Stately seminal examples from the brass period before 1916–Fairbairn describes them as "almost Edwardian"–exhibit remarkable sophistication, and they are so rare that the market for them is paper-thin and intensely private. Craig estimates that perhaps 100 brass Pierces remain. He recently bought a four-car collection just to get one. "They rarely get to market," he says. There are even fewer brass Peerless models.

A 1917 Pierce-Arrow easily sells for six figures.

In fact, brass cars and nickel models up to the beginning of the 1920s, Fairbairn says, represent a hot area of collecting right now. They are outpacing a generally robust market for collector cars, with some examples appreciating at 30 percent per year. Pierce collectors focus primarily on large cars from the brass and early nickel era, according to Gooding, who notes that they have appreciated significantly in the past decade. Fine examples of large brass cars, Fairbairn adds, command a market value of $300,000 and more, and some could easily bring $1 million.

Prize Packards
Prices, however, are difficult to document. Not one brass car sold at auction last year to set the market, Christie’s Sanger says. Fairbairn says RM has not had one brass Peerless come up for sale in the dozen-plus years the company has conducted auctions. "Brass cars are always sold over the phone," Turnquist explains. Craig values his nickel-era 1918 Pierce-Arrow Model 66 Roadster at $600,000, based on recently paying $300,000 for a 1917 model. "I know my four-passenger roadster is worth at least twice that," he claims, adding these figures make prices for most 1930s brass-era Packards look foolish.

A 1903 Peerless is one of the lesser-known antique cars.

The stunning amounts recently associated with top collector Packards, however, hardly seem trivial. A 1934 Packard Twelve Runabout Speedster with a LeBaron custom body, sporting pontoon fenders and a tapered boat tail rear end–"pure sex on wheels," Fairbairn says–commanded $3.2 million at RM Auctions’ Arizona Biltmore sale in January. A 1934 Packard Twelve Convertible Victoria with a Dietrich body sold for $1.045 million at a 2004 RM sale. Custom-bodied Packards, particularly those made by independent coachbuilders LeBaron and Dietrich, are worth between $600,000 and $2 million, Fairbairn explains. A Dietrich body is the more formal–"the Brooks Brothers suit of the automotive world"–while a LeBaron body is "the Italian suit."

Stories abound, Packard collector Kane says, of top cars bought 10 to 20 years ago appreciating markedly. Cars like his 1934 Dietrich-bodied Packard V12 Runabout, one of three built, might have sold for $80,000 then. He speculates that its worth today might be $2 million. "The cars that have more than one strong point–uniqueness, condition, mileage–are at the top end of the market," Kane adds. For Packard, that means cars like convertible coupes and sport phaetons. "There seems to be an almost unlimited amount people will pay for the most unique cars," he points out. Whenever one of these cars changes hands, its selling price almost becomes the floor, he says, for other top cars. "The people who can afford these cars don’t care if [one they want] is a half-million dollars more [than most collectors think it is worth]."

In the 1930s, Packard produced numerous series of Twin Six and Twelve models with 12-cylinder engines–and a few with 8-cylinder motors. Those with custom bodies created both in the factory and by independent coachbuilders have become among the priciest of collectible American cars. Old Cars Price Guide, the hobby’s bible, declares "value not estimable" for a dozen series and models representing scores of cars from 1930 to 1938. "Some of the grand, high-quality, high-style, high-price, high-performance, low-production Packards from the early ’30s are worth millions," says Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. "It’s all in the coachwork." Prices openly bumped toward record-setting territory, combined with a relatively plentiful supply, have created a thriving marketplace in the custom-bodied beauties.

"A whole bunch of money is going after the best stuff," Fairbairn notes. "You always think they can’t go any higher, but then they do."

Richard John Pietschmann is a freelance writer in Los Angeles and a regular contributor to Worth.