The Maharani, more commonly known among collectors as the Kitchen Sink Cadillac, is one of a handful of Detroit dream machines offered on Jan. 22, the first day of RM Auctions’ Automobiles of Arizona sale. Much as the Detroit auto show serves as an early barometer for the new car market in the coming year, the collector world turns its attention to the Arizona auctions, which run through Jan. 25, for clues to trends in automotive investments.

Image From the outside, it looks like any other well-preserved show car. Credit... RM Auctions

Five big auction houses  Barrett-Jackson, Gooding & Company, RM, Russo & Steele and Silver Auctions  are holding sales in the Phoenix area this year. Bidding can be intense, but a Wall Street bonus check is not a prerequisite to placing a bid. Plenty of the cars crossing the auction block are within the reach of mere mortals  and, the estimates published in auction house catalogs suggest, there will be more than usual in that category this year.

For instance, there is lot No. 255 at Silver Auctions, a blue-and-white 1969 Chevrolet pickup truck that is more a blue-collar workhorse than a blue-chip investment. For buyers who live where parking is at a premium, Lot No. 74 at Barrett-Jackson, a recently restored 1956 BMW Isetta bubble car that brought nearly $50,000, might have proved a better bet. As cute as a golden retriever puppy  and not a whole lot larger  the tiny Isetta is roughly 10 inches shorter than a Smart Fortwo.

The attraction of the Maharani is as much its appeal as an artifact of Americana as its being a ’50s classic. I had a chance to examine the car, which shows only 1,700 miles on the odometer and wears its original 54-year-old Firestone tires, in the New York City suburbs before it was shipped west.

The Maharani was warmed up and idling when I arrived. The owner, Joshua Modlinger, a businessman in White Plains, N.Y., and an avid collector of Cadillacs, opened the passenger-side back door. “Let me chauffeur you,” he said, swinging the heavy door shut and sliding behind the huge steering wheel.