THE 1934 Packard Twelve could be ordered with a customized body.

The best of the best to which Kane refers would certainly include Packards–he owns five models from the 1930s–along with fine examples of Peerless and Pierce-Arrow automobiles. Imposing, innovative, technologically advanced and produced in relatively small and sometimes tiny numbers, the Three Ps, as they are known among collectors, are perhaps the grandest automobiles ever built. Today they rank with the most collectible American cars from the first 40 years of motoring. "They were extraordinary cars and some of the finest of their era," says David Gooding, whose Gooding & Co. in Santa Monica, Calif., specializes in collectible car auctions and private treaty sales. "I think a great Pierce 48 is quite comparable to a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, and the Packard Twelve is one of the ultimate cars of its era."

Peerless, which stopped making cars in 1931 and is today a largely forgotten marque, represents the leader in opulence from the earliest years of the 20th century. Collector Alan Clendenen, of Newport Beach, Calif., owns a 1912 Peerless 48 hp, seven-passenger touring car, one of only two that exist. He estimates its worth at some $300,000. Until 1907, Peerless built "far and away the most advanced American car," Clendenen says, one that was also bigger than Pierce’s until around 1913. Peerless is so rare today that perhaps 35 examples survive. During World War II, their high aluminum content made them valuable in scrap metal drives.

TOP 10 RECENT AUCTION PRICES FOR  PACKARD AND PIERCE-ARROW

1934 Packard Twelve 1106 LeBaron Runabout Speedster: $3.2 million 1934 Packard Twelve 1105 Dietrich Convertible: $1.045 million 1934 Packard Twelve Sport Sedan: $962,500 1933 Packard Twelve Dietrich Convertible: $638,000 1917 Pierce-Arrow Model 66 A4 7P Touring: $412,500 1933 Pierce-Arrow Twelve Convertible Sedan: $374,000 1934 Packard 1106 LeBaron Speedster: $350,000 1931 Packard 840 Waterhouse Victoria: $340,000 1929 Packard 645 Dual Cowl: $280,500 1930 Packard 745 Victoria Convertible: $231,000 Sources: RM Auctions, Barrett-Jackson Auction Co., Gooding & Co., Christie’s

Today, collectors such as Clendenen pay top dollar for these marques. Thanks to increasing attention from automobile aficionados, the market value has soared for the finest and rarest of the Three P cars. "The good stuff–the interesting and rare bodies, the correctly and well-restored cars–is inherently collectible and should always have a market," says Christopher Sanger, a motorcars specialist for Christie’s in New York. These include the five magnificent Silver Arrows produced by Pierce-Arrow in 1933. Just three survive, one of which is at The Auto Collections at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Las Vegas bearing a $1.45 million price tag. Another sold privately for $1.3 million, according to marque aficionado Pat Craig of Stockton, Calif.

Bold and Beautiful
The finest Three P examples boast unassailable design, engineering and social credentials. Pioneering Peerless produced cars with the first engine under the hood, first enclosed body, first shaft drive and first accelerator pedal. In 1914, Pierce-Arrow integrated headlights into front fenders, a stylistic breakthrough that foreshadowed future automotive streamlining. Pierce’s iconic Model 66 sported a massive 825-cubic-inch power plant, reputedly the largest production automobile engine ever made. In 1916, Packard put the world’s first 12-cylinder engine into a production car.

These were huge automobiles, frequently weighing in at 3 tons and more. The wheelbase of the Pierce 66 stretched more than 12 feet, and Packard and Pierce models in the 1930s regularly boasted similar dimensions. Not surprisingly, they were the marques of choice for the country’s business, social, cultural, sports and show business elite. "Their drivability, sheer size and beauty are outstanding, and everything about them screamed quality," says Skip Marketti, curator of the Nethercutt Collection, a museum with 200 cars in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar. It houses two Peerless cars.

VALUE JUDGMENT: Packard, Peerless and Pierce-Arrow–known as the Three Ps–rank among the most desirable American collector cars of the 20th century. Visually striking, mechanically groundbreaking and sumptuous, these automobiles were among the finest ever built. Today, mounting interest from aficionados has driven the market values for some of the best examples well into the seven-figure range.

They were also breathtakingly expensive, selling for thousands of dollars when family cars typically sold for a few hundred. Peerless sold a 60 hp limousine for $11,000–in 1903, when the average American earned 17 cents an hour. The 1905 Peerless touring car cost $6,000. The Pierce Great Arrow, renowned for winning several Glidden Tours in succession, cost as much as $7,750 as a Model 65-Q in 1907. Ford’s 1908 Model T cost $750. Even as the country sank into the depths of the Great Depression, which helped doom Packard, Peerless and Pierce-Arrow, these cars continued to be wildly expensive. In 1933, Pierce-Arrow’s five original aerodynamic, V-12 Silver Arrows cost $10,000, making them the most expensive American car behind Duesenberg. The 1934 Packard Twelve 1108 was priced at $6,555, and the company’s custom-bodied gems of the 1930s often cost more.

Brass With Class
These days, Packard and Pierce aficionados square off about which is the better auto. "The finest American luxury car was the Pierce-Arrow, and don’t let anybody tell you different," boasts Don Meyer, a collector-dealer in Lebanon, N.J. "A lot of guys will tell you the Packards were the greatest cars in the world, but Pierce was always the car of the American aristocracy." Craig, whose 25-car Pierce-Arrow collection includes 16 made from 1904 to 1918, agrees. "I call Pierce-Arrow the Rolls-Royce of American cars," he says. "I know the Packard people disagree with me, and the early Peerless was a wonderful car, but Pierce-Arrow was heads and shoulders above them mechanically." Yet when asked which is the most collectible, Bob Turnquist, a Morristown, N.J., collector and former president of the Classic Car Club of America, answers flatly: "Packard."

Another variable in the value equation is that two primary collectible eras exist in the span between the turn of the century and World War II. The first encompasses the pioneering "brass" and "nickel" cars before and just after World War I–demarcated by the changeover from brass to nickel-plated radiators and running gear. The second is the first half of the 1930s when majestic automobiles with 12-cylinder engines ruled the luxury marketplace, and custom-made bodies resulted in the most beautiful American cars ever made. Many are poster-pretty examples of automotive styling, such as the gorgeous 1931 Packard Eight 840 Sport Phaeton.

"Collectors today want sporty cars and open cars, and there were a lot of Packards and Pierce-Arrows like that," says Mike Fairbairn, cofounder of RM Auctions in Blenheim, Ontario, which specializes in the top end of the collector car market. "In the perfect world, you buy a brass-era Pierce-Arrow and a [1930s] Packard."

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.