In my 28 years on this planet, I'm proud to say I've done an awful lot, some of which you can read about here on Steemit. Climbing mountains, racing cars, visiting countries across the world, buying a house - the list goes on. However, there's one thing I had still never done, and that was attend an auction. Weird, right? Something so simple and easy, yet overlooked for all this time.

I've never had a good feeling about auctions, always imaging them as places where sleazy used car salesman send their stock with hidden issues to get sold to unsuspecting buyers. Or, just full of repossessed cars that the owners were never able to keep up their monthly payments on. But if you play your cards right, then maybe they're the perfect place to grab a bargain.

A surprise late arrival to the auction was this nearly new Porsche 911 Turbo.

Continuing with the rather negative sentiment above, you're probably wondering - why did you eventually decide to go to one?

Firstly, this particular auction was billed as a "supercar" auction, and there was promised to be loads of exotic metal on display for us plebs to drool over, with a few more regular cars thrown in for good measure. I believe I'm correct in saying it was the first auction of this kind to take place in the country, as all cars went through a better vetting process than a regular auction.

Secondly, a car was up for auction that I've had my eye on for a while. I already own two cars, but have been looking at replacing both of them this year. No harm in going and seeing what price the potential new car gets sold for right? Maybe even raise a paddle if it seems decent...

Lot 4: I've got you in my sights.

That's correct - the E60 M5 has been on my "to buy" list for a while. It seems like a bit of a ridiculous purchase, as I only drive a grand total of 8km per day, so why would I need a BMW with a 5.0 V10 to do that? Well, the E60 M5 to me is a car with a rare legend status, as you'll never find an unassuming 4 door sedan with a V10 stuffed under the hood again. Therefore, it's just one of those cars that I need to own, even if it's for a short time (or until the bearings / gearbox explodes, which seems to be a common trait of the E60 M5).

Taking a wider view of the brochure, with the Aston Martin sitting pretty in front of the crowd.

The evening before the glitzy event, I took the liberty to have a quick pre-auction browse at some of the stock on offer, as the area wasn't roped off to the general public yet. As I had my DSLR in tow, I snapped a few photos with it, which you'll see peppered throughout this post (if you're wondering why the image quality keeps changing, there's your answer).

This 1971 Ford Mustang had an enormous 7.0 V8 engine, sporting side exhausts on both sides of the car, as well as quad pipes at the back. Overkill? Possibly.

White on white - a classic combo for a classy car.

Excited with the possibility of buying a car at my first auction, I arrived bright and early the next day to register as a buyer just in case. Since you have to pay a fee per car, I mentioned that I just wanted to pay for one car - the M5. Then: disaster. The M5 had been withdrawn from the auction a few days before, so there was no point in registering anymore. Damn. Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to hang around for the actual auction and see what some of the other cars went for.

Interesting sticker to put on a very demonic looking car.

After starting half an hour late, the entire auction took a grand total of 2 hours, during which time 40 cars were up for grabs. Ranging from luxury German sedans, enormous SUV's, classic American muscle, and modern day supercars, there was something on offer for everyone.

But now, time for a plot twist. How many cars do you think sold?

30 cars? Nope.

20 cars? Still too high.

10 cars? Try again.

5 cars? Keep going.

2 cars? Yes.

Back to the showroom for this Rolls-Royce.

You're not seeing things - out of the total 40 cars to roll across the red carpet, only two of them found new homes, one of them being the black Mustang. Lots of other cars had bids on them, but didn't meet the reserve price. For those that were close, I have no doubt that some negotiating was done afterwards and there were probably a few more sales.

You'll have to be a very brave person to pilot this car, but rest assured, every single person on the road will move out your way.

However, all was not lost, as it was a good experience, and a nice way to get my feet wet for the auction environment. And maybe that M5 wasn't meant to be? It gives me more time to keep searching and hopefully be able to find "the one".

Oh, and lastly - one of the auction display girls was very pretty. Enough said.

But still not as pretty as this Aston Martin.

Would you have purchased any of the cars here? Let me know in the comments below!