spectacular Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance begin driving onto the famed golf course's 18th fairway. The sights, the sounds, the smells -- the entire spectacle is pure car guy (and gal) fantasy stuff. Even if you don't make it for dawn, you can strut the lawn like a fancy pants while wearing your fanciest pants at the Concours d'Elegance. The cars, people, the cars! The following gallery is just a tiny sliver of what we saw at the greatest concours of them all.

Keep reading to see all of our picks for the highlights of the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, or hit VIEW ALL for all of our picks at once.

Maserati

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Being 100 years old has its advantages -- such as getting your own special class at Pebble Beach. There were too many spectacular Maseratis to rightly pick a favorite, but, since we're in a pinch, this flawless 1955 300S with bodywork by Fantuzzi will do. Stunning, no? Look how happy the guy driving it is.

Mercedes-Benz

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No one will ever think she's handsome, but this oddball engineering exercise sure has presence. By the late 1930s the car world was obsessed with the idea of streamlining, and this 1938 Mercedes-Benz was built to explore exactly that. Cranked out in 1938, the 540K Streamliner was a one-off, lost for decades, and then rebuilt by Mercedes' Classic Center just in time for this year's Pebble party.

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We're not going to pretend we know anything at all about steam cars, but they were a featured marque at this year's Concours d'Elegance. This black beauty is actually a 1905 White Steamer Model E. Funny how the upcoming small Tesla is also going to be called the Model E. The more things change …

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Hard to beat an old Packard in terms of pure elegance, huh? This beauty, which bears a striking resemblance to the 1108 Twelve Dietrich Convertible Victoria that took home Best of Show honors in 2013, is an all-timer. Especially with that excellent Double Phaeton coachwork. We're not sure if we like the exposed hinges or the spats better.

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Perhaps the only American car of the time that made Packards and Cadillacs look like cheap little playthings were Duesenbergs. This baby, a coachbuilt Model J, is about as classy as prewar cars get. Note the rearview mirrors strapped to the spare tire covers. Love it!

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Ugly history, sure. But we won the war and to the victor go the spoils. Including this larger-than-life 1941 Mercedes-Benz 770K Series II W150. Loved by Hitler (he had seven at his disposal), a handful were rescued after World War II with a total production run of 88 vehicles. Curiously, 770Ks never had actual prices. Instead they were "auf Anfrage," essentially "price available upon request." So no one knows for sure what they went for new. Production began in 1938, and the last cars were delivered to customers in March of 1944, a month before the Führer ate cyanide. Like we said, ugly history.

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In 1934 Tatra, the third oldest carmaker after Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot went radical and introduced the elegant T77. Influenced by Hungarian Zeppelin designer Paul Jaray and built by future thinker Hans Ledwinka, the T77 feature a 3.4-liter, air-cooled, rear-mounted V-8. Combine that with highly advanced for the era streamlining and the T77 was one of the fastest cars on the road, as well as one of the most luxurious. Later replaced by the more utilitarian T87, this particular gorgeous green example just won the Tatra class in 2014.

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Is there anything as decadently imperious as a Rolls-Royce Phantom Mark V James Young Sedanca de Ville, complete with a removable roof? We'll just go ahead and say no.

Ferrari

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Love this one. It's a Ferrari Dino 206 Competizione Berlinetta Prototipo Pininfarina Coupe, or simply the Yellow Dino. Cars this wild-looking rarely see the light of day. Especially back in 1967. Currently owned by James Glickenhaus, it was a real treat to see it driving around the streets of Carmel.

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Despite very similar appearances, this is not the world-famous Figoni and Falaschi Goutte d'Eau (teardrop coupe). It's still a Talbot-Lago T150, but the bodywork was done by Marcel Pourtout and the car is known as the Pourtout Aerocoupe. Say it 10 times fast. Or just gawk at its glorious curves. Cars like this one shocked the world back in 1935.

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We know nothing about this old race car save for two things. The first is its name, 1957 Kurtis 500X "Caballo II" Sutton Sports Racer. The other is that it won the Mille Miglia postwar class. Wait! That means it raced the Mille Miglia. So that's three things! Total side note, but a 1949 Kurtis was the car that graced the first ever issue of Motor Trend.

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Side valves rule! Well, they're historical curiosities if nothing else. This is a 1929 Officine Meccaniche -- OM for short -- 665 SSMM Team Car Sport Milano Roadster and it had a six-cylinder side-valve engine. Like the obscure Kurtis, the OM 665 SSMM won the Mille Miglia, only prewar instead of postwar.

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Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Actually, we're sure they dined on lobster-stuffed veal after this win. How could you not? Anyhow, this here 1954 Ferrari 375 MM Scaglietti Coupe is not only fantastically fabulous, but deserving of the highest prize at the Concours d'Elegance, the coveted Best of Show. This is the first time a postwar car has taken the BOS since 1968 and caught many of us off guard. But just look at it. Well earned.

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Twenty, count 'em, 20 Ferrari Testa Rossas showed up to Pebble this year. Such is the power of featured marques. Called "redhead" because of the red valve covers, each and every one of these classic Italians is gorgeous. And worth 10 figures. Our personal favorite isn't pictured (yellow with a red skunk stripe) but we think these five will somehow suffice. Especially number 10 there (above), which is a long tail Fantuzzi Spyder. Lovely cars, the lot of them.

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Ruxtons Rule! Another featured marques, 15 of the surviving 19 Ruxtons made their way onto the lawn. Fewer than 100 were built between 1929 and 1932, when the Missouri-based company went bankrupt. And three were actually completed from parts after Ruxton was gone. Yes, the stripes are period and factory correct. All Ruxtons featured torquey straight-8 motors and front-wheel drive, the latter being a novelty for the time. Curiously, the guy who designed the Ruxton was Joseph Ledwinka, cousin of Tatra's Hans Ledwinka. Small car world.